Stars Lose To Jets
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WINNIPEG, Manitoba — The Winnipeg Jets had minimum scoring chances but got maximum results Tuesday night.
The Dallas Stars, meanwhile, did yeoman’s work but got nothing for the effort.
Rookie winger Adam Lowry cashed in his own rebound at 14:34 of the second period to snap a 1-1 tie and spark the Jets to a 4-2 victory over the Stars in a Central Division battle at MTS Centre.
Lowry scored his seventh goal of the season on a terrific individual effort, storming the Stars net to fire Winnipeg’s first shot of the period on goalie Jhonas Enroth and then flipping in the rebound. Dallas held a 9-0 lead in shots to that point in the period.
Right winger Dustin Byfuglien scored his 15th goal of the season early in the third on a breakaway, the Jets’ lone quality scoring chance of the final frame. He took a terrific pass from defenseman Jacob Trouba, skated in and scored high on a backhand.
The Jets (31-20-11) hold the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
Jets rookie goalie Michael Hutchinson was the game’s first star, making
26 saves to run his record to 18-7-4. The Stars (27-25-9) also hit three posts and a crossbar behind the 24-year-old netminder.
Enroth, newly acquired by the Stars, fared slightly better than he did in his previous start, stopping 21 shots. Two nights earlier, he gave up six third-period goals in a 6-2 loss to the Minnesota Wild.
The Jets were missing a couple of big guns, right winger Blake Wheeler and center Mathieu Perreault, due to injury. Lowry, who centered the third line, provided a major bonus with his goal, which came at a time when the hosts were sputtering offensively.
“We had felt we’d been able to contribute a little bit, not necessarily offensively, but in other ways,” Lowry said. “But any time you can get some secondary scoring, especially from the bottom six, it’s important, especially at this time of the year.
“We had just talked about getting pucks in around (Enroth’s) feet. He had been sitting for a little bit, so I just tried to create a rebound, and I was able to get my own rebound and pop it in.”
Jets center Bryan Little potted his 24th goal of the year in the first period, while right winger Michael Frolik slid in his 13th into an empty net at 16:59 of the third.
Dallas left winger Erik Cole tied the game 1-1 with his 18th goal of the season, beating Hutchinson at the 12:00 mark of the second period.
Stars defenseman Jason Demers scored a late goal, just his third of the season, at 18:53 of the third.
“We definitely had our opportunities, especially the posts in the third period. We had some real good looks,” Cole said. “The game’s 2-1 and we gave up a breakaway and it’s just one of those deflating goals. We kept with it and continued to push, but unfortunately, it wasn’t enough.”
Winnipeg’s penalty-killing unit struggled mightily of late, surrendering nine goals over the previous five games. However, it held the Stars in check on three opportunities, in large part due to the steady play of Hutchinson and the red pipes behind him.
“They had a big push in the second period. We were just fortunate that we didn’t get running around too much,” Hutchinson said. “We blocked some key shots, and whenever they did get chances, I was fortunate enough I was able to get there and make a save.”
After the game, Stars coach Lindy Ruff said he gave Enroth the start because Kari Lehtonen sustained an undisclosed injury.
Ruff said his club likely deserved a better fate.
“A breakaway (by Byfuglien), and (Lowry) gets two opportunities. We needed a big save off one of those,” Ruff said. “I thought the only chances we gave up in the second period were when (Lowry) walks in. It’s like ‘Groundhog Day.’ It’s the same story. We dominate play, we hit four or five goal posts, we didn’t finish.
“(Curtis) McKenzie had an empty net on a two-on-one (and) we miss, Cole’s got an empty net and hits (Hutchinson) in the head. We had some point blank that if you don’t take advantage of that … You know you’re going to make a mistake here and there, and we made a mistake, and give them credit, they took advantage of it. It was the counterpunch that hurt us.”
