After opening a six-game trip with three consecutive losses, the Winnipeg Jets finally got back in the win column with a 5-3 victory Tuesday in Vancouver.
The Jets will look to keep soaring when they play Thursday in Seattle.
Defenseman Josh Morrissey had a goal and two assists versus the Canucks, and Alex Iafallo and Nino Niederreiter had one of each for the Jets. Goaltender Connor Hellebuyck made 30 saves.
“We didn’t start this road trip how we wanted to, and it really comes down to just little battles,” said Morrissey, who is third on the team in scoring behind Mark Scheifele (21 points) and Kyle Connor (19). “Upping that intensity and compete level, and it’s a fine line out there between winning and losing in the NHL. From the start of the game, just our 50/50 battles were a lot better, and that’s five-on-five, and that’s also special teams, power play with a couple big goals. So, it was nice get back on track.”
The Jets scored just two goals in total in losses at Los Angeles, Anaheim and San Jose before scoring three times in the first period against Vancouver.
“Everybody wanted to step up when you lose a few games in a row. We had a great meeting (Tuesday) morning, actually, as a group, and just kind of talked about what our identity is,” Morrissey said. “I felt like everybody raised their intensity level, and as a leader on the team, you want to be part of leading that charge.”
Morrissey scored on the power play in the first period, snapping the Jets’ 0-for-14 slump with the man advantage.
“Our power play had gone through a cold stretch, but they have been great for us all year and won us a bunch of games early on when other parts of our game weren’t good,” Jets captain Adam Lowry said. “There are so many skilled players on both units, and it was just a matter of time.”
Winnipeg defenseman Haydn Fleury, who previously played with the Kraken, suffered an upper-body injury on his first shift in the second period Tuesday and didn’t return. There was no word on whether he’d be available for Thursday’s game.
Winnipeg and Seattle met once previously this season, with the Kraken coming away with a 3-0 road victory on Oct. 23. Joey Daccord made 32 saves, and Jaden Schwartz had two goals and an assist.
Daccord (upper body) is currently on the injured list, with Philipp Grubauer and Matt Murray handling the net in his absence. Murray has started the past two games, a 2-1 loss Sunday in Dallas and a 2-1 shootout defeat Tuesday against visiting Columbus.
The Kraken are 1-2-1 over their past four games, scoring just once in each of the losses.
“We’ve got to find a way to score,” first-year Kraken coach Lane Lambert said. “When we have opportunities, and we had opportunities, we’ve got to bury them, and that’s just the bottom line.
“We played solid defensively. The score was 1-0 late into the second period. We’ve got to find a way to make it two.”
Fourth-liner Ryan Winterton scored the lone goal Tuesday off a nifty pass from Ben Meyers. It was Winterton’s second career NHL goal and the second straight home game in which he’s tallied.
“I thought it was a good game for us,” Winterton said of the fourth line. “Played how we wanted to, played fast, played quick. Kind of swarmed them a little bit, and a great play by ‘Benny’ there. We were able to bury one.”
