The Winnipeg Jets are back home Thursday with a chance to build on one of the wildest wins of their season, and the timing couldn’t be better. After Tuesday’s 5-4 overtime comeback against Montreal finally snapped a nine-game stretch without a victory, Winnipeg now gets the NHL-worst Vancouver Canucks at Canada Life Centre.
For the Jets, the task is simple: try to string together back-to-back wins for the first time since October 7, when they followed a win over the Pittsburgh Penguins with another over the Colorado Avalanche two days later. Since then, the results have been sparse. Winnipeg managed just one more win the rest of October, a 5-2 decision over the Minnesota Wild on October 13.
The last time out, though, the Jets showed plenty of life. Tyrel Bauer’s first career goal with 2:39 left in regulation sparked a comeback that entered the record book, beginning the latest four-goal rally in NHL history by how late it started. Winnipeg scored four times in regulation to force overtime, doing it in a franchise-record two minutes and six seconds before finishing the job in the extra period.
Jacob Fowler was the man standing in the way for most of the night, stopping 42 shots for Montreal and 19 in the second period alone. Winnipeg kept grinding through the frustration, and Scott Arniel said after the game that his message at the intermission was to keep pressing even without a breakthrough.
Bauer said the group never wavered.
“This group believed in each other,” Bauer said. “We had each other’s backs in that room, the guys had my back on the ice tonight.”
Vancouver comes in with a penalty-kill problem that has been hard to miss. The Canucks allowed three power-play goals on three Anaheim chances Tuesday night and now sit second-worst in the league at 63.2 percent on the PK. Only the Los Angeles Kings have been worse, at 61.5 percent.
Both teams are dealing with absences. Winnipeg lists Nick Bjugstad out with a pectoral injury, Josh Morrissey out with an upper-body injury, and Vladislav Namestnikov out with an undisclosed injury.
Vancouver’s injury report includes Filip Chytil out with an upper-body injury, Thatcher Demko out with a hip injury, and Mackenzie MacEachern and Akil Thomas out with undisclosed injuries. The Canucks said Tuesday that Chytil will not travel with the team on its upcoming two-game road trip. Tom Willander is day-to-day with a lower-body injury after missing Tuesday’s game against Anaheim.
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Jets Face One Big Roster Test As Momentum Starts Building
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Brayden Yager is back in the picture after a recall from the Manitoba Moose, giving the Jets another look at a young forward while the roster remains in flux. The bigger concern is still on the blue line, where Josh Morrissey is not yet ready to rejoin the group, leaving Winnipeg to manage its next stretch without one of its most important pieces. [Read more 🡒]