Pete Weber’s Postgame Report
Nashville Predators center Colin Wilson
Drew Stafford scored two power-play goals and Connor Hellebuyck made 43 saves to help the Winnipeg Jets to a 4-1 win against the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena on Tuesday.
Ben Chiarot and Alexander Burmistrov scored for Winnipeg (18-19-2).
Colin Wilson scored and Pekka Rinne made 14 saves for Nashville (19-14-7).
Stafford gave the Jets a 1-0 lead at 10:43 of the first period on a goal from the slot on the power play. Defenseman Tyler Myers entered the zone and delivered a backhand pass to Stafford, who was able to shoot the puck past Rinne for his 13th goal.
“It was a great play by [Myers] just driving it wide,” Stafford said. “Just go to the net with your stick on the ice, and I was able to sneak one by. I was just trying to get good wood on it. I wasn’t really putting it anywhere specific.”
Stafford scored again at 8:42 of the second period on the power play on a redirection in front of Rinne. Defenseman Tobias Enstrom took the original slap shot from the point that Stafford was able to redirect for his second goal of the game and his 14th of the season.
“It was a great shot by [Enstrom],” Stafford said. “I was just able to get my stick on it, kind of raking the leaves in front of the net there a little bit. I wasn’t exactly screening [Rinne] where I was supposed to be, but I was lucky to get a good stick on it. We’ll take it because we’ve pretty much had goose eggs for a long time on our second unit.”
Hellebuyck made 17 saves in the first period to keep Winnipeg in a position to take the lead. The Jets felt that withstanding that push in the first period by the Predators was the most important part of the game.
“That’s five in eight for us on the road and the last four,” Jets coach Paul Maurice said. “It’s a long flight from Anaheim and a two-hour time change so you’re worried about the first 10 minutes more than any other part of the hockey game, and they know it so they come with an awful lot of speed and an awful lot of jump.
“I almost think it was a benefit to [Hellebuyck] that they shot absolutely everything. There might have been some seam plays and some other plays that never developed, but it was just keep ripping it at the net. He was rested, he was the freshest guy in our lineup and he looked great.”
The Jets offense struggled to create a high volume of shots but were opportunistic with their chances. They scored two goals in their first six shots to jump out to the lead despite being heavily outshot by the Predators.
“We just kind of had a tough time handling the puck and a tough time really doing a whole lot,” Jets forward Blake Wheeler said. “That’s when your goaltender has got to be great when you have a slow start, and he hung in there and gave us a chance. That seemed to kind of suck the life out of them a little bit.”
Chiarot gave the Jets a 3-0 lead at 5:05 of the third period. Chiarot attempted a centering feed to forward Mark Scheifele that went off of Predators defenseman Mattias Ekholm’s stick and past Rinne for his first goal.
“I thought it was Ben Chiarot’s best game of the year,” Maurice said. “He was fantastic. His jump, [he had] energy in his game.”
Wilson scored to make it 3-1 at 13:33 of the third period. Predators defenseman Roman Josi joined the rush and made a pass that Wilson was able to one-time past Hellebuyck.
“He played terrific,” Predators coach Peter Laviolette said of Wilson. “He had lots of opportunities. It was nice to see him cash in. Again, it probably gets frustrating when you get those opportunities and they don’t go, so it was nice to see him get one.”
Nashville has scored two goals or fewer in 14 of its past 23 games. The Predators’ record in those games in 1-11-2.
“I don’t know, maybe we don’t get enough quality chances,” Josi said. “I don’t know. Everybody has to do a better job. We have to get to the net more. We have to get some dirty goals. We have to get some pucks through from the point. Everyone has to do a better job, and obviously there are a lot of things we have to do better.”
Burmistrov scored an empty-net goal with 29.4 seconds remaining to give the Jets a 4-1 lead.
The Predators are back on the ice on Friday night as they travel to Colorado. Thunder Radio will bring you the broadcast of that game immediately following Coffee County CHS basketball.
