The Winnipeg Jets have won a franchise-record 10 straight going into their road game against the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday night.
The Jets’ latest win was a 2-1 come-from-behind overtime decision over the visiting San Jose Sharks on Monday night.
Mark Scheifele got the game winner 1:33 into the OT period after defenseman Josh Morrissey tied the game with 26 seconds left in regulation.
“There’s no quit in our team,” Morrissey said. “Whether that’s tonight or in the playoffs or whatever it is, we just got to hang in there. That’s what we did. We did a lot of good things, their goalie played well, they were defending really hard. Like I said, it took a while, but we finally cracked it. Great to get the win there.”
Connor Hellebuyck made 17 saves for Winnipeg, which has 85 points, tops in the Western Conference.
The Jets’ last loss came on Jan. 20, 5-2 to the Utah Hockey Club in Salt Lake City.
Scheifele’s goal, his 32nd of the season, made him the all-time goal leader in Winnipeg Jets/Atlanta Thrashers franchise history with 329, passing Ilya Kovalchuk.
“That was fun. That building was rocking,” Scheifele said. “Their goalie stood on his head all night and made us go 59 minutes and 30 seconds to get past him. But obviously, that was a big win.”
Winnipeg put 35 shots on San Jose goalie Vitek Vanecek.
“That was just … sticking with it,” Winnipeg coach Scott Arniel said. “We had so many chances. We had so many good looks, crossbars, and Vitek made some big stops. But at the end of the day, we hung in there and we just stayed with it.”
The Senators have lost four in a row after their 5-2 home loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night in their first game after the break for the 4 Nations Face-Off.
Tim Stutzle had a goal and an assist to extend his point streak to nine games (three goals,10 assists for 13 points) and defenseman Jake Sanderson also scored for Ottawa. Linus Ullmark was pulled 11:32 into the third period after giving up five goals on 15 shots. He was replaced by Anton Forsberg who stopped all 10 shots he faced.
“Rusty,” Ottawa coach Travis Green said of his team’s performance. “We weren’t very good with the puck. It wasn’t a very pretty game, I thought, really.”
The Senators were without captain Brady Tkachuk, who suffered a lower-body injury playing for Team USA during the 4 Nations Face-Off, and centers Josh Norris (out since Feb. 3, mid-body) and Shane Pinto (last played on Feb. 4, upper-body). Tkachuk participated in one line rush in practice Tuesday but then left the ice. Norris lasted the entire session, and Pinto wore a red non-contact jersey.
“They’re big parts of our team,” Green said of the injured players. “When three of your top players, your most skilled players (are out), I think it showed as far as our play with the puck. We need other guys to be on top of their game. I didn’t think we were on top of our game throughout our lineup.”
The Jets won the other game between the teams this season, 4-2 on Dec. 28, in Winnipeg.
–Field Level Media
