Little, Brossoit help Jets defeat Hurricanes

WINNIPEG -- Bryan Little scored with 2:09 remaining in the third period and Laurent Brossoit made 42 saves to help the Winnipeg Jets to a 3-1 win against the Carolina Hurricanes at Bell MTS Place on Sunday.

Jets defenseman Josh Morrissey rushed down the left side into the Hurricanes zone and found Little in the slot for his first goal of the season and a 2-1 lead.

"I saw quite a bit of net," Little said. "He almost got a glove on it. Josh made a great pass, kind of opened up the seam and made a great pass right on my tape, so credit to him."
WATCH: [All Hurricanes vs. Jets highlights]
Patrik Laine and Kyle Connor also scored for Winnipeg (3-2-0). Brossoit made 32 saves over the first two periods; his shutout ended when Micheal Ferland scored at 7:53 of the third.
"If I didn't let in that one goal," Brossoit said. "I felt good in the game and obviously it's nice to contribute and get that first win out of the way."
The Hurricanes (4-1-1) failed to set a franchise record for best start to a season; they matched it with a 5-4 overtime win at the Minnesota Wild on Saturday. The 1995-96 Hartford Whalers won their first four games and tied their fifth.
Petr Mrazek made 23 saves for Carolina.

"It's a tough one, especially to lose that late in the game," Ferland said. "I thought we kept our foot on the gas the entire game, kept going at them and at them. Their goalie played really good. Our goalie played really good too. I think [we] would have at least deserved a point there."
Laine made it 1-0 on the power play at 4:14 of the third period with his second goal of the season. Morrissey's point shot missed and deflected off the end boards to Blake Wheeler, whose cross-ice pass found Laine for a one-timer.

The goal was Winnipeg's first in 133:53.
Ferland tied the game 1-1 at 7:53 on a rebound after Sebastian Aho's shot hit the post.
Connor scored an empty-net goal at 19:59 of the third to make it 3-1.
"It was a hard-fought game," Hurricanes forward Jordan Staal said. "Two minutes left, and that was it. We did a lot of great things, worked really hard. Sometimes they don't go your way. I thought we could have had a better result, but that's hockey sometimes. We'll move forward from this one."

They said it

"Everyone says [Winnipeg's] a team that's up for the Stanley Cup. They've proven it. They were one of the best teams in the League [last season]. I didn't feel like we were [outmatched]. It felt like we were hanging in there with them and probably had some opportunities to win the game. Overall, I'm happy with the effort for sure." -- Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour
"We had our challenges all night with them and still found a way to create some pretty good offense. Their guy made some good saves. Fortunately for us, our guy [was] fantastic. It was a continuation of his training camp, a very strong camp, and for those of you who watch him practice every day, you saw an awful lot of that in practice." -- Jets coach Paul Maurice on goalie Laurent Brossoit

Need to know

With an assist, Aho became the sixth player in Hurricanes/Whalers history to have at least one point in each of the first six games of a season. He has four goals and seven assists. … Jets defenseman Dustin Byfuglien did not play because of an upper-body injury. He is day to day. … Jets forward Marko Dano was placed on waivers Sunday.

What's next

Hurricanes: At the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday (7:30 p.m. ET; SUN, FS-CR, NHL.TV)
Jets: Host the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; TSN3, SNOL, NHL.TV)