Little scores shootout winner as Jets edge Flames

CALGARY, Alberta - In their first game after the five-day player break, the Winnipeg Jets faced a great challenge on the road in Calgary to take on a Flames team that had won seven straight.
The Jets put forth a gritty, playoff-type effort and outlasted the Flames 2-1 in a shootout on Saturday afternoon at Scotiabank Saddledome. Mathieu Perreault had the Jets' lone goal in regulation with his 14th of the year midway through the second period, while Bryan Little scored the shootout winner, as the Jets improved to 27-13-7 on the season.

"I liked our game today," said Head Coach Paul Maurice. "Aside from coming off the break, we were patient. I thought we were really good in the first (period) in terms of control and the flow of the play. I thought we had five A-plus chances; real good chances."
The Jets were the better team for most of the afternoon. Flames netminder Mike Smith was brilliant for the home team, stopping 34 of the 35 shots he was peppered with - many of the dangerous and high-quality variety. Jets captain Blake Wheeler was happy with the way his teammates battled and didn't get overly frustrated with not being able to score through the first half of the contest.
"It was a good step in the right direction," he said, adding with a laugh: "Only a couple of guys were losing their minds on the bench and that's growth."

At 8:17 of the opening period with the teams skating 4-on-4, T.J. Brodie grabbed a loose puck off the boards, faked a pass and fired a shot that hit Dustin Byfuglien and went past Connor Hellebuyck on the blocker side for a 1-0 Flames lead.
Brodie has three goals this season, all of them coming against Winnipeg.
Just over four minutes later, Brodie fired a harmless shot from the boards that Hellebuyck had problems handling. Troy Brouwer had two rebound attempts with the second finding the back of the net for what looked to be a 2-0 Calgary lead. The Jets immediately challenged the play, saying that Hellebuyck was interfered with by Flames forward Matthew Tkachuk. After a lengthy discussion the call was reversed, giving the Jets a break kand eeping it a one-goal game - clearly changing the momentum.

"I was challenging either way for the time out effect," Maurice said when asked if he was sure it was interference. "I don't know how comfortable coaches are in thinking they know what the calls going to end up being when they make that call, to be honest."

Added Wheeler, on the boost it gave the bench: "It's 2-0, that's tough in the first 10 minutes. When you make it back to 1-0, it's almost like you scored a goal yourself. Great job again by (Jets Video Coach) Matty Prefontaine. Matty Perreault was pretty adamant about it, too."
The Jets finally got to Smith halfway through the middle frame. Nikolaj Ehlers drew two Flames to him at the far side and slipped a pass through to Little, who was left alone in the slot. Little's backhand shot was tipped home by Perreault, through the pads of Smith to make it 1-1 at 10:47.
The goal was initially credited to Little but was later changed to Perreault during the second intermission.

Early in the third, Smith was back to his usual tricks, robbing Dmitry Kulikov with an incredible blocker save only four minutes in. The defenceman snuck in from the point and Perreault - camped out behind the net - found him wide open between the hash marks, awaiting the one-timer.
The teams then headed to overtime and neither side came up with a clear-cut chance in the 3-on-3 format, forcing a shootout.
Little started things off skating right up the middle and his shot went off the post and in, which turned out to be the deciding goal. Wheeler also scored for the Jets and Hellebuyck denied both Mark Jankowski and Sean Monahan.

Winnipeg is now 2-1 in the shooutout this season.
"It was a great game," Perreault said. "It was a slow start for the first five minutes, but then we got going and it was a great team game."
The Jets will face the Vancouver Canucks at Bell MTS Place on Sunday night - a team they have already beaten twice in 2017-18.
- Jamie Thomas, WinnipegJets.com