Saturday, April 06, 2013

Jets soar past Flyers with second-period blitz

Winnipeg, MB -- Grant Clitsome, Kyle Wellwood and Evander Kane scored in a 2:06 span during a four-goal second period which lifted the Winnipeg over the Philadelphia Flyers, 4-1, at MTS Centre on Saturday afternoon.

Bryan Little also tallied during the deciding frame and Blake Wheeler added a pair of assists for the Jets, who snapped a five-game losing skid.

Ondrej Pavelec stopped 30-of-31 shots for the win.

"It's funny, but when you focus on the team game and you focus on the accomplishment of winning, how the scoring looks after itself, and the individual scoring takes care of itself," Jets head coach Claude Noel said of his club, which has been battling Washington for Southeast Division supremacy in recent weeks.

Ruslan Fedotenko's tip of a Kent Huskins shot was the lone offense for the Flyers, who saw their four-game win streak and a chance to reach the .500 mark for the first time all season fall by the wayside.

Ilya Bryzgalov was pulled after allowing four scores on 16 shots in two periods. Steve Mason made his Philadelphia debut and turned away all nine Winnipeg chances in the third.

"The second period was bad. The first period was competitive, the third period was competitive," said Flyers head coach Peter Laviolette. "We could have scored a couple goals in the third period to get back in it. Whether we win or lose tonight we have to win the next game, and then we have to win the next one after that."

Clitsome tied the game on a wrister from between the circles with 7:22 left in the second, and Wellwood snuck a shot home from inside the crease only 27 seconds later for a 2-1 Jets edge.

It was a two-goal margin for Winnipeg when Kane walked out in front from the right of Bryzgalov, picked up his own rebound and lifted it home at 14:44.

A shot from the left wing by Little eluded Bryzgalov with 54 seconds left and the hosts hit intermission ahead 4-1.

"That first one kind of gave us momentum and we were flying from there," Little said. "To get that fourth one, it was a bit of a cushion for us and I thought we did a good job protecting it."

Pavelec made 13 saves in the third to hold the visitors at bay, which included a pair of short-handed situations.

Huskins' floater from the left point near the boards hit the back of the net thanks to a Fedotenko tip with 8:53 remaining in the first period.

Under a minute prior to the score, Jets captain Andrew Ladd missed a breakaway chance by shooting wide.

"I just think we shut it down for the second period," Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds admitted. "It wasn't the defense, it wasn't the goaltending, it was everybody."

Notes: The Jets improved to 8-14-1 this season when allowing the first goal, and the Flyers fell to 12-5-2 this season when scoring the first goal of the game...Despite the loss, the Flyers won two of three in the season series...Philadelphia hasn't won five in a row since March 1-10, 2012...Flyers forward Brayden Schenn played in his 100th NHL game (91 w/Philly)...Bryzgalov made his 22nd straight start, most for a Flyers netminder since Pelle Lindbergh started 24 in a row during the 1984-85 season...Fedotenko extended his point streak to five games (3G, 2A)...Mason became the second right-handed catching goaltender to suit up in Orange and Black since Stephane Beauregard in 1992-93 and is just the fourth player in franchise history to have won a Calder Trophy before arriving in Philadelphia (Brit Selby, Dale Hawerchuk, Peter Forsberg).

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