The Winnipeg Jets cannot be stopped.
The NHL’s top team continued its white-hot run Wednesday night in Ottawa, downing a shorthanded Senators team 4-1 to extend their franchise-record win streak to 11 games.
Even though Brady Tkachuk was not in the lineup, the game got frisky early with multiple players dropping the gloves in the first seven minutes.
The first incident came less than three minutes in when Logan Stanley took exception to an Artem Zub hit on Mark Scheifele. Both players dropped their gloves but no punches were thrown as the two men grappled for a bit before officials intervened. Stanley got an extra roughing penalty on the play but Winnipeg killed it off.
A few minutes later, Ottawa’s Tyler Kleven caught Mason Appleton with a big, clean hit into the boards, prompting Adam Lowry to fight Kleven. Lowry briefly left the game to get his right hand taped up after the fight while Kleven also went to the locker room after the tussle and did not return.
Just over a minute after the fight, the Jets got on the scoreboard thanks to a turnover in the Senators end by Tim Stutzle. A blind backhand pass missed the mark near the blueline and Nikolaj Ehlers intercepted it before zooming a pass towards the net that Cole Perfetti steered past Linus Ullmark to open the scoring.
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Winnipeg struck again 77 seconds later. Nino Niederreiter was sprung on a partial breakaway and was denied by Ullmark, who thought he had the puck frozen. Instead, the puck sat free near his pad and was jammed home by Appleton to make it 2-0 on Winnipeg’s fourth shot of the night.
Connor Hellebuyck had to be strong for most of the period as the Senators dominated the shot clock until the final minutes when Winnipeg actually pulled ahead 13-12 through 20 minutes.
The Jets extended their lead at the 8:04 mark of the second. After a long shift in the Senators’ end, Gabriel Vilardi skated the puck in front of the Ottawa net before dishing it to Kyle Connor, who beat Ullmark five-hole for his 31st of the season.
The Senators finally got on the board 49 seconds later when Thomas Chabot beat Hellebuyck with a perfect shot just under the crossbar.
Winnipeg had a golden opportunity to build on their lead Nikolas Matinpalo was called for two penalties on one play, and 36 seconds later Jake Sanderson took a penalty as well, giving the league’s best power play a full two-minute 5-on-3.
The Jets managed to get six shots towards Ullmark but could not get one past him as the game stayed 3-1 heading to the third. Winnipeg outshot Ottawa 18-11 in the second.
If history was any indication, there would be little drama in the third. Winnipeg entered the game with a 31-0-1 record when leading after 40 minutes, while Ottawa was 1-19 when trailing after two.
True to form, the Jets allowed very little in the final 20 minutes, holding the Sens to two shots in the third.
Ottawa even had a power play with under six minutes left but they couldn’t get anything going, so they pulled Ullmark with 3:36 left.
That too proved fruitless as Mark Scheifele scored into the empty net with 2:56 on the clock.
Hellebuyck turned aside 24 shots to earn the win while Ullmark made 36 stops in defeat.
Winnipeg will look to make it a dozen wins in a row when they visit Nashville Thursday night. The puck will drop just after 7 p.m. with pregame coverage on 680 CJOB beginning at 5 p.m.