Jets secure second in Central with win against Maple Leafs

TORONTO-- The Winnipeg Jets will finish no lower than second in the Central Division after a 3-1 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Air Canada Centre on Saturday.

WATCH: [All Jets vs. Maple Leafs highlights]
"You take every win as a positive; you have to do a lot of good things in this league to win games, no matter who you are playing," Jets captain Blake Wheeler said. "This is obviously a team that's trying to load up for a deep postseason run. We came in respecting the way they play the game and just wanted to be all over them, so I thought that was a real positive for us."
The Jets (48-20-10) lead the Minnesota Wild by 10 points for second in the division and trail the Nashville Predators by five points for first. The Wild lost 4-1 to the Dallas Stars and the Predators lost 7-4 to Buffalo Sabres on Saturday. The Jets, Wild and Predators each have four games remaining.
Patrick Marleau scored, and Curtis McElhinney made 26 saves for the Maple Leafs (47-25-7), who had won 14 of 15 home games and won 5-4 at the New York Islanders on Friday.

"I'm disappointed, you always want to win each and every night," Toronto coach Mike Babcock said. "I know looking at the schedule in advance we were in tough. I thought our second period hurt us. When you don't have quite as much juice, you're not quite as good. We made a couple of mistakes there not stopping in the [defensive] zone on a couple of those plays, and in the end, it ended up in our net. I didn't think they generated a ton and I didn't think we generated a ton. It was tight. In the end, they were better."
Toronto will finish third in the Atlantic Division and play either the Tampa Bay Lightning or Boston Bruins, whichever finishes second, in the Eastern Conference First Round.
Josh Morrissey, Dustin Byfuglien and Andrew Copp scored, and Connor Hellebuyck made 28 saves for the Jets, who have won seven of their past eight games.

"Just speed, we were on the puck much better, our forwards were quicker reloading so our defense could step up and take away time and space from their forwards," Wheeler said comparing this game to a 6-2 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday. "That's a group that wants time, wants space and wants to be creative. With the way our guys move back there, if they take that away (from them), it's tough (for them to generate chances)."
Marleau put the Maple Leafs up 1-0 at 2:02 of the second period on the power play when he deflected a pass from Auston Matthews at the top of the crease.
The Jets tied it 1-1 at 8:30 on Morrissey's point shot. Byfuglien put Winnipeg up 2-1 1:10 later with a point shot on the power play.
"Real important momentum, I liked where we were at that point in the game," Winnipeg coach Paul Maurice said. "We've been pretty good at not changing our game. Paul Stastny on both goals, real good net-front screen, and we've got guys from the back end that can shoot it. We stuck to our game and played pretty darn well."
Copp made it 3-1 at 17:24 when he one-timed a pass at the top of the crease from Lowry, who was behind the net.
"I thought we played our game, which is hard gap, good forecheck and controlling the puck," Hellebuyck said. "Our details in our own end were perfect. I liked it a lot, so I think the guys in front of me deserve hats off to them."

Goal of the game

Byfuglien's goal at 9:40 of the second period.

Save of the game

Hellebuyck's save on James van Riemsdyk at 5:05 of the third period.

Highlight of the game

Copp's goal at 17:24 of the second period.

They said it

"The first game was pretty tough. The home opener didn't go the way we planned (a 7-2 loss to Toronto), but now after a lot of games between these two games, we're pretty far from the team we were when the season started, and that's something that's supposed to be like that. I'm happy where our team is at now, but we need to be a lot better if we want to go far." -- Jets forward Patrik Laine
"I think it just shows you've got to be sharp each and every night, and sometimes the details of the game is the difference, most of the time it's the difference. Tonight was no different." -- Maple Leafs forward Patrick Marleau

Need to know

Maple Leafs defenseman Travis Dermott left the game at 17:45 of the first period with a lower-body injury after blocking a shot. Babcock said X-rays were negative but McDermott would be evaluated and there is no timeline for how long he could be out of the lineup. ... Hellebuyck (41-11-9) is tied with Pekka Rinne of the Nashville Predators, one behind Andre Vasilevskiy of the Tampa Bay Lightning for the NHL lead in wins.

What's next

Jets: At the Ottawa Senators on Monday (7:30 p.m. ET; TSN5, RDS, TSN3, NHL.TV)
Maple Leafs: Host the Buffalo Sabres on Monday (7 p.m. ET; TSN4, MSG-B, NHL.TV)