recap jets

Saturday night’s duel between the Caps and the Winnipeg Jets – the top two teams in the NHL – did not disappoint; it was an entertaining affair that required overtime to settle the score. Winnipeg’s Josh Morrissey took care of that at 1:57 of the extra session, netting his second goal of the night to lift the Jets to a 5-4 victory, their sixth in a row.

Playing their first home game in exactly two weeks – after a five-game, 12-day road trip – the Caps were somewhat sluggish in the first, and it cost them. The Jets rolled out to an early 2-0 lead. It took Washington most of the game’s final 40 minutes to pull even, but they managed to dig out of a two-goal ditch to pull a late point in a game in which they never led, doing so for the second time in as many games.

“I thought [we were] better in the second for sure,” begins Caps coach Spencer Carbery. [In the] third, we give up the early one, which wasn’t great. But we fight our way back in that game and find those two late goals to get it tied.

“Off night, though. We made a lot of mental mistakes throughout that game. In a game against a team like that, I was a little bit disappointed.”

Winnipeg brought a five-game winning streak into town with it, and the Jets brought the heat in the first frame. They hopped out to a 1-0 lead on a Cole Perfetti power-play goal at 9:13; Perfetti was perfectly positioned to put back the rebound of a Vladislav Namestnikov shot to give the visitors an early lead.

Less than four minutes later, the Jets doubled their advantage when Dylan Samberg’s center point shot hit P-L Dubois’ skate and changed directions, finding its way past Logan Thompson for a 2-0 Winnipeg lead at 12:41.

The Caps clawed their way back into the contest in the second, cutting the deficit from two to one. First, Dubois bit the hand that once fed him when he buried the rebound of a John Carlson shot at 1:12 of the second period.

Winnipeg restored its two-goal advantage when a Caps turnover in their own end prolonged an offensive zone shift for the Jets, and Alex Iafallo was able to tip home Neal Pionk’s point shot at 4:03.

Washington had a quick response, scoring less than a minute later to again pull to within a goal. But that Taylor Raddysh tally wasn’t immediately apparent to most of the raucous sellout crowd.

Raddysh and linemates went into Winnipeg ice on the forecheck, and the puck came to the Washington winger quite close to the Jets’ net. From below the left circle, Raddysh fired, and Winnipeg netminder Connor Hellebuyck appeared to squeeze the puck somewhere in his equipment. But from behind the net, Ethen Frank and Matt Roy both pointed to the puck; it was wedged behind the center support beam of the net. Raddysh had somehow threaded his shot through a hole in the armor of the perennial Vezina candidate, making it a 3-2 game at 4:54.

Two nights ago in Ottawa, the Caps rallied from a two-goal deficit in the third, forcing overtime before falling 5-4. Saturday’s hole was only a goal deep heading into the final frame, but another Washington turnover resulted in a quick feed from Mark Scheifele to Morrissey in the slot, and the dangerous defenseman scored from there at 1:10, putting the Caps down by a pair for the third time.

If we’ve learned anything from the first 50-plus games of the 2024-25 season, it’s that the Caps are never out of a game. Washington went to work and managed to again draw within a goal, doing so before the midpoint of the third.

Roy put the puck deep and Tom Wilson and Dylan Strome got behind the Winnipeg net on the forecheck. Strome was able to pull the puck to the front and take a couple of whacks at it, and Wilson was able to find and bury the rebound of the second Strome shot, making it 4-3 at 7:26.

Washington kept buzzing and kept pushing for the equalizer, generating a number of good opportunities and near misses. Finally, the big man got it done. As the Caps entered Jets’ ice on the rush, Wilson teed up a shot for Alex Ovechkin just inside the Winnipeg line, and the captain’s one-timer handcuffed Hellebuyck, going in off his left shoulder to square the score at 4-4 at 12:21.

In overtime, Scheifele and Morrissey worked a nifty give-and-go play with Morrissey taking the return feed and beating Thompson on the glove side from the top of the paint.

Fans got to see the League’s two top teams battle for more than 60 minutes, and the building was buzzing all night long.

“They came out hard,” says Wilson of the Jets. “Once we got our feet under us and we started playing the right way, it was a heck of a hockey game.

“I think we kind of gave them the first period, but after that it was two of the best teams just going toe-to-toe. And they made a good play there in overtime and made the difference.

Winnipeg now heads home with a six-game winning streak, and a perfect 3-0-0 road trip.

“Obviously I really liked our first [period]; we came out great,” says Jets coach Scott Arniel. “The second period, we looked a little too casual. They got the momentum back and kind of got after us there a bit. In the third, we got the lead back [sic] and got out in front, and then we got back on our heels and they had a big push.

“At the end of the day, when it gets to overtime, you’re hoping for that opportunity, that chance where you get those odd man situations, and a nice play, big goal by [Morrissey].”

Morrissey’s goal gives the Jets their first victory at Capital One Arena in over a dozen years, since Jan. 22, 2013. Washington’s late rally extends its home ice point streak to a baker’s dozen (9-0-4).