OTTAWA — It’s easy to see why the Winnipeg Jets are one of the best teams in the Western Conference after their 5-1 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Saturday night.
The Jets (30-16-1) came into the game after losing the first two games of their five-game road trip and it was clear from the outset that they had no intention of losing a third.
Winnipeg’s prediction was impressive and Ottawa had no response.
Mark Scheifele led the way with two goals and one assist, while Blake Wheeler had a goal and two assists, giving him 900 career points.
Nikolaj Ehlers and Cole Perfetti also scored for Winnipeg, while Connor Hellebuyck stopped 25 shots.
Ehlers, who missed 36 games with an abdominal injury, now has 12 points (4G, 8A) in his last nine games since returning to the lineup.
“He’s a great player for us, and he played very well for us tonight,” Scheuffel said. We need him to be on his ‘A’ game to win. He was spectacular again tonight, and he’s still only a few games away from being back.
Josh Norris scored the lone goal for the Senators (20-23-3), who continue to struggle defensively. Anton Forsberg made 25 saves.
If body language is any indication, frustration is running high among the players at the moment. Thomas Chabot was asked how the mood was and he was blunt.
“It’s not good,” Chabot said. “Nobody’s happy right now, but, I mean, it’s a game of hockey and they were the better team tonight and that’s it.”
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The Senators were coming off a 4-1 loss to Pittsburgh on Friday, while the Jets await them in Ottawa.
Ottawa is now 2-6-0 in its last eight and is headed in the wrong direction.
Ottawa forward Claude Giroux said, “Where we were in the standings, we looked like we were going in the right direction.” “In Pittsburgh, obviously we didn’t play well and tonight, back-to-back, it doesn’t matter if you have legs or not, you got to play your best.”
Not surprisingly, Senators head coach DJ Smith said changes would be made.
“We’re going to shuffle the top nine,” Smith said. “I mean there are guys who are minus every night and that just can’t go on. It’s up to me whether I allow them to keep playing together or let some guys play together and if you keep scoring It’s not working, so we’re going to work every line and we’re going to work our way out of it.”
Ottawa showed a lack of discipline, taking eight short penalties and were fortunate that the Jets only capitalized once with the man advantage, but they were just as dangerous at full strength.
Jets head coach Rick Bowness said, “We haven’t had it for a while, obviously, the last few games.” “We talked about it before the game, ‘We need a smoother goal here in front of us.’ And then (Wheeler) goes to the net, (Ehlers) puts it around there, and (Wheeler) gets his screws in. We haven’t had one of those for a while. You need one of those sometimes to go 5-on-5.
Leading 3-1 to start the third, the Jets seemed in complete control as Ottawa looked listless for stretches.
Despite a full house the Senators fans had little to cheer about and were headed for a walk out as Schaafele scored his second of the game with just over four minutes remaining.
Perfetti’s late goal, which put the Jets up 5–1, had no effect on the game, but was memorable for Wheeler, as an assist gave him 900 career points.
Winnipeg scored twice in the second and dominated the game for most of the time.
Schaeffel scored his 27th of the year on a one-timer at the five-minute mark, and some poor defensive coverage by the Senators allowed Wheeler to jump in on Ehlers’ rebound to put the Jets up 3–1.
The Jets opened the scoring at the six-minute mark of the power play period when Ehlers took a feed from Josh Morrissey and tapped it in for his fourth of the season.
Ottawa tied it up midway through the period with Claude Giroux winning an offensive zone faceoff and feeding to Norris, who crossed it once to Hellebuyck, who didn’t look ready for a shot.
Reached 40 points for the 14th consecutive season with the help of Giroux.
interesting fact
Winnipeg head coach Rick Bowness had the opportunity to skate with his grandson at the Canadian Tire Centre, as his son Ryan is the Senators’ assistant general manager.
notes
Dylan Gambrel replaced Derrick Brassard for the Ottawa Senators. Winnipeg changes included Carson Kuhlmann for Sam Gagner and Dylan Samberg for Ville Heinola.
next
The Senators host the New York Islanders on Wednesday night, while the Jets travel to Philadelphia to take on the Flyers on Sunday night.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on January 21, 2023.
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