Pierre-Luc Dubois scored the tying goal midway through the third period and the clinching goal in the shootout as the host Winnipeg Jets defeated the Seattle Kraken 3-2 on Tuesday night.
Mark Scheifele also converted in the shootout, which the Jets won 2-0.
Blake Wheeler tallied in regulation for the Jets, who won their third in a row. Goaltender David Rittich, starting for the ailing Connor Hellebuyck, stopped 27 of 29 shots.
Jared McCann scored his team-leading 25th goal for the Kraken and John Hayden tallied his second of the season on his 28th birthday. Philipp Grubauer stopped 38 of 40 shots, but it wasn’t enough as Seattle ended its five-game, post-All-Star break road trip 1-4-0.
Winnipeg opened the scoring at 7:01 of the second period. The Kraken won a faceoff in their own zone but defenseman Jamie Oleksiak had a backhanded, no-look pass along the end boards intercepted by the Jets’ Nikolaj Ehlers behind the net. Ehlers fed a wide-open Wheeler along the goal line on the right wing and he had time to skate out front of the net and fake a backhander before pulling the puck back to his forehand and stuffing a shot inside the near post.
The Kraken tied it at 13:20 of the second as Oleksiak started a two-on-one rush with a long stretch pass to Morgan Geekie down the left wing. Geekie skated to the faceoff dot and sent a pass to Hayden at the top of the crease, from where he redirected the puck past Rittich.
Seattle took its first lead on the power play at 19:33 of the period. McCann’s wrist shot from the top of the left faceoff circle deflected off the skates of Winnipeg’s Dylan DeMelo and Mason Appleton, leaving Rittich no chance.
The Jets tied it at 9:39 of the third. Josh Morrissey’s slap shot from the top of the left faceoff circle was stopped by Grubauer, but Dubois collected the rebound and his shot went off the leg of defenseman Vince Dunn and into the net.
Hellebuyck was “a little bit under the weather,” according to coach Rick Bowness, and the All-Star didn’t suit up. Arvid Holm was recalled on an emergency basis from the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League to serve as Rittich’s backup.
–Field Level Media
