Kyle Connor scores twice as Jets surge past Penguins
Kyle Connor scored two goals, including one on a short-handed penalty shot, and Gabe Vilardi had a goal and an assist to lead the host Winnipeg Jets to a 5-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday afternoon.
Brad Lambert scored his first NHL goal, Mark Scheifele had two assists and Vladislav Namestnikov also scored a goal for Winnipeg, which won its third straight game. Eric Comrie made 28 saves for the Jets.
Sidney Crosby and Blake Lizotte each scored goals and Arturs Silovs finished with 29 saves for Pittsburgh, which had an eight-game point streak snapped.
Winnipeg jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first 2:43 of the first period. Vilardi got the first goal just 15 seconds into the game when he banked in a shot from behind the right post off the skate of Silovs for his fifth goal. Lambert then made it 2-0 when he tapped in a Parker Ford cross-crease pass inside the left post.
The Jets extended the lead to 3-0 at the 1:17 mark of the second period on Namestnikov's sixth goal. Jonathan Toews picked up the primary assist with a crossing pass that Namestnikov, stationed by the left post, redirected into the net to extend his goal streak to three games.
Connor made it 4-0 midway through the period after Silovs misplayed the puck in the right corner and threw his stick to trip up Connor as he skated toward the goal to draw a penalty shot. Connor then patiently skated down the slot and deked Silovs with several fakes before putting a backhand shot over his glove side.
The Penguins cut the lead to 4-1 on a power-play goal by Crosby with 11.5 seconds left in the period. Erik Karlsson blasted a slap shot from just inside the blue line that hit Crosby, stationed by the right side of the crease, in the hip and caromed into the net. It was the eighth goal in the last 10 games for Crosby and also his team-best ninth of the season.
Lizotte made it 4-2 with 9:33 remaining when he drove the goal and jammed a wrist shot under Comrie and into the crease. Comrie then knocked the puck into the net with the end of his stick.
The Penguins pulled Silovs for an extra attacker with 2:05 left and Connor sealed the win with an empty-netter with 1:21 to go, his eighth goal.
Unfortunate reality might be setting in for Harrison Brunicke
The Pittsburgh Penguins dropped their Saturday matinee to the Winnipeg Jets 5-2 in which they started slow and could never recover in time. But there was more than just a slow start and a defeat to one of the Western Conference's best teams, that was a tough pill to swallow.
The Penguins will have to make a tough decision soon on if they should send 19-year-old defenseman Harrison Brunicke back to his junior team or keep him in the NHL. But after Saturday's game, it feels like that decision might have been made already.
In the contest, Brunicke just generally looked lost in his own zone and was the direct cause of the Jets second goal of the game which came early in the first period. Brunicke was doing his best to block a cross-crease pass and did not get his stick down in time. So, Jets forward Brad Lambert had a backdoor tap-in to make it 2-0 Jets early in the first.
Defenseman like Brunicke are going to want to do everything they can to get their sticks down and in position to block the cross-crease pass. Brunicke did not and the result showed. He also did not have inside positioning on Lambert so Lambert was able to box him out and score the goal.
It definitely seems like with the way head coach Dan Muse has been scratching Brunicke and playing him every now and then, that sending him back to his junior team is becoming inevitable. That kind of load management does not bode well for his chances of staying with the Penguins.
It might be ideal for him to get one more year in juniors and then be fully ready next season. That is for Muse and general manager Kyle Dubas to decide, but the answer seems like it might be in the cards for Brunicke.
