WINNIPEG — Justin Schultz hopes getting tough back-to-back victories is the spark the Seattle Kraken need to keep pushing hard for a playoff spot.
Andre Burakovsky scored on the power play with 2:39 remaining in the third period to lift the Kraken to a 4-3 victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday.
The win followed Monday’s 4-2 Seattle victory over the Calgary Flames.
“We’re still in the fight here,” said Schultz, who scored his team’s first goal against Winnipeg. “Guys want to be in the fight and we’re not giving up, so these are two big wins for us. Need a lot more of them, but we’re heading in the right direction.”
Nashville holds the first Western Conference wild-card spot with 73 points. Los Angeles had 72 heading into its Tuesday night game against Vancouver. St. Louis and Seattle each have 67 points.
Jets forward Mason Appleton had just blocked a shot, but Burakovsky got the puck and fired it over goalie Connor Hellebuyck’s glove for the winning goal.
“It’s been a battle,” said Burakovsky, who has two goals and 10 points in 29 games. “With all the injuries and the missed time, I think I’ve been playing some really good hockey lately. … It was nice to finally see one go in.”
Jared McCann had a goal and two assists and Tomas Tatar also scored for the Kraken (28-23-11).
Joey Daccord made 30 saves for Seattle, which has earned at least a point in eight of its last 10 games (7-2-1).
Kyle Connor, Adam Lowry and Nino Niederreiter scored for the Jets (39-17-5). Appleton added a pair of assists.
Hellebuyck stopped 20 shots for Winnipeg, which had a two-game win streak snapped.
“That's a frustrating loss,” Jets coach Rick Bowness said. “It certainly wasn't our best.”
Seattle led 1-0 after the first period. It was 2-2 following the second and 3-3 inside the first two minutes of the third.
Niederreiter scored at 1:17 of the third, but Tatar replied 25 seconds later to tie it up.
“Credit to them, that’s a gutsy win,” Lowry said.
The Jets travel to Seattle for the rematch on Friday.
“Some minor tweaks to our game and we’ll be ready for them on Friday,” Lowry added.
Seattle had opened the game’s scoring when Schultz went on the rush and fired a low shot past Hellebuyck at 8:45 of the first.
Winnipeg capitalized on a Seattle turnover and Connor scored his 26th goal of the season after Mark Scheifele sent him a cross-ice pass at 8:07 of the second.
It was Scheifele’s 700th career point in his 778th game, making him the second player in franchise history to reach that mark behind former Jet Blake Wheeler (812 in 897 games).
“It's a very humbling, humbling thing and obviously excited and proud and lots more work to do,” Scheifele said of reaching the milestone.
Winnipeg had the game’s first power play late in the second period and McCann turned the tables, going on a breakaway and beating Hellebuyck high on the glove side with 2:04 remaining.
McCann became the first player in Kraken history to score short-handed in back-to-back games after potting a similar breakaway goal against the Flames. He’s also on a three-game point streak with two goals and two assists.
The Jets got it back to 2-2 with nine seconds left when Appleton fed Lowry a pass from behind the net and he fired the puck past Daccord.
Lowry’s ninth goal of the season snapped a 21-game goal drought and extended his point streak to three games with one goal and two assists.
When Niederreiter recorded his 18th goal of the season, it stretched his goal streak to three games with four markers in that span.
Seattle got its first power play of the game with 4:25 left in the third when Jets defenceman Logan Stanley was sent to the penalty box for slashing.
Kraken forward Yanni Gourde took a penalty for hooking with 24 seconds remaining to give Winnipeg a 6-on-4 advantage with Hellebuyck out of the net.
Daccord, however, stretched out to stop a shot from Neal Pionk with the wide-open cage, and the Jets couldn’t tie it up with the extra attacker.
NOTES
Jets forward Gabriel Vilardi missed a third consecutive game with an upper-body injury. … Winnipeg has been hit with a flu bug, causing an ill Nate Schmidt to come out of the lineup and be replaced by Logan Stanley. … Kraken defenceman Vince Dunn missed the game after being crushed by a hit from Flames rookie Martin Pospisil in Monday’s win over Calgary.
UP NEXT
Jets: Play the Kraken in Seattle on Friday.
Kraken: Host the Jets on Friday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 5, 2024.
Judy Owen, The Canadian Press
