Winnipeg Jets win first of season against Pittsburgh Penguins 2-1 -NHL Match Update
Fans of the newly relocated Winnipeg team knew that their favourite club would eventually win and the Jets did just that by earning their first two points of the 2011-2012 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season against Pittsburgh Penguins, 2-1, Monday
night, October 17, at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
Over 15,000 fans showed up to support their home team as Winnipeg played second match at the MTS Centre and fourth of the season, three which they had lost straight to Montreal Canadiens, Chicago Blackhawks and Phoenix Coyotes.
Seeing the crowd and how pumped up the people were, Penguins knew that Winnipeg would not go out without a fight.
"We expected their team to come hard and to play with a lot of emotion and energy early on, and they did that", Penguins coach, Dan Bylsma, said. "It was pretty loud in here. We needed to do something to stop the flow, because they were coming hard".
Taking an early lead would ultimately lead Winnipeg Jets to victory as Kyle Wellwood scored his second in the opening eight seconds of the first period, followed by Tanner Glass for his first with less than two minutes remaining.
Zbynek Michalek finally put Pittsburgh Penguins up on the scoreboard at the 18:22 mark of the second period, sending both teams into an intense final period, with Jets looking to maintain their lead.
Winnipeg goalie, Ondrej Pavelec, performed miracles for the team by 28 of 29 shots on the Jets net. Pittsburgh goaltender did not remain behind either by blocking 32 of 34, but as Winnipeg continued shooting high numbers, there was only so much he could
do.
Winning against a team like Pittsburgh was a whole motivating factor on its own, which the Jets hope to continue in the upcoming matchups.
"It gives us something to look back on and say we need to be more like we were against Pittsburgh", Jets captain, Andrew Ladd, said. "It is something that we can use to feed off the momentum and get better and better”.
Jets will now kick off their two day road trip against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday, while Pittsburgh Penguins will face the Minnesota Wild a day earlier on Tuesday.
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