The Winnipeg Jets shut out the Carolina Hurricanes 3-0 at Canada Life Centre Tuesday evening for their seventh-straight victory.
Nino Niederreiter, Neal Pionk, and Rasmus Kupari all scored for the Jets while Eric Comrie captured his first shutout since the 2022-23 season to help the Jets improve to 38-14-3. The Hurricanes fell to 32-18-4 and have lost two in a row.
Hurricanes Have Power-Play Goal Disallowed; Jets Convert on Two- Straight Power Plays
The Hurricanes appeared to open the scoring on the power play with just over four minutes left in the first period when Jackson Blake fired one from the point off Pionk and in. However, the Jets challenged for goaltender interference and won as Mikko Rantanen was deemed to have interfered with Comrie in the crease.
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The Jets, given a power play of their own with 1:05 left in the first, took just 15 seconds to truly open the scoring when Niederreiter one-timed an Alex Iafallo dish home past Pyotr Kochetkov.
Early in the second, the Jets’ second power-play unit struck again. With Taylor Hall in the box for hooking, Pionk ripped in an absolute rocket of a slap shot from around the faceoff dots for his eighth of the season.
The two-high octane teams continued to trade chances through the rest of the second but Comrie and Kochetkov were up to the task in besting all comers. The shots were 20-18 for the Hurricanes through two.
Jets Have Two Goals Disallowed in Third, But Get One Back Via Successful Challenge
With six minutes left in the third, Vladislav Namestnikov appeared to have extended the Jets’ lead to 3-0 by scoring on a scramble, but it was disallowed after review as it was deemed he had kicked it in.
A few minutes later, Rasmus Kupari whacked a puck in past Kochetkov’s outstretched pad from in front, but that too was disallowed for goalie interference, this time right on the ice by the officials. The Jets challenged once again and were once again successful, this time at getting their lead extended to 3-0. They cruised the rest of the way to victory.
Notes & Observations
Rantanen, in his fifth game since being acquired by the Hurricanes from the Colorado Avalanche on Jan. 24, was limited to one shot in 18:55 of ice time. He also hit the post once.
The game featured the league’s best power play (Jets at 33.33 per cent entering the game) versus the league’s best penalty kill (Hurricanes at 86.3 per cent entering.) The Jets’ power play went two for four while the Hurricanes went zero for two.
The shots were 30-29 in favour of the Jets.
The Jets improved to 29-0-1 when leading after two.
The Hurricanes are back in action Thursday in Minnesota against the Wild. The Jets are back in action Friday when they host the New York Islanders in their final game before two weeks off for the 4 Nations Face-Off.