MONTREAL (AP) With some top veterans sitting out
Womens Pavel Buchnevich Jersey , the youngsters took center stage for the playoff-bound Winnipeg Jets.Sami Niku scored in his first NHL game and Kyle
Connor got his 30th goal of the season in overtime and the Jets downed the
Montreal Canadiens 5-4 on Tuesday night.Add to that Patrik Laine’s 44th of the
season to move only two behind Washington’s Alex Ovechkin for the NHL lead.”Any
goal you score in this league is great, but overtime, and the way we stuck with
it the whole game, it’s awesome,” said 21-year-old Connor. ”This group is so
good.”We all push each other every day.”Nikolaj Ehlers, with his 29th, and Jack
Roslovic also scored for the Jets, who reached 50 wins and moved within three
points of first place overall and Central Division rival Nashville with two
games remaining for both clubs. The Jets finish the regular season with home
games Thursday against Calgary and Saturday against Chicago.Winnipeg, which
ended a four-game road trip, had already established a club record for wins in a
season. The Jets have won nine of their past 10 games.Alex Galchenyuk forced
overtime with a power-play goal at 18:18 of the third period. Artturi Lehkonen,
Paul Byron and Kerby Rychel also scored for Montreal in its last home game of
the season.”I liked the way we kept working hard and got back in the game,”
Canadiens coach Claude Julien said.The lineups had a preseason look as the Jets
rested Mark Scheifele, Blake Wheeler, Adam Lowry, Jacob Trouba and Josh
Morrissey with what were called minor injuries. And Montreal has regularly been
using several minor league call-ups of late.”We’re so deep, you can see,” Connor
said.The Jets were all over Montreal early and got the lead at 12:25 on a power
play when Laine wired a goal to the top corner with an off-wing shot. Ehlers
finished a 3-on-1 by knocking in Paul Stastny’s pass at 14:19.Roslovic one-timed
Tucker Poolman’s pass along the ice from the left faceoff dot to score at 15:58,
but Montreal got it back at 19:00 when Lehkonen picked up a loose puck in the
slot and beat Steve Mason.Byron reached the 20-goal mark for a second straight
season as he banged in Brendan Gallagher’s rebound 3:19 into the third period
and Rychel tied it 3-3 with a deflection after a faceoff in the Winnipeg zone at
10:15.Only 24 seconds later, Niku scored on a wrist shot through traffic from
the slot.”The puck was coming and I shot and I think it was lucky
Vladislav Namestnikov Jersey ,” Niku said. ”I think it hit one of their players.”It was really nice to play my first game at the Bell Centre. Montreal
is such a big hockey town.”Montreal was on a power play and had Carey Price
pulled for an extra attacker when Galchenyuk’s shot from the right circle was
juggled by Mason and dropped into the net with 1:42 left in regulation.Connor
one-timed Roslovic’s pass for the game-winner three minutes into overtime.It was
the 557th game for Price, who passed Jacques Plante for the Canadiens record for
games played by a goaltender. A video tribute was played at 6:13 of the first
period with messages from goaltending greats Ken Dryden and Patrick Roy and an
emotionally moved Price got a long ovation. Plante has the team record for wins
with 314.”Nobody enjoys losing, it wasn’t a lot of fun this year, but it’s nice
knowing that we have the support,” said Price, who stayed out the longest as the
players signed autographs for fans after the game.”Obviously it’s tough when
things aren’t going good, but there’s no better place when things are going well
and that’s just a taste of it.”UP NEXT:Jets: Host Flames on Thursday.Canadiens:
Travel to Detroit to face the Red Wings on Thursday.— PITTSBURGH (AP) Having
home ice is supposed to be an advantage in the NHL. So far in the 2018 playoffs,
the only guarantee to playing at home is a monochrome backdrop provided by fans
in team-specific T-shirts.Consider the following:– The Pittsburgh Penguins
finished with the second-worst road record among the 16 playoff teams. Then the
two-time defending Stanley Cup champions ripped off three wins in Philadelphia
to kickstart their pursuit of a three-peat and backed it up with another victory
in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series in Washington.– The
Capitals dropped Games 1 and 2 at home in overtime against Columbus in the
opening round only to beat the Blue Jackets three times in Columbus on their way
to advancing to the NHL’s final eight for the fourth consecutive year.– Winnipeg
posted an NHL-high 32 wins on home ice. One of their seven regulation home
losses, however, was a wild 6-5 setback at the hands of Nashville in February.
The Predators‘ triumph helped them win the Presidents Trophy and guarantee home
ice through the playoffs. The Jets, of course, won the series opener in
Nashville to steal that advantage.Home teams are just 26-26 so far in the
playoffs heading into Tuesday, when Pittsburgh hosts Washington (7:30 p.m.
Eastern, NBCSN) and Winnipeg welcomes the Predators (8 p.m., CNBC). Both series
are tied after the visitors claimed their respective openers on the road.Asked
why the games have become a coin flip regardless of venue, Penguins coach Mike
Sullivan – whose team was outplayed at PPG Paints Arena by Philadelphia in Game
2 and Game 5 in the opening round – admits he can’t really come up with a
reason.”I don’t know if I have answer for you that makes sense,” Sullivan said
Monday. ”Sometimes when teams go on the road, they have tendency to simplify
their game … I know our team historically has been very good at home and I
believe we will continue to do that.”If Pittsburgh wants to become the first
franchise in 35 years to win three straight titles, it doesn’t really have much
of a choice. Though Sullivan is right in that the Penguins are pretty good at
PPG Paints Arena
Womens Wayne Simmonds Jersey , they’ve only been so-so when facing the Capitals. Washington won Game 3 and Game 6 in Pittsburgh during the 2017
postseason and wrapped up its third straight Metropolitan Division title with a
3-1 win there on April 1.”You’ve got to create your own momentum, but it gives
you good memories,” Capitals coach Barry Trotz said. ”If you have to go back
into the memory bank, at least we have one. Those are things that you can bank
on maybe for some positive feeling going forward.”Predators forward Nick Bonino
couldn’t offer up any specifics about Nashville’s victory in Winnipeg even
though it happened all of two months ago, saying only ”I’m sure we played a
solid road game.”The road does offer the visiting team a sense of routine. There
aren’t as many friends or family around. No kids waking up in the middle of the
night. No traffic to deal with in most places. Just wake up, suit up and go
play.”You go out to dinner, there’s not really any distractions,” Bonino said.
”You’re there for hockey.”And the hockey in both series has been spectacular.
Nashville avoided heading to Canada in an 0-2 hole with a thrilling
double-overtime escape in Game 2. Washington responded after blowing a two-goal,
third-period lead in Game 1 by winning a predictably chippy Game 2.That
chippiness included a questionable hit by Washington’s Tom Wilson to Pittsburgh
defenseman Brian Dumolin’s head in the second period that sent Dumolin into the
concussion protocol. Dumolin skated with his teammates on Monday and his status
– much like the status of star center Evgeni Malkin (lower body) and Carl
Hagelin (upper body) – won’t be determined until Tuesday.Wilson was not
penalized for the hit and received a pass from the league when it opted not to
schedule a disciplinary hearing to review the play. While Dumolin said he didn’t
see Wilson coming because he was bracing for a hit by Alex Ovechkin, Wilson
claimed Dumolin turned his head just before impact leaving Wilson with no time
to react.”He stops and turns and I’m kind of right there as (Ovechkin) is coming
in pretty aggressively,” Wilson said. ”It’s a collision.”Pittsburgh star Kris
Letang wasn’t surprised Wilson’s hit wasn’t deemed illegal. Why?”Because we
don’t know anymore (what’s legal and illegal),” he said.And we don’t know what a
given night is going to bring anymore either. Home teams get to sleep in their
beds. They get the luxury of the last line change before faceoffs, allowing them
to get the matchups they want. And so far it has made zero difference in the
result.”It doesn’t have to be pretty always on the road,” Predators defenseman
Matt Irwin said. ”I think we embrace that.”—AP Hockey Writer Stephen Whyno in
Washington, D.C., and AP Sports Writer Teresa Walker in Nashville, Tennessee,
contributed to this report.
