*Photo from the San Diego Union Tribune*
That's how you keep a winning streak going. Josh Morrissey had a goal and an assist, Adam Lowry scored in OT, and the Winnipeg Jets defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning with a 3-2 overtime victory on Wednesday night in Tampa Bay.
The Jets have taken home wins in 4 straight games and 7 of their last 8, pushing their record to 11-5-2 and sitting in 3rd place in the Central Division. Leading the charge on the scoresheet was Morrissey with a two point game, upping his recent total to 8 points in 4 games.
Jets interim head coach Scott Arniel said "That game had a little bit of everything. Both teams had momentum for stretches. Whether it was six or seven minutes where we were dominant and then they would take over for a while. Hellebuyck made some great stops for us. I've seen him make a lot of those. Sometimes we take him for granted because he does that on a regular basis."
Morrissey started the scoring, giving the Jets a 1-0 lead with his 3rd goal of the season, coming 5:29 into the game. On the power play at the 13:06 mark of the period, Mark Scheifele converted for the Jets, doubling the lead to 2-0. Exactly 5 minutes later, Steven Stamkos found the back of the net on a Lightning power play, making it 2-1 after one period.
The only goal in the rest of regulation came from Brayden Point in the second period. Assisted by Brandon Hagel, he scored his 8th goal of the season to tie the score 2-2. Just 1:39 into the extra frame, Neal Pionk and Vladislav Namestnikov assisted on Lowry's goal, his 3rd goal of the season to give the Jets the win.
Lowry said of the sequence that "It starts in the zone, we had some good patience. We were able to force a turnover on a bobbled puck and we took off. Unbelievable pass by Neal and I just tried my best not to miss. Vladdy does so many little things and brings so much value to the line. His patience in traffic, it was a great play by him."
Starting in net for the Jets was their go to goalie in Connor Hellebuyck, who picked up the win to improve to 9-4-1 through 14 starts. Hellebuyck stopped 31 of the 33 Lightning shots that got to him, good for a .939 save percentage.
Getting the start opposite Hellebucyk was Tampa Bay's Jonas Johansson, who's record dropped to 8-4-5 with the overtime loss. Johansson turned aside 29 out of the 32 shots on goal the Jets had, giving him a .906 save percentage.
Tampa Bay head coach Jon Cooper said of the loss that "We didn't lean on them like I thought we could. I think we had four shots on goal in the third period. And we made those blunders in overtime. It just got away from us at the end. We played this game a little on our heels and not on our toes in the third period. Eventually it cost us."
Both teams play road contests on Friday. The Jets project to start Hellebuyck as they go for their 5th win in a row by facing the Florida Panthers. Johansson is the Lightning's expected starter against the Carolina Hurricanes.
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