Morrissey leads the Jets to 5-3 win over Canucks

VANCOUVER – Josh Morrissey took matters in his own hands.

With the Winnipeg Jets in the midst of a three-game losing streak, the top-pairing defenceman and alternate captain was the picture of calm after the morning skate.

While acknowledging that the Jets were working through some issues, Morrissey exuded a quiet confidence when laying out some thoughts on what needed to change for his team to get back on track.

“For us, we feel that there is another level — or multiple levels — to our game,” said Morrissey. “Obviously, we’ve got some new faces but we’re 15 games in now. Everyone should know the system and structure and be comfortable in it. So now, it’s about let’s get on the gas and let’s get playing here.

“Let’s get back to what we were doing during that 9-3 start. We know we’re a really good hockey team and it comes back to executing.”

Morrissey seemed to have his foot on the gas throughout the contest, which included 33 shifts for 24:23 of ice time.

He banked a pass off the skate of Jonathan Toews to open the scoring at 4:57 of the contest, added a goal and rounded out his three-point performance with another helper to lead the Jets to a 5-3 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday night at Rogers Arena.

“Everybody wants to step up when you lose a few games in a row,” Morrissey said after the game. “We had a great meeting this morning, actually, as a group and just kind of talked about what our identity is. Everybody raised their intensity level. And as a leader on the team, you want to be part of leading that charge.”

Morrissey is up to 16 points and continues to keep himself right in the thick of the early-season race for the Norris Trophy.

To add some context, the only other defenceman in the NHL that is averaging a point per game this season is Colorado Avalanche star Cale Makar, who has six goals and 23 points in 17 games.

The Jets, who improved to 10-6, plan to take Wednesday off, before continuing a six-game road trip on Thursday night at Climate Pledge Arena against the Seattle Kraken.

“Every team is going to go through patches of play that they don’t like the results,” said Jets captain Adam Lowry. “We didn’t like how we played in California. It is no secret we need to be a lot sharper and a lot quicker, more competitive in our battles and things like that.

“We hadn’t really played with a lead this trip and hadn’t put ourselves in a good position,” said Lowry, who had an assist. “There have been some meetings and some video, a lot of the stuff we were doing in the previous three games was self-inflicted. We know when we play to our system and structure and we execute the game plan we are a real good hockey team and I think we showed that.”

Let’s take a closer look at what else happened in this one:

SNAPPING THE DROUGHT – The Jets took a zero-for-16 drought into the contest, but that was snapped when Morrissey unleashed a one-timer from the point that appeared to change direction on the way to the net off the stick of Kiefer Sherwood.

Earlier in the day, the Jets held a power play meeting to try to encourage them to get back to their principles.

“We’re not starting with pucks off face-offs, and I don’t just mean on a clean win or a clean loss. It’s those 50-50s, getting the puck back, our retrievals, our clean entries,” said Jets head coach Scott Arniel. “It’s a little bit of everything and then, our attack mindset. You know what, the guys have been good about it. They know. We don’t have to go too far down and do too much digging to recognize when our power play is good, all of those elements go one right after another. It’s being consistent with it. And if we’re gaining the opportunities and getting the looks, you can live with that.”

The Jets had been struggling to win the special teams battle of late and on Tuesday, they were even, giving up one with the man-advantage while scoring two of their own, the second coming in the opening minute of the third period to provide some valuable insurance.

“Yeah, it was big. I mean, we want to be a difference maker in a positive way for the group,” said Morrissey. “And whether it’s, of course, trying to score goals, but also trying to bring momentum and build momentum for the shifts after if we don’t score. “So, I thought we did a good job of both units going out there competing. They’re pretty aggressive on the kill, so kind of just taking what they give you, and we had some good looks. It was nice to get a few.”

THE BACKHAND — The Jets second power play goal was a spinning backhand from Gabe Vilardi that beat Kevin Lankinen high to the blocker side and made it 4-2.

Vilardi is known for his soft hands in tight, but this shot raised eyebrows for its high degree of difficulty.

“That’s pretty sweet,” said Morrissey. “I mean, (Connor) McDavid had one the other night, and I guess Gabe kind of had something similar, but we’ll tell him, they’re the same type of skater. But, yeah, I was pretty, pretty unreal. He’s so crafty in the slot and around the net. An unbelievable play.”

The play also caught the attention of the Jets head coach.

“Impressive,” said Arniel. “Pretty impressive.”

The goal was the sixth of the season for Vilardi, along with his second on the power play and second game-winner.

THE CLOSE CALL – The Canucks thought they had made it a one-goal game five minutes into the third period when Brock Boeser banked a shot off Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck after the original shot had bounced hard off the end boards.

The puck ended up on the goal line but didn’t fully cross it, as confirmed by video review.

THE KEY PLAY – Gabe Vilardi scored on a wicked backhand 48 seconds into the third period to extend the lead to two goals.

THE THREE STARS

Josh Morrissey, Jets, Scored a goal, set up two others.

Quinn Hughes, Canucks, Chipped in three assists.

Nino Niederreiter, Jets, Scored a goal and added an assist.

EXTRA, EXTRA – Alex Iafallo rounded out the scoring for the Jets, scoring into an empty net with 46.7 seconds to play, capping a two-point game of his own.

Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck made his 12th start of the season and finished with 30 saves.

The Jets were down to five defencemen for most of the final 35 minutes after Haydn Fleury left the contest with an undisclosed injury. Fleury, who finished with 10 shifts for 6:38 of ice time, took only one shift in the second period before departing. On that last shift, Fleury went to hit Boeser in the corner in the defensive zone and left the ice in some discomfort. After the game, Arniel said Fleury was dealing with an upper-body issue, though the severity of the injury was not yet known.

The Jets healthy scratches were defenceman Colin Miller and forward Brad Lambert.

After sitting out two games last week for maintenance, Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko started the game but he didn’t come out for the second period, finishing with six saves on nine shots on goal.

ken.wiebe@freepress.mb.ca

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