Music: {allcanada} Jokinen leads Jets past Rangers

Monday, December 2, 2013

{allcanada} Jokinen leads Jets past Rangers

Elf (2003)

NEW YORK -- Olli Jokinen scored twice, including the game-winning goal, and John Albert scored on his first NHL shot to lead the Winnipeg Jets to a 5-2 win against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Monday night.

Devin Setoguchi and Blake Wheeler also scored for the Jets and Ondrej Pavelec made 35 saves.

Mats Zuccarello and Ryan Callahan scored for New York. Cam Talbot stopped 25 of 29 shots; he had allowed two or fewer goals in his first seven starts.

Jokinen was the beneficiary of a nice third-period bounce when the puck came out to him in the slot after bouncing off Chris Thorburn in the right corner. The Finnish center made no mistake, beating Talbot glove side to give the Jets a 3-2 lead with 7:18 remaining in regulation.

It was a productive night for Jokinen, who helped the Jets even the score in the second when he took a pass, pivoted and fed a trailing Setoguchi, whose shot beat Talbot between the legs for his seventh of the season and his third in four games with 11:44 remaining in the second.

It was a costly error by defenseman Keaton Ellerby that led to the opening goal 2:49 into the game. On one of Winnipeg's eight first-period giveaways, Ellerby's cross-ice clearing attempt bounced directly to Ryan McDonagh, whose slap shot was tipped by Zuccarello between Pavelec's legs. McDonagh's assist extended the defenseman's point streak to four games. The goal was Zuccarello's fourth of the season.

Playing in his first NHL game, Albert gave the Jets their first chance to even the score when he drew a tripping penalty on Derick Brassard behind his own net with 8:39 remaining in the first period. Ranked 28th in the NHL, Winnipeg's power play fired one shot, which was swept away by Talbot. That marked the 13th straight failed man advantage for Winnipeg, which hasn't scored on the power play since Nov. 21, when it went it went 2-for-4 in a 6-3 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks. The Jets finished the game 0-for-2 on the power play, marking the fifth straight game in which they've failed to score with the man advantage.

Albert's storybook evening continued 1:44 after Setoguchi's tying goal, when Dustin Byfuglien stole a pass from Brassard and fed the speedy forward, who outraced McDonagh toward the net and wired a shot past Talbot to give Winnipeg the lead and Albert his first NHL goal on his first NHL shot. On his next shift, Brassard was relegated to the fourth line alongside Brian Boyle and Derek Dorsett.

Despite the two unanswered goals from Winnipeg, New York took the majority of the shots in the second, outshooting the Jets 14-6 in the final 12:46 of the period. That aggressiveness paid off with 4:10 remaining, when Brad Richards' shot from in close sneaked past Pavelec and trickled toward the goal line. Jacob Trouba cleared the puck away, but it bounced around the crease before Callahan pounced and tied the game, 2-2, with his seventh of the season.

New York had a great chance to take the lead when Chris Kreider sent Derek Stepan in alone on Pavelec. Stepan was hooked by Tobias Enstrom with 9:14 remaining in the period just as he fired a shot that Pavelec stopped with his right pad. The crowd called for a penalty shot on the play, but none was awarded.

Jokinen iced the victory when his shot from the slot squeaked through Talbot with 1:54 remaining to give him his second goal and third point of the night. Wheeler then scored an empty-net goal with 51 seconds left in regulation.

Elf (2003)