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Home , Charlie Huddy, Grant Clitsome, Official (ice hockey), Paul Maurice, Perry Pearn, Todd Woodcroft

Winnipeg Free Press https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/hockey/jets/jets-down-ducks-4-1-in-anaheim- 459815413.html?k=cNGdvw

Jets down Ducks 4-1 in Anaheim

By: Jason Bell

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Angst over a recent lack of scoring punch from the Jets’ second line has been alleviated, for now.

Nikolaj Ehlers snapped an eight-game -less skid with a pair in the first period and his , Bryan Little, ripped his first tally in five games and just his third in 22 contests this season as the Jets put in a thorough effort to dump the 4-1 Friday afternoon.

Winnipeg (14-5-3) also received a strong 30-save performance from goalie Connor Hellebuyck, who returned to the crease after giving up a bunch to Nashville on Monday in a 5-3 loss to the Predators.

Forwards and Ryan Kesler, who give the Jets fits every time the clubs meet, were absent for the Ducks (10-9-3) because of long-term injuries.

The Jets have won two straight after rebounding with a 2-1 victory over the Wednesday. The Central Division team concludes a four-game road trip tonight against the , capping the club’s third of nine back-to-backs this season.

Jets said he’ll turn to goalie Steve Mason to start against the Sharks. Mason was a force in L.A. earlier in the week, blocking 38 shots.

Ehlers, who netted his ninth and 10th goals before the five-minute mark of the opening period at Honda Center, said there was definitely some relief for he and his linemates, Little and .

"For sure, it’s always nice scoring goals and getting the win. I think our line, especially, hasn’t been producing and playing the way we’ve wanted to," he said. "Last game against L.A. was a step in the right direction and (it’s) another step in the right direction (in Anaheim). It’s great for our line and great for the team."

The Danish-born left-’s first of the afternoon was critical, coming just one shift after ’s goal at the 34-second mark was waived off after video review clearly showed was during entry into Ducks’ territory.

"The start was huge. A lot of credit to Scheif’s line, they got us going on the first shift. We ended up scoring on the second one," said Little. "It was big. Getting another quick one gave us a lot of momentum. That first 10 minutes, we came out of the gates really hard."

What a difference a day makes.

On Thursday afternoon, Ehlers sat at his stall in the visitors’ dressing room at Honda Center, lamenting a nearly three-week stretch devoid of offensive production. The 21-year-old was down on himself, noting he’s driven by the desire to be a key performer for the surging Central Division squad.

"For me personally, I can’t score right now," he said after a practice on U.S. Thanksgiving. "I’m just trying to work hard and play a simple game. And I’m sure that at some , hopefully, they’ll go in again."

Ducks goalie John Gibson can attest to Ehlers’ immediate reversal of fortune.

Ehlers beat Gibson just 40 seconds in and then ripped his second at 4:59 with the Ducks (10-9- 3) a man short. Little helped orchestrate both goals and then scored a power-play marker of his own in the second period.

Defenceman Tyler Myers also had two assists and now has six points in his last six games. Kyle Connor’s empty-netter was his sixth goal of the campaign.

The Jets outshot the hosts 36-31 and led 2-0 and 3-1 at the period breaks. At several points in the game, the Jets had sustained pressure in Anaheim territory, while doing another fine job limiting quality scoring chances against them.

It’s the eighth time this season Winnipeg has given up just one goal, producing eight of the team’s 14 triumphs.

Protecting leads is becoming second-nature to the second-best squad in the Western Conference and the third in the NHL, which has won 10 of its last 13 games by having all four lines and three sets of blue-liners getting into the action.

"We don’t have to hide a line and we don’t need to run one line too heavy, so we get to the end of the game everybody’s got pretty good legs," Maurice said. "When it gets into the real serious and tight time of the game, they have the energy to do it."

Despite the trio’s recent struggles, Maurice stuck with the combination of Little, Ehlers and Laine, believing chemistry would come. He’d been vocal lately in his reluctance to break up his third- and fourth-line units, equally effective since centre Adam Lowry and winger returned from injuries earlier this month.

The trio made him look good Friday.

"Nik Ehlers skated and that’s the reason that line looked fast. The other two moved everything a little bit quicker," Maurice said. "It’s a good line. We’ve got two leading goal scorers, fairly close. We’ve got Scheif at 11, Patty at 11, Nik at 10, right? So, for goal scoring that line should be right and they were (Friday afternoon), so it’s there."

Down by two in the second period, the Ducks scored on a high knuckler from blue-liner Francois Beauchemin with heavy traffic in front of Hellebuyck at the 5:46 mark. But Little beat Gibson at 12:06 to regain the two-goal lead.

Some bad blood spilled over late in the second frame as Jets Ben Chiarot looked to catch the Ducks’ Corey Perry with the butt end of his stick as the two came together. Perry was cut on the play and a scrum ensued but only Scheifele received a minor when he got a late shot in on the Anaheim star forward.

Gibson blocked 32 shots for the Ducks, who were a Ryan-less flock Friday. Ryan Kesler is out indefinitely after having off-season hip surgery. Ryan Getzlaf missed his 11th straight game and could be shelved for another month as he recovers from surgery to repair a broken facial bone, an injury suffered Oct. 29 in a game againt the when he was struck by a puck. Veteran goalie Ryan Miller, meanwhile, was sidelined by a lower-body injury for his sixth straight game.

Forwards Shawn Matthias and Marko Dano and defenceman Tucker Poolman were healthy scratches for Winnipeg. https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/hockey/jets/The-Charlie-Effect-459807243.html

The Charlie Effect

By: Jason Bell

ANAHEIM, Calif. — He’s been a part of the NHL landscape for nearly four decades, 17 years on the ice and 19 more behind the bench, including the last seven as an assistant coach with the .

He was one of the ’ true unsung heroes as the steady, reliable defensive partner of free-wheeling future NHL hall-of-famer , hoisting five Stanley Cups with a team that dominated hockey through the 1980s.

The Great One, , still considers him one of the most inspirational teammates he played with during his illustrious career.

His bosses in Winnipeg have leaned on him heavily to run a much-maligned defensive group that, over time, has undergone an overhaul and is now, unarguably, the most talented the city has witnessed to date from Jets 2.0.

There’s something to this Charlie Huddy guy.

"Listen, he knows the game as well as anyone, he loves the game and I know he loves working for the coaching staff there and loves being part of the Winnipeg organization. Those young guys are learning from one of the nicest, smartest people who ever played," says Gretzky. "I know he’s doing a great job coaching that young defensive group. He’s smart, he’s always positive — he’s not a guy that hollers — and he’s been through the battles. They couldn’t have a better guy."

Huddy, 58, has been with Winnipeg from the very beginning, introduced as part of former head coach Claude Noel’s staff during the summer of 2011, not long after the cut ties with its coaching staff.

He was an interesting hire in these parts and has been under scrutiny ever since, working with a defence that has had more than its share of struggles. An integral player with Edmonton during a time when the Gretzky-led club was running roughshod over Winnipeg in the old Smythe Division, would Jets fans forgive and forget?

"We did give it to the Jets a few times," Huddy says, chuckling. "We had a special team in Edmonton, winning those Cups. Almost right from the start you could feel it, the way the team was built by (Oilers’ former scouting director) Barry Fraser and Slats (former GM and coach Glen Sather). Everybody was close to being the same age and we were driven by some really great players, with Wayne leading the way and, obviously, Mess (Mark Messier) close behind and then Glenn Anderson and (Paul) Coffey.

"Edmonton’s always going to have a special place in my heart. But it’s like anything in this game. You go to a new place and now you’re hoping to be able to do the kinds of things with that organization that you did with the Oilers. I work for the Jets, and my No. 1 goal has always been to work with players and share my experiences of how we won… bring that knowledge and experience and get us moving on to the next level."

His popularity mattered little. Most critical was whether he could help mould a winning culture within a franchise that had done a pile of losing in its time in Atlanta before relocating north.

The results certainly weren’t apparent overnight as the first-year Jets — boasting a D-core of Dustin Byfuglien, Toby Enstrom and Mark Stuart, along with long-departed Ron Hainsey, Zach Bogosian and Johnny Oduya — finished 26th in the league in goals-against and did not make the playoffs.

Midway through the team’s third season, mired in a slump, Jets GM fired Noel and brought in Paul Maurice in an effort to right the ship. Assistant coach Perry Pearn was also relieved of his duties. Huddy, however, was retained, completed the season with Maurice and then returned in the fall to run the back end.

It wasn’t until Year 4 — the team’s first full season with Maurice behind the bench — that the team demonstrated real signs of improvement on defence. Quite frankly, the opposite should have transpired; at various points, and with plenty of overlap, Enstrom, Stuart, Bogosian, Byfuglien and newcomers Jacob Trouba and Grant Clitsome were off the ice, nursing long-term injuries.

Somehow the Jets elevated their defensive game and — with the addition of Tyler Myers in a trade with the and the surprising play of Ben Chiarot and Adam Pardy — made their only appearance to date in the NHL playoffs.

Maurice says that’s when Huddy’s worth to the organization really came to the forefront.

"Not many teams could survive that and not just make the playoffs, but set a franchise record (43-26-13, 99 points). Charlie’s ability to manage people in and out of that lineup that year was spectacular, as good as I’ve ever seen in terms of running a bench," Maurice says.

"He’s very talented at it, and, as our our team got better and the talent pool increases back there, his experience becomes even more of a factor for us."

Entry to the league’s post-season party looks entirely possible with a current blue-line corps that includes Byfuglien, Enstrom (currently out until the new year with a leg injury) Chiarot, Trouba, Josh Morrissey, Myers and off-season free-agent addition Dmitry Kulikov, with impressive rookie Tucker Poolman waiting in the wings and continued solid goaltending from Connor Hellebuyck and Steve Mason.

Maurice credits Huddy’s quiet, sensible approach to coaching as a huge asset, particularly on a team with rising-star rearguards Trouba and Morrissey.

"He fits my personality well because we’re not the same," he says. "Charlie’s a relaxed guy, and I would be less so. (Jets assistant coach) Jamie (Kompon) has a really good head for the game... Charlie’s got a great heart for the game, a great feel for it. So when I lose my mind, I’ve got that support."

Maurice also has the help of assistant coach , goalie coach Wade Flaherty and video coach Matt Prefontaine.

"As the head guy, you need some anchors there, too, so when you start flying off the handle you have a guy who can make sure you don’t lose touch with it," Maurice says.

Big, rugged, mobile Byfuglien — whose time in Winnipeg is a constant balancing act of risk and reward — says Huddy’s experience, style and demeanour are key reasons for the back end’s slow but steady strides over the years.

"He’s just an unbelievable guy to be around. Who he is, what he’s done and what he’s accomplished in his playing days, that’s important. He has a real knack for the game," says the 12-year NHLer, from Roseau, Minn. "I’ve really enjoyed having him behind the bench at all times for us.

"He’s handles himself well and knows how to push you to get better in the right way without pushing you away. He’s been great back there. For me, it doesn’t take much to keep me going but he always seems to say the right things."

So, what makes the 58-year old father of two (he and wife, Karen, have a daughter, Amanda, and son, Ryan) and grandfather of eight tick? What spurred the only child of Lucy and Bill Huddy, an elevator installer in Scarborough, Ont., to settle on hockey as a lifetime career, win five NHL championships and share a locker room on three different teams — Edmonton, the Los Angeles Kings and (as an assistant coach) — with No. 99, the best of them all?

Huddy maintains he was just another Canadian kid in the 1960s and ‘70s who fell in love with the game watching Bobby Orr rushing up the ice and scoring in spectacular fashion.

"I wanted to play and I was pretty fortunate that I had parents who were supportive and took me to all my games," recalls Huddy, whose folks have since passed away. "Pretty soon, before you even know it, you’re moving up in hockey and playing junior in with some pretty good hockey players. "

He spent two years there with the Hockey League’s Generals, registering 20 goals and 58 points in his final season in 1978-79 on a squad that included future NHLers Steve Konroyd, Tom McCarthy and Lee Norwood, and also current ’ bench boss Claude Julien.

Undrafted, Huddy signed his first pro contract with the Houston Apollos of the Central Hockey League and played one season, catching the eye of the Oilers and signing with the NHL team in time for the 1980-81 campaign.

Playing with Edmonton’s farm club in Wichita, Kan., Huddy got called up midway through the season to skate with the Oilers. At Maple Leaf Gardens, of all places. A day after that memorable debut, something special happened in Chicago.

"I scored in my first goal in my second NHL game on a slapshot, beat Tony Esposito five-hole," Huddy recalls fondly. "That was pretty cool, because as a kid you’re watching hockey and Tony’s one of the great goalies and then, all of a sudden, you’re playing against him and scoring your first goal."

Huddy dressed for a dozen games that winter and 41 the next season, bouncing between Wichita and Edmonton, finally becoming a fixture on the Oilers’ blue line in 1982-83. That’s when Sather created one of the game’s all-time great defensive pairings.

Huddy and Coffey were pretty much inseparable, on and off the ice, for five seasons in Edmonton, winning Cups together in 1984, 1985 and 1987 before Coffey was traded to Pittsburgh just over a month into the 1987-88 season following a contract dispute.

A stay-at-home type of defenceman, Huddy found a niche partnering with the game’s premier skating rearguard.

"He was instrumental in my career, on and off the ice. He was a just lot of fun to be around," says Coffey. "He was huge for us because he was so steady. He wasn’t flashy, but he didn’t go unnoticed. He made me what I was, allowed me to be loose and have fun. I liked to play a risky game and he was always back there.

"And D-to-D (passing), the puck was always on the stick from Charlie. There was nobody better back then. He’d get that puck, draw a couple of guys in and get it back to me and I’d go up the ice."

The Oilers’ sheer dominance regularly resulted lopsided numbers on the scoreboard, and that set up some shenanigans courtesy of the tandem’s point-producer.

"If we were up 4-1 or 5-1, I didn’t mind throwing the puck into Charlie’s feet just to see if he could get out of it before he got run over," Coffey says, laughing. "That’s actually true. I laugh about it to this day because it’s actually mean, but that’s the stuff we used to do.

"And he handled it perfect, made the play and yelled something funny back to me."

Paired with a 100-point guy, Huddy knew exactly what his job was on the explosive Oilers.

"I knew that if I played my game, it would let Paul be free to do more of his thing," says Huddy, who dressed for the Oilers’ alumni team during the Heritage Classic weekend at Winnipeg’s Investors Group Field 13 months ago.

"I was pretty quiet in the room. We had enough leaders. When you have Gretz and Mess, we didn’t need much more after that. Those guys could take charge of a room."

Huddy was badly injured during the third round of the 1987-88 playoff run against Detroit and had to undergo emergency surgery to drain blood from his leg, miraculously returned to play the fourth and deciding game of the final against Boston and got to raise hockey’s holy grail over his head again.

"It’s a corny story, but it’s so true. You grow up dreaming of playing in the NHL and winning a Stanley Cup. And then for a short period of time you get to skate around the ice with it. It’s all yours for 15 or 20 seconds and then you hand it off to someone else. It’s a special feeling," he says.

Huddy played parts of 11 seasons with Edmonton before signing as a free agent in Los Angeles and reuniting with Gretzky, and Marty McSorley. The crazy days working as one of the parts that made up then-owner Bruce McNall’s plaything, were indeed memorable.

"We were around celebrities all the time but they weren’t coming to see me. They were coming to see Wayne," he says. "(Former golf great) Craig Stadler was there. (Beloved Canadian comedy actor) John Candy was around. He was there during the run in ‘93 when we lost to Montreal in the final.

"I remember against in Game 7 (of the conference final), he came into the locker room with maybe five minutes to go before warmup and just starting going on with a little speech. He just walked in on us and he this big beard growing and he was like, ‘You guys gotta win this series and move on and get to the Stanley Cup final so I can shave off this damn beard.’"

Huddy says he was drawn to coaching almost immediately once his splendid 1,017-game, 453- point playing career ended after the 1996-97 season in the Buffalo organization. He dressed for just one game with the Sabres, while spending 63 with the club’s AHL affiliate, the , as a quasi-playing coach for John Tortorella.

He would go on to assist John Muckler with the Rangers for two years and was by the side of former teammate Craig MacTavish on the Edmonton bench for eight years before moving on to Dallas.

Huddy says he wasn’t driven to have the final say on an NHL coaching staff, preferring to fill a crucial supporting role, not unlike his successful playing days.

"I always enjoyed working with the D. That’s my passion, I guess," he says. "When I was in Edmonton with MacT, I pretty much had the freedom to run the defence the way that I saw fit through the course of the game. Now with Paul, it’s kind of the same deal. I run the D, we talk between periods or if he wants to make some changes. He’s always the guy in charge, obviously. He’s got the trust in me to do the job."

And the job is one in which his superiors and a legion of fans conduct an 82-game (and beyond, if the team continues to roll) performance review. He submits to his own, as well.

"At the end of the day, people look at the goalie and see if the goals are good or bad, and the next place they’re going to look is at the defence. ‘How could they allow six or seven goals?’ So, you always take it personally, you always feel like, ‘Did I have the right guys out there?’

"For me, it’s fortunate to have this group of guys back there. Absolutely, when you go through most games you can almost roll any of the six guys out because they’re all good NHL players," he adds. "We have some young guys, it’s the NHL and they’re going to make some mistakes. But they’re learning. We’ve got good pieces."

Morrissey, averaging just under 19 minutes of ice time per game, often against opponents’ top forward lines, says he’s like a sponge when it comes to listening to Huddy and learning what he needs to do to be successful.

"We watch video all the time, we’re always talking on the bench and he’s always shaping your game," says Morrissey, 22, from Calgary. "You look what he was able to accomplish as a player, it’s pretty insane. He’s a great mentor to have, the situations he’s been in, the big games he’s been through, the teams he’s played on, the individuals he’s played with.

"We’re very lucky to have him, for sure." https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/hockey/ahl/michael-hutchinson-makes-37-saves- moose-beat-griffins-to-extend-win-streak-459841763.html

Michael Hutchinson makes 37 saves, Moose beat Griffins to extend win streak

By: The Canadian Press

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Michael Hutchinson made 37 saves as the won their fifth game in a row with a 3-1 victory over the on Friday in action.

Patrice Cormier, Mason Appleton and JC Lipon supplied the offence for the Moose (13-5-2), the AHL affiliate of the Winnipeg Jets. Brendan Lemieux chipped in with two assists.

Turner Elson scored for the Griffins (8-9-2), who are on a three-game slide.

Jared Coreau stopped 27-of-30 shots in a losing cause.

Manitoba went 1 for 6 on the power play while Grand Rapids failed to score on eight chances with the man advantage.

Winnipeg Sun http://winnipegsun.com/sports/hockey/nhl/winnipeg-jets/little-line-provides-big-contribution

Little line provides big contribution as Jets win again

By Ken Wiebe

ANAHEIM – It’s been a frequent topic of conversation for those who follow the Winnipeg Jets.

When will the Jets’ second line start producing more?

The answer was Friday afternoon, when the trio combined for three goals and seven points in the 4-1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks.

Although two of the three goals for the trio came with the man-advantage, it was a dominant performance from Ehlers (two goals, one assist), Little (one goal, two assists) and Laine (one assist).

Ehlers let out a sigh of relief to go with his fist pump as he snapped an eight-game goal-less drought.

The expression on Little’s face was similar when his high shot found the back of the net to give him three goals on the season.

“I should have had one earlier in the game where Ehlers made a nice cross-ice pass to me and I kind of whiffed on it a bit. We stuck with it and had a good game. Now we hope to get something rolling with us three,” said Little. “That’s the way it goes. We realize that we need to be playing better, especially five-on-five. We have been the last couple of games, getting more chances and more time in their end. That’s what you need. You need all of the lines going and when one line has an off night, the other ones pick it up.

“You’re going to have stretches where things aren’t going your way and things aren’t going well. Then there are games when things go your way and the puck ends up in the back of the net.”

With the victory, the Jets improved to 14-5-3 on the season, with 31 points already in the bank.

The Jets close out a four-game road trip on Saturday against the San Jose Sharks.

Steve Mason, who has allowed only four goals during his past three starts, will start in goal for the Jets against the Sharks.

Earlier this week, Ehlers spoke about the need to contribute more offensively, to play a more simple game and not be as cute.

Laine agreed with the assessment, noting it was important for each member to be a bit more selfish with the puck on their stick and look to shoot more, rather than attempt to make a perfect pass.

Mission accomplished on that front.

“Our line hasn’t been producing or playing the way we’ve wanted to,” said Ehlers, who is up to 10 goals and 17 points in 22 games this season. “The game against (the Kings on Wednesday) was a step in the right direction and another step (Friday). It’s great for our line and great for the team.”

It took only 34 seconds for the Jets to score what they thought was the opening goal of the game, as Blake Wheeler found Mark Scheifele all alone in front.

But after video review, the goal was disallowed, since Wheeler was offside when the initial rush entered the zone.

The clock was wound back to 12 seconds, but 28 seconds later Ehlers buried a rebound after a low shot from Laine, building on what was already a hot start out of the gate for the Jets.

“The start was huge. A lot of credit to (Mark) Scheifele’s line, they got us going on the first shift and we ended up scoring on the second one. Getting another quick one gave us a lot of momentum,” said Little. “We know it’s a tough building to play in. These guys are known to come out hard and stay in games. We did a good job of playing with the lead, even when things got tight. We’re just getting better and better at closing games out like this.”

Closing out games can be a difficult thing to learn how to do.

And unlike in past seasons, the Jets seem to be getting more and more comfortable when playing with the lead.

“We don’t have to hide a line and we don’t have to run one line too heavy,” said Jets head coach Paul Maurice. “So, we get to the end of the game and everybody has got pretty good legs. Our four lines would probably all like to play a little bit more and that means when it gets to the real serious and tight time of the game, they have the energy to do it.”

Ehlers extended the lead at 4:59 of the first period, catching Ducks goalie John Gibson cheating off his post and firing a shot past him.

Then after Ducks defenceman Francois Beauchemin scored on a knuckle-puck from the left point, Little scored a power-play marker that restored the two-goal cushion.

Kyle Connor supplied an empty-netter with 100 seconds to go in regulation to round out the scoring.

It was another impressive bounce-back game for Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck, who made 30 saves and improved to 12-2-2 on the season.

In the three starts this season after allowing five goals, Hellebuyck has given up only only one goal the next time he got between the pipes.

Having that ability to bounce back from a sub-par effort is a club every goalie wants to have in his bag, though they don’t want to have to lean on it too often. http://winnipegsun.com/sports/hockey/nhl/winnipeg-jets/jets-hot-out-of-the-gate-upon-further- review-afternoon-games-not-so-bad-still-sore-at-perry-black-friday-only-for-ducks

Jets hot out of the gate ... Upon further review, afternoon games not so bad ... Still sore at Perry ... Black Friday only for Ducks

By Paul Friesen

Let the shoppers fight the crowds in the malls and the traffic on the streets, I’m spending a good chunk of Black Friday in front of the old picture tube.

It’s the Jets and Ducks, live from Anaheim, and judging by the rows of empty seats they’re not thrilled with the 1 p.m. start in southern California.

Either that or they’re caught in Black Friday traffic.

KITTY WON’T LIKE THIS This looks to be a very winnable game for the Jets, as Anaheim’s without top centres Ryan Getzlaff and Ryan Kesler… Ducks coach Randy Carlyle was even snarlier than usual after his team’s last game, an unenthusiastic, 4-2 loss to Vegas that he described as a kick in the head. “I don’t know any more words to describe how poorly we played,” Carlyle had said, adding it could have been a 10-2 final. He’ll probably come up with a few more words after the way the Ducks have started this one… Mark Scheifele’s line is buzzing on the first shift, and it produces what looks like the game’s opening goal, a mere 34 seconds in. But Carlyle suspects Blake Wheeler was offside by a toe, and sure enough, he challenges and gets it overturned. Momentum boost for the Ducks? Nope… On the very next shift, the Jets No. 2 line picks up right where the No. 1 left off. It takes Bryan Little and Co. just 28 seconds to get the goal back, Nik Ehlers pouncing on a rebound just as Scheifele had done on the disallowed goal… The Ducks are handling the puck like it’s a live grenade, and now they’re starting to take penalties. On their second, Ehlers strikes again, beating goalie John Gibson, short side, with a wrist shot and it’s 2-zip, just five minutes in… At this point there’s nothing for Carlyle to challenge, except maybe his team’s manhood.

AFTERNOON DELIGHT At the break, Ehlers tells the TV audience he’s not a big fan of afternoon games. “But it doesn’t feel too bad right now,” he adds, grinning. Ehlers hadn’t scored in eight games, managing just three assists in that time, as the struggles for this second line had no end in sight. At some point you just have to acknowledge there’s no chemistry there. This game might mark the beginning of the end of that discussion. There’s nothing wrong with the chemistry on that line on its first shift of the second period. The Jets come out of the gate hard, again, and Ehlers’ impressive cross-ice pass to Little nearly produces their third goal… The Ducks still have moments where it looks like they’re playing with garbage mitts on. They get an ugly one back, though, when 37- year-old Francois Beauchemin sends a combination knuckler/sinker in from the point that fools Connor Hellebuyck, who may or may not have seen it… Good to see Jets defenceman Jacob Trouba get a little fired up a few shifts later. Some nights you don’t notice Trouba nearly as much as you would expect to at this point in his career… The Jets get another power play, but it’s Hellebuyck who’s called on to make a big save, after Dustin Byfuglien loses his stick and the Jets get a little loose in front of their own net. That’ll just go down in the stats as another save, but it’ll loom even larger after Little walks in from the point and wires a wrister past a partially- screened Gibson. That’s two power-play goals for the Jets today, which won’t hurt their seventh- place NHL ranking in that department.

GOING AFTER PERRY Scrum time behind the Jets’ goal, now, and Anaheim’s Corey Perry’s in the middle of it. Perry isn’t a favourite of the Jets – you may recall he broke Mathieu Perreault’s thumb with a slash last season — and it shows when Wheeler drops his gloves and tries to get a piece of him while he’s tied up with Scheifele… The Ducks get the man advantage out of it, but the Jets penalty kill survives, and it’s still 3-1 after two periods. The second intermission reveals Little, with three points, is no fan of afternoon starts, either. Go figure.

PROTECTING THE LEAD Head coach Paul Maurice liked the way his team played with the 2-1 lead against the Kings two days earlier. We’ll see if they can leave a smile, or at least less of a grimace, on the boss’s face in this one… Perry almost beats Hellebuyck early, and the Ducks are the ones carrying the play. The Jets top line starts to turn the tide, a textbook, short-pass breakout leading to a chance for Kyle Connor at the other end, but Gibson holds his ground… Byfuglien’s the most high-profile Jet yet to score this season, and he comes close a couple times on one shift. No. 33 hasn’t over-pressed for his first, so far. No need to start now…. Josh Morrissey takes the body on Antoine Vermette and gets a peculiar two for tripping. The Jets PK survives another… The Ducks are desperate now, the Jets content to ice the puck and hang on, until Connor’s empty- netter seals it. Overall, another solid road win. Eyebrow-raising stat: eight of the Jets’ 14 wins have been by three goals or more… Black Friday? Only for Carlyle and the Ducks. http://winnipegsun.com/sports/hockey/nhl/winnipeg-jets/five-keys-to-jets-vs-sharks

Five keys to Jets vs Sharks

By Ken Wiebe

Winnipeg Jets at San Jose Sharks

9 pm CT, SAP Center, TV: Sportsnet. Radio: TSN 1290

THE BIG MATCHUP

Dustin Byfuglien vs Brent Burns As two of the highest-scoring blue-liners during the past several seasons, it’s surprising to see both Byfuglien and Burns go into Saturday’s game with zero combined goals. They remain key cogs for their respective teams – averaging around 25 minutes of ice time per game – and could break out offensively at any time.

KEYS TO THE GAME

Mason stays sharp During his past three starts – and four appearances – Jets goalie Steve Mason has given up only four goals and dramatically improved his numbers after two tough outings to start the campaign. He’s won consecutive starts, lowering his goals-against average to 3.31 and raising his save % to .907. Mason is playing with a lot of confidence and his game is trending upward.

Second-line eruption The Jets second line of Bryan Little (one goal, two assists), Nikolaj Ehlers (two goals, one assist) and Patrik Laine (one assist) combined for three goals and seven points on Friday. While two of those goals came with the man-advantage, it was an important development for the trio as they’ve been pushing to produce more offensively.

No ordinary Joe’s It’s been a slow offensive start for Joe Thornton (three goals, 11 points in 20 games) and Joe Pavelski (four goals, nine points in 20 games), but the duo has been dangerous against the Jets in the past, combining for 19 goals and 53 points in 60 combined games during their respective careers. They could be due to breakout at any time.

Strength vs. strength Special teams are often a determining factor in NHL games and Saturday’s match-up features the Jets’ fifth-ranked power play and the NHL’s top-ranked penalty-killing unit of the Sharks. Do these two groups cancel each other out or propel their team to victory?

Myers finding his way After being limited to 11 games last season because of injury, Jets defenceman Tyler Myers has found his offensive groove. By chipping in two more assists on Friday, Myers is up to 11 points in 22 games, with one goal and six points coming during his past six games. He’s stabilized the third pairing and has an expanded role on special teams.

LA Times http://www.latimes.com/sports/ducks/la-sp-ducks-jets-elliott-20171124-story.html

Unacceptable starts continue to plague Ducks, who were overrun by Winnipeg in first period

By Helene Elliott

The Ducks’ fate was sealed before most of the post-Thanksgiving crowd had filed into the Honda Center on Friday. They yielded a goal 40 seconds into their game against the Winnipeg Jets, were down by two a tick before the five-minute mark and were lucky they weren’t in a deeper hole. “I thought we were playing in our boots and they had their skates on,” coach Randy Carlyle said of his team’s unfocused, deer-in-the-headlights start.

Another bad beginning led to a bad ending for the Ducks and more comments from players about not having been ready for the start of the game. Of all the clichés in sports, that’s the most infuriating. As an athlete, you have one job: Be ready to compete. The Ducks clearly weren’t ready to compete and it cost them dearly Friday afternoon, and not for the first time.

“It made the difference in the game,” center Antoine Vermette said after the Jets earned a 4-1 victory. “It shows the importance of starts and how slim the difference between winning and losing sometimes is. They really took advantage at the start. There’s no excuse.”

Vermette is right about that: there are no excuses for the Ducks not being ready for the beginning of a game. Already at a disadvantage without injured top two centers Ryan Getzlaf and Ryan Kesler, the Ducks can’t afford to give points or games away. They put this one on a platter for the Jets, who have enough speed and depth to have won it without as much help as the Ducks so generously provided.

Not ready? How could the Ducks not be ready for a home game — their last before a six-game trip — when they so urgently need to develop some consistency before they hit a meaty part of the schedule? Their stumbles can’t all be blamed on the injuries suffered by Getzlaf (facial bone surgery) and Kesler (hip surgery), though the duo’s absence has created a deep void on the ice and in leadership. “Those are two huge pieces out of their lineup that change everything, right?” Jets coach Paul Maurice said Friday.

Right, but while the Ducks can’t control that, they can control their readiness at puck drop, and they’ve got to do a better job of that or be prepared to chase the game every time out. They’ve had their full defense healthy and available for the last three games, since Cam Fowler returned from a knee injury, and they should be trending upward. They’re not, and it goes beyond having to move Derek Grant and Chris Wagner too far up in the lineup as their first- and second-line centers.

“It’s all about our preparation as individuals, how we get ready for games and make sure we are ready as soon as the puck drops,” defenseman Francois Beauchemin said. “I don’t think the first five minutes were the way we were supposed to be playing. We got ourselves down 2-0 and it was tough to catch up after that.”

They can avoid that by being ready at the start. Every player prepares differently, but the product has to be a focused, cohesive effort throughout the game. Why didn’t that happen Friday, and the other times they’ve said they weren’t ready at the start? “I wish I had that answer,” Carlyle said. “Too nervous? Not focused enough? Those are questions you’re always asking. “

Beauchemin sees it as each player’s responsibility to be ready to contribute to a unified whole. “Every guy individually, how they prepare for the game ... what you do before and make sure when we do go out there everybody’s on the same page and know what we’re doing and ready to go,” he said. “You can’t point fingers at those situations. If you go out there and you’re not ready we all see it and we know who we are.”

On Friday, that was all of them. Oh, they pushed back for most of the next 40 minutes but the Jets held them off and won for the sixth time in seven games. Carlyle chose to take that as a positive, and that’s understandable. But the Ducks must begin to put actions behind their words now. “The whole road trip will be tough. We’ve got to make sure we bring our A game every night. There will be no easy ones obviously,” Beauchemin said. “From now until Christmas, it’s going to be a big sprint to Christmas and a lot of games every other day. And back to back, so we’ve just got to be mentally ready every game.”

And they must be fully there at the start or risk being out of the game at the finish.

Associated Press http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/nhl/nhl-winnipeg-jets-anaheim-ducks-1.4418255

Nik Ehlers' strong start helps Jets crunch Ducks Winnipeg forward notches pair of goals in 1st, adds helper in 2nd

By Steve Dilbeck, The Associated Press

The season didn't offer the most promising of starts after the Winnipeg Jets opened with consecutive losses.

But things clicked in their next game, and the Jets haven't slowed since.

Winnipeg was at it again Friday, jumping out to a 2-0 lead just 5 minutes into the game on goals by Nikolaj Ehlers and skating to a 4-1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks.

"We played the way we wanted to and succeeded," Ehlers said.

The Jets have won six of their last seven and 10 of 13.

"We're just getting better and better at closing games out like this," said Bryan Little, who had a goal and two assists.

Ducks too slow It was a discouraging loss for the Ducks, who were coming off a dismal performance against the expansion .

"It looked like we were skating and maybe didn't even have our skates on," Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. "We were so slow to react for the first 5 or 6 minutes."

It could have been worse for Anaheim. It gave up a goal 34 seconds into the game that was nullified when the Ducks won a challenge for offsides.

Six seconds later, Ehlers scored his first goal. Four minutes later, he scored again on a power play to give him 10 goals on the season.

"We got on them early and never let off," said goalie Connor Hellebuyck, who had 30 stops. "We played our game right to the final buzzer. You can tell guys are supporting each other. No one is taking a shift off."

Anaheim's lone goal came early in the second period when Francois Beauchemin fired a shot from the blue line that whizzed past Hellebuyck. It was his first goal of the season.

The Ducks could never find the net again, despite two excellent open chances by Derek Grant and Jakob Silfverberg.

"Right now, those are the things that come back to haunt you," Carlyle said. "It was a game that was there."

John Gibson stopped 34 shots for Anaheim, but could not overcome the Jets' early barrage. He had been peppered with 143 shots in his last three games.

One strong line Little added his goal in the third period. Both Ehlers and Little play on Winnipeg's second line.

"We don't have to hide a line and we don't have to rely on one line too heavy," Jets coach Paul Maurice said. "All the lines would probably like to play a little more."

Kyle Connor scored an empty-net goal from the red line to complete the scoring.

The Jets continued to receive strong goalie play from Hellebuyck and Steve Mason. Hellebuyck was particularly effective after the Ducks recovered from their slow start and began to apply pressure.

"We had a fair amount of chances, especially on the power play," Beauchemin said. "Guys were open in the slot. We just didn't capitalize."

Anaheim failed to score on its two power plays.

The Athletic https://theathletic.com/165282/2017/11/24/duhatschek-notebook-jets-improved-schedule-giving- thanks-for-parity-gerard-gallant-already-jack-adams-worthy/

Duhatschek Notebook: Jets' improved schedule, giving thanks for parity, already Jack Adams worthy

By Eric Duhatschek

ANAHEIM – Scheduling is almost always a bone of contention with NHL coaches and no one knew the ins and outs of his team’s schedule better than the Los Angeles Kings’ . Not exactly a new age man, Sutter still paid far more attention to rest and recovery than you’d think. Sutter knew how demanding the schedule could be for a team dealing with West Coast travel — and how playing tired could damage a team’s playoff aspirations. Fatigue contributes to injuries. Fatigue contributes to mistakes. Too much fatigue and a team just can’t be at its best.

Last year was the first time the NHL introduced the concept of the bye week, a five-day, mid- season break nominally intended to rest and refresh an overworked collection of players. A good idea, in theory. But it was also the first time since 2004 that the NHL played the World Cup, which meant that the 82-game 2016-17 regular season would be crammed into a 179-day window, rather than the 185 days it took to play the year before.

The net effect of trying to play a full season in 11 to 12 fewer days took its toll everywhere around the NHL, but it was particularly acute in Winnipeg, where the Jets found themselves playing 28 games in 50 days from their outdoor game in late October until the 11th of December. In that span, they played back-to-back six times and only once did they get more than a single day off between games. In early November, one road trip took them to the East Coast, brought them home to the Central time zone for a single game (against the Dallas Stars) and off on the road again to play the Coyotes in Arizona. It was like that all year – ping-ponging back from one trip to another, rarely getting the opportunity to practice.

“Our schedule was incredibly difficult last year,” said coach Paul Maurice, in an interview with The Athletic. “I’d never been through anything like that before. I’d never seen anything like it before. If you take that schedule and put us on the East Coast, maybe it’s a little more reasonable. But then you throw our geography in there. We have one team that’s an hour away (Chicago). Everybody else is two hours-plus. We have a team in our division that’s not even in our time zone. A lot of times, we were playing an East Coast game, then playing one at home, and then going to the West Coast, so we tried to factor in when we travelled back home. We don’t even worry about a one-hour time difference; that’s just standard operating procedure for us.

“We played six sets of back-to-backs in that block – and we did eight-time zone changes and we banged out 130 man-games lost to injury in that stretch. We were three games under .500 after we lost in Calgary and lost in Edmonton at the end of it and we had nothing in the tank. It was tough.”

Accordingly, this year, while the bye weeks remain (Winnipeg’s is between Jan. 13 and Jan. 20, just past the mid-point of the season), the schedule is far friendlier, according to Maurice, who said the Jets didn’t do much lobbying to change the schedule. Just eliminating the World Cup added six additional days back into the schedule. Compared to last year, the Jets play only 14 games in November (not 16) and play only six in the first 11 days of December (not seven). In that seven-week span, they also enjoy one four-day break and one three-day break and only play back-to-back twice, including this Friday and Saturday in Anaheim and San Jose respectively. But Friday’s was an afternoon game, thanks to the U.S. Thanksgiving weekend, so there will be a few additional hours of recovery time.

In addition to improvements in goal and special teams’ play, a more reasonable schedule is a significant contributing factor to the team’s early-season successes, which had them in second place overall in the Western Conference standings through Friday.

“I would say ours is now normal,” Maurice said. “Relative to last year, we’re happy with it. We still have a block of games, from the third week of November until the third week of December, that’s really tough, but I think everybody has their bad month.”

There is no way to quantify the impact of the schedule on a team’s injuries, but Maurice believes there is a correlation.

“Dallas kind of went through the same things we did last year; they had a difficult stretch and then they got beat up by injuries, and you saw what happened to them,” Maurice said. “There was a quote from (the Tampa Bay Lightning coach) last year after they’d played 14 games in 28 days and he said, ‘this is crazy.’ Well, do it twice. And they got beat up by injuries and missed the playoffs. The schedule has a major impact on results. It’s fairly even for a lot of teams. For some, it’s a little tougher than for others. But for what we dealt with, I’d never seen anything like it.

“Maybe we’ve asked too much of these men.”

And finally Now in his fifth season as the Jets’ coach, Maurice tried one outside the box move in training camp, that seems to be paying dividends, by bringing in retired referee Paul Devorski. The Jets last year were assessed 275 minor penalties, second-most in the league behind Calgary (277), and gave up 62 power-play goals. Only Colorado and Dallas surrendered more. The year before wasn’t much better. They played a man short 282 times. Arizona, Anaheim, and Los Angeles were the only teams that were penalized more often. Not only did the Jets take too many penalties, but they didn’t do a good job of killing them off – finishing 26th on the penalty kill two years ago and 25th last year. Cumulatively, over that two-year span, the Jets lost the special teams’ battle by a wide margin, giving up 133 power-play goals and scoring just 86 times with the man advantage.

Turning that massive deficit into a plus, or simply having special teams offset, was their objective and so far, matters have vastly improved.

Through Friday, the Jets had scored 15 power-play goals (on 66 attempts) and surrendered 16 power-play goals (on 74 attempts). In all, 11 teams have been penalized more than the Jets. They may not exactly be choir boys yet, or have figured out what is and isn’t acceptable in this era of increased vigilance, but they are improving.

Maurice explained to me that he came up with the idea of having an experienced official at camp as part a three-pronged off-season plan to reduce the number of penalties they took.

“It was clearly not a coach’s speech that was going to change it, because we’ve had that a bunch of times,” Maurice said. “The first part was considering a player’s original defensive position – and did your positioning put you in a place to take a penalty or not? The second part was developing the skill of defending one-on-one. And last was understanding what the rules are and how they’re applied and why they’re applied. We worked on all three.”

In training camp, Maurice said he ran one-on-one compete drills every single practice, trying to teach “the skill of defending without getting your stick up – and how do you change what you do. Part of that was reviewing video on every players’ penalties that they took last year. We went through that with them in the first week. All our repeat offenders, we broke it down for them – because there’s a certain kind of player that takes a certain kind of penalty; and so we saw all those.

“Then the last part of it was education. We are a really young team so we needed a guy to come in, not to explain the rulebook, because that, we get. But Paul (Devorski) has done 1,594 NHL games – and there are certain tells. He’d say, ‘if I have to think about it, it’s not a penalty. You know a penalty when you see it.’ He started talking about where your stick is, where your free hand is – and can we eliminate the two or three things that in his subconscious referee’s mind, means a penalty’s coming?

“Having Devo on the ice, I thought was really good. I didn’t have him running the practice, or blowing the drills. I just had him talking to the guys. But I’d look over and see (Blake) Wheeler talking to him, or Buff (Dustin Byfuglien). What we tried to do was break down all the factors that led to the penalties we took last year and tried to address them. Paul came in and he was great. He just talked to the guys and rolled around the ice. It was good.”

NBC Sports http://nhl.nbcsports.com/2017/11/24/jets-basically-have-two-top-lines-and-thats-scary/

Jets basically have two top lines, and that’s scary

By James O'Brien

At times, this season feels like The Year of the Mega-Lines.

Even so, the modern NHL is cruel to offense, and many of us are waiting for the other shoe to drop, as much as we want the fun to continue. What if Steven Stamkos – Nikita Kucherov is driven down by injuries? Can Brayden Schenn remain a point-per-game player with Vladimir Tarasenko and Jaden Schwartz into the spring?

A lot has been going right for the Winnipeg Jets lately, as they improved to 14-5-3 after beating the Anaheim Ducks 4-1 on Friday. It was their sixth win in seven games; they’ve gone 11-2-3 since beginning 2017-18 with a sputtering 3-3-0 mark.

Still, there are some of those red flags that make you wonder if the party might stop soon. They ranked second in the NHL in even-strength PDO (via Natural Stat Trick) coming into today’s action, one of the go-to signs that a Cinderella story may end. Their possession numbers have left much to be desired. Connor Hellebuyck might be playing over his head.

All or at least most of those considerations are worth some concern.

Even so, Friday managed to shine a spotlight on a scary notion: the Jets might possess the equivalent of two “top lines,” or at least an electric top duo and a young, rising one that isn’t far behind.

Around the start of the season, the Jets raised some eyebrows – mine, anyway – by handing Nikolaj Ehlers a seven-year extension that carries a $6 million cap hit. It’s not like the 21-year- old lacked signs of brilliance; instead, it was just a little startling to see them be so proactive with a big contract and term rather than seeing if his 25-goal, 64-point breakthrough from 2016-17 was “for real.”

It’s incredibly early, but Ehlers is making it look like a wise decision, if not an outright steal. There are even moments when you might catch yourself wondering, “Is he just about as good as Patrik Laine?”

Perhaps the Ducks thought that way today, as Ehlers dropped two goals and an assist on them.

Snickers turn to nods of begrudging approval when you hear talk about “shot quality” with a team that might just have an excess of high-end shooters. After all, you can only cheat to cut off shooters so much if it means giving Ehlers too much time and space:

Laine played somewhere between coy and possum when discussing how hockey was “hard” for him during a relative scoring slump, as he’s climbing to right where the Jets would want him to be. Since November began, the 19-year-old has only failed to score a point in a single game and averages a point-per-night. (Overall, he has 17 points in 22 contests.)

This outburst gives Ehlers 10 goals and 17 points, and perhaps the Jets’ risky investment in Bryan Little may look better if he can merely set the table for these two. Perhaps it’s fair to say that the Ehlers – Laine benefit from the occasional wake-up call, though.

And, again, the scary part is that Ehlers – Laine isn’t even the first pairing you’d underline on the whiteboard.

Mark Scheifele and Blake Wheeler both sit at 25 points even after being blanked on Friday, and it seems like they might have found their third amigo in Kyle Connor, another young forward coming up the ranks in Winnipeg.

It has to be disheartening for opponents to consider that they might shut down Scheifele – Wheeler and still get blitzed out of the building by Laine and Ehlers, yet that’s the predicament you face, particularly since the Jets boast the sort of defensemen who might force you to “stay honest” in the likes of Dustin Byfuglien and Jacob Trouba.

Does this all mean that Winnipeg can just pencil in its first playoff games, nay, series wins already? No, they have questions, all the way up to if Paul Maurice can make it all work.

That said, days like these make you wonder if the talent will do all the work for him.

TSN.ca http://www.tsn.ca/video/will-chiarot-be-suspended-for-hitting-perry-in-the-face-with-his- stick~1270333 (VIDEO LINK)

Will Chiarot be suspended for hitting Perry in the face with his stick?

Will Ben Chiarot be suspended for cutting Corey Perry's face with the butt-end of his stick during a skirmish on Friday? That's Hockey weighs in. www.winnipegjets.com https://www.nhl.com/jets/news/ehlers-little-combine-for-six-points-in-jets-win-over-ducks/c- 293327294

Ehlers, Little combine for six points in Jets win over Ducks Hellebuyck stops 30 of 31 as Jets win second game of road trip by Mitchell Clinton @MitchellClinton / WinnipegJets.com

ANAHEIM, California - It's not too often a team can open the scoring twice in one game.

But the Winnipeg Jets (14-5-3) did just that in a 4-1 win over the Anaheim Ducks (10-9-3) on Friday.

Mark Scheifele looked to have scored just 34 seconds in, but an offside challenge from Ducks head coach Randy Carlyle showed Blake Wheeler was a couple inches offside on the play.

It proved not to be a problem, as Nikolaj Ehlers scored his first of two on the night just seconds later, giving the Jets a lead they wouldn't relinquish.

"The first line coming out the way they did set us all up for a great start. We wanted to keep pushing and do the same things they did," said Ehlers. "I think our line especially hasn't been producing and playing the way we've wanted to. Last game against LA was a step in the right direction, and another step today. It's great for our line, and great for the team."

The line of Ehlers, Bryan Little, and Patrik Laine combined for seven points in the win, with Ehlers and Little getting three each.

"I thought in the first seven or eight minutes in that game we were good. Bryan's line was like that all night I thought," said head coach Paul Maurice. "They didn't just score. Nikolaj Ehlers skated so very well that it opened up the ice for the other two. They were our best line."

After the disallowed goal, Ehlers - who hadn't scored in his last eight games - snapped that streak in a hurry.

Little set up Patrik Laine in the slot, and when his shot was stopped by John Gibson, Ehlers was right there to bury the rebound for his ninth goal of the season.

It's a response Maurice has seen from his team on more than one occasion this season.

"There's not the sense that we can't score goals," said Maurice. "It's the right call, it was off side. We've had three or four goals that didn't get called back, or were allowed. We've handled it right."

Ehlers' tenth of the season would come shortly after. With Dennis Rasmussen off for high sticking Brandon Tanev, Ehlers took a pass from Tyler Myers at the left wing face-off dot. His wrist shot caught Gibson leaning a bit off his post, and found twine on the short side.

Francois Beauchemin would cut the Jets lead to 2-1 5:46 into the second. His first of the season came off a point shot that got through three bodies in front of Connor Hellebuyck, beating the Jets high on the glove side.

But that was the only shot that beat Hellebuyck, as he stopped the other 30 pucks that came his way.

It was a solid redemption night for Hellebuyck, who allowed five goals in Nashville on Monday.

"I think we got on them early and we never let off. We played our game until the final buzzer," said Hellebuyck. "You can tell that everyone is supporting each other and no one is taking a shift off. It's huge, and it builds confidence in the team."

The Jets would restore the two-goal lead, and again, Ehlers would get on the score sheet. The speedy forward gained the zone on the power play, turned back and slid a feed to Myers, who found Little at the top of the circle on the right wing. Little used Mathieu Perreault as a screen, and ripped a wrist shot over Gibson's glove.

"We realized that we needed to be playing better, especially five on five. I thought we have been the last couple games and getting more chances and more time in their end. That's what you need," said Little.

"They definitely had some fight in them tonight. They kept pushing. But we did a great job of playing with that lead and closing it out."

Kyle Connor's sixth of the season into the empty net helped close the game out, but so did the penalty kill, as it killed off both Ducks chances, including one opportunity midway through the third period.

Even after that, Ehlers pointed out a number of players doing what they had to do defensively.

"You saw again today, you saw (Blake Wheeler) block a shot with five minutes left, and trying to jump into a second one with his head first," said Ehlers. "These guys are fighting and giving everything to get the win, and we did that today. It gives the guys on the team energy."

Next up for the Jets is the back half of the back-to-back set in San Jose to close out the three- game road trip. Maurice said Steve Mason will get the start against the Sharks, with puck drop set for 9 pm CT. https://www.nhl.com/jets/video/postgame--paul-maurice/t-277437442/c-54962103

POSTGAME | Paul Maurice

Head Coach Paul Maurice addresses the media post-game at Honda Center