Evander Kane picks up three points to lead Winnipeg Jets past Minnesota Wild 4-3 -NHL Update
Evander Kane came up strong for Winnipeg as he grabbed three points, including the shootout game-winner as the Jets edged Minnesota Wild, 4-3, on Thursday night, February 16, 2012, at the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States.
Winnipeg is surprisingly making a comeback into the playoff competition as they continue to climb the ranks in the Eastern Conference, now standing at number 10 with 60 points, they are only five points away from taking over the eighth place Toronto Maple
Leafs.
"I thought it was a really good test of character for us," Jets coach, Claude Noel, said. "I thought the guys were in it to win it."
Devin Setoguchi opened the scoring with his 13th goal of the 2011-2012 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season nearly midway through the first. Winnipeg responded as Evander Kane potted his 20th at the 18:47 mark after they failed
to capitalise on a quick power play opportunity 25 seconds into the contest.
Kane added his second of the night three minutes into the second while Devin Setoguchi equalised the match yet again on his 14th of the season on a power play advantage.
"If you don't win the game, it's really not satisfying," said Setoguchi. "But it's nice that our line was able to put some in. Just missed opportunities again made us come up a little short."
Mikko Koivu tried taking Minnesota ahead with his tie-breaker at 1:03 in the final period but Winnipeg followed right up as Alex Burmistrov levelled the contest exactly two minutes later to force an uncertain overtime extension.
As the teams failed to score in overtime, the match inevitably headed into a shootout decider as Winnipeg countered on two of three chances to take the match while Minnesota failed on two.
Chris Mason was focused in the Winnipeg net with a 22 save performance out of a total of 25 attempts.
"I thought he was really good when he had to be," Noel said taking about Chris Mason. "He's a veteran guy. He's got great focus."
Winnipeg Jets will now be heading home for their eight-game home stand, starting off against the Boston Bruins on Friday while Minnesota plays the St. Louis Blues on Saturday.
Tags: