Jets break out
The Leafs tied the game at 2-2 on a goal by Leo Komarov, his sixth, mid-way through the second and battled hard in the third. Still tied at two it got promising for Toronto when Komarov forced Burmistrov into a holding the stick penalty at 15:47 of that final frame.
The only other penalty Winnipeg took came in the first. The offender? Also Burmistrov and also for holding the stick, that time on Morgan Rielly. The result? A power play goal from Pierre-Alexandre Parenteau that tied the game 1-1 after the Jets’ Dustin Byfuglien had opened the scoring early.
This time though having Burmistrov in the penalty box didn’t work out the way the Leafs intended. They didn’t score and it so happened Jet defenceman Bryan Little had the puck as Burmistrov came hustling out of the penalty box after his time expired.
Little hit his teammate with a tape-to-tape pass and Burmistrov had a partial breakaway. He played a little give-and-go with a hustling Blake Wheeler and Wheeler’s return pass left Burmistrov with lots of net to shoot at and he snapped a wrist shot past James Reimer.
“When you sit in the box, the first thing you are hoping is that we’re not going to give up a goal; you hope time will run out,” an elated Burmistrov said in the dressing room after the game. “Then you also hope when time runs out someone on our team will have the puck and give it to me for a breakaway.”
Babcock: liked Leafs game
That goal came at 17:55 and under two minutes later Little took a pass from Wheeler and scored into an empty net to put the game away. Winnipeg’s Ondrej Pavelec made 24 saves for the win while Reimer made 30 in a losing cause. The other Jet goal came off the stick of Mark Scheifele.
In the standings the Jets are third in the Central Division at 8-4-1 for seventeen points while the Leafs remain last in the Atlantic Division at 2-8-2 for six points. Toronto has not won 2 games in a row all season but coach Mike Babcock said he saw a lot of positive things.
“I liked our looks,” he said. “We had a great look from Brad Boyes late in the game on the power play, and James van Riemsdyk had a great look on a breakaway. Lots of good things happened for our hockey club. We looked like a competitive, organized group today. I’m disappointed with the outcome.”
The Jets next play tomorrow night in Ottawa against the Senators while Toronto hosts the Detroit Red Wings on Friday night.
