Did not predict that conclusion after the first 20 minutes of the game. The Flyers jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first 5 minutes and it looked like goodnight nurse.
Instead the Jets were able to stick in it and were rewarded with a Mathieu Perreault power play goal to bring the team within one in the 2nd period. Scoring in his first game back since a lower-body injury back on October 14th, he took a perfectly feathered Joel Armia pass to bring the home side within one.
The 3rd was a back and forth period. With Hellebucyk pulled who else but Blake Wheeler making the perfect pass onto the tape of Mark Scheifele who scored his team leading 11th with 48.4 seconds to go in the final period.
OT solved nothing although the Jets had plenty of opportunities as did the Flyers.
To the shootout where Mark Scheifele, Patrik Laine Bryan Little scored (Blake Wheeler was only Jets player who didn’t score in SO) and Hellebucyk held the fort on the final Flyers shooter in 4th round to win it for his team who improve to 11-4-3.
For those who would like to take a deeper dive into the advanced stats here are the results from tonight’s game via Natural Stat Trick.
Jets post-game audio:
Blake Wheeler
Mathieu Perreault
Connor Hellebuyck
Coach Maurice: Does he feel fortunate to have gotten two points? On Perreault’s return. Thoughts on the Gudas slash. Play of Connor Hellebuyck. Overcoming adversity.
Flyers post-game:
Sean Couturier
Jakub Voracek
