Winnipeg Free Press https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/hockey/jets/jets-heading-for-home-after-4-2-win- over-canucks-450714823.html Jets complete western road trip with 4-2 win over Canucks By: Jason Bell VANCOUVER – The Winnipeg Jets are heading home in finer shape than when they left, gaining a major injection of confidence after a pair of valuable NHL victories out west. Their latest accomplishment? Sparked by a pair of late goals in the second period, the Jets earned a 4-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday night. Connor Hellebuyck, making his second-straight start between the pipes, made 30 saves as the Jets (2-2-0) posted another sound performance on the road, after dumping the Edmonton Oilers 5-2 on Monday. He had a great vantage point to see the tidy effort. "We're grinding teams down. We're getting pucks deep and we're grinding on their (defence)," said Hellebuyck. "We're being simple when we need to be simple, and then when we have a chance our skill comes out. You can't argue we have a lot of skill on this team, but knowing when to use it is key and that's what we've been doing lately. Vancouver winger Daniel Sedin and Jets' blue-liner Josh Morrissey traded goals in the first period. Finnish-born rifleman Patrik Laine and defenceman Tyler Myers pumped pucks past Canucks' starter Jacob Markstrom as the visitors built a two-goal lead after 40 minutes. Laine scored his second of the year on a laser from the slot with just over four minutes left in the second period. Myers upped the lead to 3-1 with a short-handed marker while Jets' captain Blake Wheeler served his second minor of the middle frame. Andrew Copp jumped on a turnover at his own blue line and fed Myers, who picked the top corner over Markstrom's outstretched glove with just 76 seconds left for the club's second short-handed tally of the trip. "It felt good," said Myers, who gets better and better every outing, still bouncing back from a series of injuries that forced him to miss all but 11 games last season. "The start of the season it feels great to be back out with the guys. I feel good, still, obviously, getting used to some situations and some different plays. But it's coming back quick." Canucks' defenceman Chris Tanev pulled his club to within a goal, with just over seven minutes left in the game, on a knuckler from the point that Hellebuyck couldn't handle. "I'm not going to be playing baseball any time soon," said Hellebuyck. "You don't see too many pucks move from one end of the ice to the other. The way he hit that was really weird, so good goal on him." Vancouver (1-1-1) dominated the last five minutes and coach Travis Green pulled Markstrom for an extra attacker with 1:11 left in regulation, but Nikolaj Ehlers scored into the empty net with four seconds left, his fourth goal of the season. The trio of centre Mark Scheifele, Wheeler and Ehlers owned the puck on several shifts, although the games of keepaway failed to produce results on the scoresheet until the empty- netter. Jets head coach Paul Maurice said the Bryan Little line, with Laine and Mathieu Perreault, was a force all night long. "They were good at both ends. (They) battled hard. Your best line can’t drive the bus every night, they can’t," he said. "We totally take Bryan Little for granted. He’s been that good." Little finished with a pair of assists, while Myers and blue-liner Dmitry Kulikov both finished a plus-three on the night. "We were pretty responsible," said Wheeler. "There are multiple ways to win, especially when you’re on the road and playing in tough buildings. We came in here knowing it was probably going to be pretty greasy and it was every bit that." The Jets kicked off the season with a lopsided loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs and then fell to the Calgary Flames before righting the ship. "I never sensed any panic in the room. We said all the right things, but we were doing all the right things in practice," added Wheeler. "Sometimes you start the season really excited and with the way we started, it kind of levels you a little bit. Instead of trying to blow the doors off teams, we’re playing good hockey." Winnipeg hosts the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday at 6 p.m., the start of a three-game home stand. The Jets were guilty of some carelessness with their sticks, however, Vancouver made good on just one of five power-play opportunities. Winnipeg finished 0-for-2 with the man advantage. Markstrom blocked 16 shots in a losing effort. Dustin Byfuglien missed his second straight game with a lower-body injury. He'll skate Friday and could return against the Hurricanes. Centre Matt Hendricks is still sidelined with a lower- body injury. Jets defenceman Ben Chiarot and forward Joel Armia were healthy scratches. https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/hockey/jets/when-hes-good-byfuglien-makes-the- jets-better-450662653.html When he's good, Byfuglien makes the Jets better By: Scott Campbell There are two distinctly different opinions about defenceman Dustin Byfuglien among Winnipeg Jets fans. The Winnipeg Jets may have saved their nation of fans from collapsing on the floor in tears when they beat the Edmonton Oilers 5-2 Monday night. That reaction would have been understandable after the team was smoked in a season-opening 7-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs and then managed to be even worse in a 6-3 beatdown at the hands of the Calgary Flames on Saturday. It wasn’t the losses; it was how the Jets played that left stomachs churning. A number of the same problems of years past cropped up again. Pathetic coverage of the opposition resulted in some easy goals against. By the end of the Calgary game I was split on whether the players had a low defensive IQ or if it was the systems they were using that were to blame. I looked forward to the Oilers game, hoping for some answers. Surprisingly, defenceman Dustin Byfuglien was ruled out of the contest — head coach Paul Maurice said it was a lower-body, soft-tissue injury. Rookie Tucker Poolman drew in for his first game and played well. Backup goalie Connor Hellebuyck got the start, replacing a shell- shocked Steve Mason. It wasn’t a stellar first period as the Jets gave up 20 shots, but Hellebuyck was strong, stopping them all. While they coughed up a two-goal lead in the second (with some bad coverage involved) they were mostly good over the final two periods. The Jets I expected when I predicted they’d make the playoffs had returned, at least for a night. Of course, fans had their own reasons for the improvement in the Jets' play Monday. With Byfuglien’s absence and the Jets playing a more structured game, it brought out the non- believers. There are two distinctly different opinions about Byfuglien among fans — those who think the Jets would be better off without him and those who believe the Jets would suffer a lot if they got rid of him. One knock on him is that he looks lazy at times. I partly attribute that to him being the prototypical good, big player that doesn’t have his feet churning like a smaller player but is still getting the job done. More importantly, when he’s on his game, he reads the play very well, often already in the right spot before the puck arrives there. Breaking up plays in the neutral zone and trapping pucks to keep the offence alive inside the opponent’s blue line are good things in a defensive way, as well. Make it simple; keep the puck out of your own zone. Accountability is another area he gets poor marks from the non-believers. Being the highest-paid player on the team and an assistant captain, they expect him to stand up after a poor game and face the media with answers. He rarely does that; for some, this shows weak leadership. But he really only needs to account for his actions with his teammates and coaches. Coincidentally, a picture of Byfuglien and Matt Hendricks catching a big fish while wading in water (during Tuesday’s off day for the Jets in Vancouver) showed up on social media. This, of course, fuelled the leadership debate, with some wondering why he can’t report to work but can be out playing. Maurice was fine with it and I don’t see the problem — the injury can’t be very serious. Some people seem to believe the injury to Byfuglien wasn't even enough to keep him out of a game — that this is a benching by Maurice for unstructured play. The perception that Byfuglien is not accountable to the coach when his play strays from the Jets' systems is something many wonder about, so this would be a start. While that seems a bit of a stretch, I wonder if it's just people trying to throw Maurice some extra love. When he's in his bad, river-hockey mode, Byfuglien operates far outside the boundaries of team structure, which is frustrating for coaches, teammates and fans alike. This is when we see bad gambles on his part — followed by something even worse, as he tries to make up for it instead of settling back into the system.