Stay calm. Play your game. Win.
That's all it is really. The Winnipeg Jets showed why they've been successful of late-in spite of more preventable giveaways. They had an early lead but lost it. But they stayed together, earned a goal and defeated the Vancouver Canucks at the MTS Centre last night 4-3 to keep the little Jets that could rolling along. The Jets gave up 2-0 and 3-2 leads, but closed the game out even under some pretty heavy-and desperate pressure from the Canucks at the end of the final frame.
Devin Setoguchi silenced some of his critics with a two-goal performance, including the winner with 2:56 remaining in the third period.
Mark Scheifele and Jacob Trouba continue to perform as Scheifele was all over the ice and in the Canucks faces earning an assist on Setoguchi's first tally and Trouba collected another point as he helped with Setoguchi's winner.
Ondrej Pavelec made 26 saves.
The Jets are now 7-2 under Paul Maurice and are 26-25-5 overall this season. The club is tied for sixth in the Central division with the Dallas Stars at 57 points and now eight points out for the final wild card spot currently occupied by these same Vancouver Canucks.
The Jets now head out on the road east against Montreal, Carolina, Washington and then back west for a stop in St. Louis before the Olympic break on February 8. Let's hope they can keep it up and go 2-2 (although 4-0 would be awesome) to keep the playoff dream alive. Because really, if they can't clear this four-game hurdle with the confidence they have now, the season is a wash.
However, the Jets used to (and I say that with every inch of reservation) find ways to lose. Are they now (again with reservation...) finding ways to win?
It looks like the Jets have a new team tradition...
