Since the Jets chances are so slim to overtake the Washington Capitals and Buffalo Sabres for the eighth and final playoff spot in the NHL Eastern Conference (and if Buffalo wins just one more time, they will be officially eliminated) I won't even mention any wins would help them immensely, but a win is a win and they got one tonight as the Jets defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 4-3 in overtime tonight, winning the season series four games to two.
Captain Andrew Ladd scored the winner 16 seconds into overtime breaking a 17-game road goalless drought.
At 16:46 of the first period, it looked as though the Jets were in for another long night as Eric Staal out-hustled Tim Stapleton to notch a short-handed goal, just as the Jets gave up to the New York Rangers two nights ago. However, the Jets power-play went 1-3 as Kyle Wellwood scored the Jets only PP marker late in the third on a double minor to Canes Jiri Tlusty for high-sticking Evander Kane.
The goal set a new career-high for points for Wellwood, now with 46 (17 goals and 29 assists) on the season. He is now the fifth Jet this season to set a career-high marker. The others are Ondrej Pavelec for wins (28 so far), Evander Kane for goals and points (29 g 24 a 53 p so far), Tim Stapleton for goals (11 so far) and Jim Slater for goals (10 so far).
Chris Mason got a rare start in place of Pavelec and made several key saves to procure a rare road Jets victory. Zach Bogosian scored three points, all assists including the winner. Nik Antropov scored the opening goal, his first back since missing the last four games with an injury. It was his fourth goal in his last fourth game played.
Although the Jets controlled the opening tempo and scored first, they were outworked and outplayed by the Hurricanes in the first period. The second was pretty even, then Mason was brilliant in the third, staying cool and making multiple glove saves to stymie the Hurricanes forwards.
Four games left.
