Just when you thought the Canucks had hit rock bottom it gets even worse following Wednesday’s afternoon 4-1 loss to the Winnipeg Jets.
The Jets (9-9-2) won for the first time since Nov. 5 after returning home from a stretch of losing eight of nine games on the road, and clearly looked like the more desperate team.
“It put us back in a positive frame of mind coming home,” Jets coach Paul Maurice said of the win to open their three-game homestand.
The game was also the Canucks last one on their season high 7 game road trip which saw the team go 1-4-2.
The Jets opened up the scoring 5:55 into the game when Mark Scheifele scored on the power play to give the home team the early 1-0 lead.
In the second period the Canucks evened up the score when Daniel Sedin scored his seventh goal of the season at the 6:44 mark.
However for the remainder of the game the Jets owned the game, and the scoreboard.
Drew Stafford’s first goal in 12 games gave the Jets a 2-1 lead with 2:31 left in the second. Increasing the lead further, Scheifele scored his second goal of the game and seventh of the season with 2:45 left in the third period.
To cap off the scoring, Drew Stafford added an empty netter with 1:34 remaining in the game.
“It’s definitely a relief,” said Stafford, who has seven goals. “There are ebbs and flows in this game. There are times when things aren’t going to go your way. It’s just the nature of the business. Stick with it and sooner or later things will turn around.”
When asked about the game afterwards, Daniel Sedin said it was Ondrej Pavelec who made some key saves at critical moments.
“After we scored our tying goal, we had a lot of chances to get [ahead] in the game, but [Pavelec] made some great saves,” Daniel Sedin said. “Then we turned the puck over, and they scored. That’s the turning point right there.”
Up Next: The Canucks return home to Vancouver for a Saturday night matchup with the hated Chicago Blackhawks.
Written by: Hamed Amiri