Music: {allcanada} Jets hold on to defeat Canucks, get 40th win

Saturday, April 4, 2015

{allcanada} Jets hold on to defeat Canucks, get 40th win

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WINNIPEG -- The Winnipeg Jets helped their attempt to reach the Stanley Cup Playoffs with a 5-4 win against the Vancouver Canucks at MTS Centre on Saturday.

The Jets (40-26-12) hold the second wild card from the Western Conference. The franchise reached 40 wins for the first time since the 2006-07 season, when it was known as the Atlanta Thrashers.

Vancouver (45-29-5) is second in the Pacific Division, four points ahead of the Calgary Flames. The Canucks could have clinched a playoff berth with a win and other results.

Two goals from Lee Stempniak and three assists from Mathieu Perreault carried the Jets, who ended a two-game losing streak. Stempniak, an acquisition from the New York Rangers on March 1, has three goals his past two games; he has five goals and three assists in 14 games with Winnipeg.

Goals 50 seconds apart gave the Jets a 2-0 lead 5:24 into the first period. Jim Slater scored at 4:34, his fifth goal, and Michael Frolik scored his 18th.

Henrik Sedin's 18th goal on Vancouver's first power play made it 2-1 at 9:37. Daniel Sedin tied the game at 17:37 on his 17th goal, before Stempniak gave the lead back to Winnipeg 36 seconds later.

Mark Scheifele made it 4-2 Winnipeg with 55.6 seconds left in the second period, but Alexandre Burrows scored his 17th goal on a breakaway seven seconds later.

Burrows scored his second of the game with 2:05 left in the third period.

Vancouver goaltender Eddie Lack made 31 saves. Ondrej Pavelec made 26 saves for Winnipeg, including stopping second-period breakaways by Radim Vrbata and Bo Horvat.

The Jets played without defenseman Dustin Byfuglien, who began a four-game suspension for his cross-check of J.T. Miller of the New York Rangers on March 31.

Slater scored for the third time in the past four games off a cross-slot pass from Jiri Tlusty. On the next shift, Frolik jammed a loose puck under Lack. Frolik's 18 goals are his most in a season since he scored 21 in 2009-10 with the Florida Panthers.

Lack, who has started 18 of the past 20 games with Ryan Miller (knee) out, faced 12 shots by the seven-minute mark of the first period.

Winnipeg center Bryan Little's offensive-zone tripping penalty put Vancouver on its first power play. Vrbata's point shot ricocheted off the end boards into the crease, where Henrik Sedin stuffed it into the net.

Exactly eight minutes later, Daniel Sedin took Vrbata's pass from behind the Winnipeg net and slipped it past Pavelec.

Stempniak tipped in Perreault's pass through the slot past Lack at 18:13.

Scheifele snuck a right-circle shot past Lack. Off the faceoff, Burrows beat Winnipeg defenseman Toby Enstrom and tucked a shot around Pavelec for his third goal in the past four games.

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