{{pageModel.leagueAbbr}} {{pageModel.subtitle}} | Las Vegas Review-Journal
National Hockey League
Winnipeg 2, Vancouver 0
When: 8:00 PM ET, Tuesday, March 22, 2016
Where: MTS Centre, Winnipeg, Manitoba
Referees: Chris Lee, Kevin Pollock
Linesmen: Kiel Murchison, Vaughan Rody
Attendance: 15294

WINNIPEG, Manitoba -- Not everything went perfectly for Nic Petan on his birthday, but he enjoyed himself nonetheless.

Petan, who turned 21 on Tuesday, made his debut on the Winnipeg Jets' top line and had a dominant performance as the hosts beat the Vancouver Canucks 2-0 at the MTS Centre.

The Canucks were shut out for the third game in a row, and their scoreless streak reached a franchise-record 228 minutes.

Winnipeg goalie Ondrej Pavelec made 28 saves to record his first shutout of the season.

Petan, a rookie winger playing just his 17th game of the season, couldn't solve Canucks goalie Jacob Markstrom despite creating a pile of chances while playing alongside the Jets top forwards Mark Scheifele and Blake Wheeler.

Jets center Adam Lowry's wraparound goal early in the third period snapped a scoreless tie and was the only blemish on an otherwise scintillating performance by Markstrom, who stopped 47 shots but lost track of Lowry's whereabouts on the play.

With wingers Matt Halischuk and Chris Thorburn digging away at a loose puck in the crease, Lowry recovered the disk behind the net, went the other way and slipped in his sixth goal of the season at 2:30 of the final frame.

Scheifele scored his 24th goal of the campaign into an empty net with 23 seconds left. Moments earlier, a blast by Petan that seemed destined to go in hit the leg of a sliding defender.

Petan dressed for 14 of Winnipeg's first 18 games, scoring his first and only NHL goal during the season opener on Oct. 8 against the Boston Bruins. However, he played the bulk of the season with the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League.

He admitted the victory was the best present of all, but firing one in would have been a bonus.

"You get a little frustrated, but a win's a win," Petan said. "If we lost, it would be a different story. But for myself, those are things you've got to get over real quick. Missing the first three or four opportunities, you want to get the next one, but it just wasn't going in.

"Even the empty-net (shot) wasn't going in. You've just got to get over it."

Petan is one of a number of youngers who will get lots of playing time as the Jets complete the remainder of a disappointing 2015-16 season.

Winnipeg (30-37-6) won for just the first time in four games, while Vancouver (27-33-12) lost its fifth straight.

The clubs are tied for second-to-last in the Western Conference, a point up on the Edmonton Oilers.

Jets coach Paul Maurice likes what he is seeing from Petan in an expanded role.

"(He is) capable of making some plays on the power play," Maurice said. "It's just good to see a little bit of the confidence to take that into the hole and not keep looking for (Scheifele) or (Wheeler) which is what young players will do.

"What I really like about his game, not just tonight but in all three of them, he's eliminated the plays that he was trying to make early in the year that are really high risk, kind of low-payoff plays. He showed some good quickness."

The Canucks maintained Markstrom was jostled on the play that led to Lowry's game-winner and asked for a video review, but the referee's call of a good goal was upheld.

Markstrom said, "First of all, it's a rebound from my part that if I could hold that, it doesn't happen at all. But then it kind of spits out, and a couple of guys drive the net and then I see it goes behind the net and he's going to wrap it. You know, a stick just kind of pins my foot toward the post and I try to push and I couldn't push and then a second push he kind of let go and it was too late."

Markstrom said he received no explanation from the referees on why no goaltender-interference call was assessed.

The Jets wrap up a four-game homestand Thursday when the Los Angeles Kings visit the MTS Centre. The Canucks travel to Nashville to battle the Predators on Thursday and then play the Blues in St. Louis on Friday.

Canucks captain Henrik Sedin said it is tough not getting the job done for Markstrom and his goaltending partner, Ryan Miller.

"(They have) played great for us all year," Sedin said. "That's never been a problem. We know they play great for us. It's tough to go through. We're all disappointed, there's no question about that. But you still have to look at it as a process. It's not going to change overnight. We need to do the right things over and over, and it's going to change."

NOTES: Both clubs are dealing with a pile of injures. The Jets were without C Mathieu Perreault (concussion), D Toby Enstrom (lower body), RW Nikolaj Ehlers (upper body), RW Joel Armia (lower body), D Mark Stuart (lower body), C Bryan Little (upper body) and RW JC Lipon (upper body). Vancouver has shut down C Brandon Sutter (broken jaw), RW Radim Vrbata (knee) and D Alex Edler (broken foot) for the season. D Chris Tanev (undisclosed), C Markus Granlund (upper body), D Luca Sbisa (upper body), RW Derek Dorsett (upper body), D Yannick Weber (upper body) and RW Jannik Hansen (upper body) did not play Tuesday. ... Jets head coach Paul Maurice has indicated he will rotate his goalies for the rest of the season. ... Canucks C Henrik Sedin is tied with Hall of Famer Maurice (The Rocket) Richard with 965 career points, good for the 88th spot on the NHL's all-time scoring list.
Top Game Performances
 
Vancouver   Winnipeg
N/A Points Adam Lowry 1
N/A Goals Adam Lowry 1
N/A Assists Matt Halischuk 1
N/A Power Play Goals N/A
N/A Short Handed Goals N/A
Jacob Markstrom .979 Save Percentage Ondrej Pavelec 1.000
Jacob Markstrom 47 Saves Ondrej Pavelec 28
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Shots Goals Power Play Penalty Kill Penalty Mins Face Offs Won
Vancouver 28 0 0-2 3-3 6 19
Winnipeg 49 2 0-3 2-2 4 28
Upcoming Games
  • Winnipeg will play their next game at home against Los Angeles. The Jets have a W/L % of .333 after a win and .465 after a loss.
  • Vancouver will play their next game on the road against Nashville. The Canucks have a W/L % of .321 after a win and .409 after a loss.