Before I get to the game itself, what made this victory even sweeter was that the Jets finally honoured the greatest captain (if not the greatest player) in Winnipeg Jets history, Dale Hawerchuck in a pre-game ceremony.
His name and number was raised to the rafters of the BellMTS Place and now hangs among other Winnipeg Jet greats and Hall of Fame members, Bobby Hull, Ulf Nillson and Anders Hedberg.
Hawerchuck turned the Jets around the very next season, helping the them earn a record of 33-33-18. A .500 record, but good enough for 80 points, a difference of 32 points, that led the Jets to second place in the Norris division, 14 points behind the Minnesota North Stars. Hawerchuck's performance for that season earned him the Calder trophy for the 1982 NHL Rookie of the Year.
Hawerchuck is well worth the hype. I remember in my younger years, coming in after playing hockey after school in the frigid -30 to -40 Winnipeg winters and settling in to watch Hawerchuck and teammates Paul Maclean, Thomas Steen, Doug Smail, Scott Arneil, Morris Lukowich among many others. This was a joyful and rewarding experience for me, and Hawerchuck was a main cause of it. My first hockey jersey was adorned with the number ten and I was proud to show it off.
Ducky (his nickname throughout his tenure with the Jets; originating from his name sounding like the cartoon character, Howard the Duck) has finally taken his place among the Winnipeg Jets history of elites that have always been overlooked or downright ignored by the league and hockey purists over the years. Playing most of your career in a small-market will tend to have that happen. It was a little better playing in on the east coast with the Buffalo Sabres after Hawerchuck was traded in 1990, but he still never really received the credit he deserved playing in the same genre as Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux.
But, Dale Hawerchuck is now enshrined in the Winnipeg Jets Hall of Fame and that is a very good thing and was long overdo.And now to the game itself.
The Jets looked good in the first few minutes, countering a early push by the Coyotes, but took three early penalties in the first period that they probably would have paid for if they were facing a team with a more potent offense. Fortunately for the Jets, the Coyotes power-play percentage currently sits at 14.8 percent.
Andrew Copp opened the scoring for the Jets in the latter stages of the first period on a feed from Dmitry Kulikov and Adam Lowry. It was Copp's third of the campaign.
A minute and 43 seconds into the second period, Joel Armia scored his third on assists from Nikolaj Ehlers and Josh Morrissey to make it 2-0 Winnipeg.
Just under four and a half minutes later, Bryan Little made it 3-0 with his third of the season on a unassisted break-a-away.
The Jets made it 3-0 when Tyler Myers stole the puck behind the net and Adam Lowry put a nice shot top shelf over the glove hand of Antti Raanta, when he found the rebound of Patrik Laine. It was Lowry's second goal of the season after his absence from the line-up, due to an injury.
The spoiler moment came at 5:21 of the third period, when Alex Goligoski beat Connor Hellebuyck to ruin his shut-out bid, who once again deserved the donut due to his competent play in the crease.
Patrik Laine's goal-scoring streak ended at five games, however, his point streak continued to six games with his assist on Lowry's goal.
The Jets remain in second place in the Central division, four points behind the St. Louis Blues, with a record of 10-4-3; one point ahead of the Nashville Predators with 23 points.
