Balance, sacrifice: Selfless team play propels Jets over Flyers

WINNIPEG — When you talk about getting scoring throughout the lineup, this is what a coaching staff would hold up as Exhibit A.

On a rare night where the power play was unable to convert and the penalty kill allowed a pair of goals, the Winnipeg Jets managed four goals at even strength and got an empty net insurance marker as they earned a 5-3 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday night.

As important as it was to get a pair of goals from the fourth line — including an empty-netter from Kevin Stenlund, who was on the ice to take a sequence of draws late in the game to protect a one-goal cushion — was a play that doesn’t end up on the scoring summary.

That’s the diving effort Axel Jonsson-Fjallby made to get his left knee on a point shot from Flyers defenceman Tony DeAngelo that could have provided a problem given the amount of traffic that had congregated in front of Jets goalie David Rittich.

Jonsson-Fjallby, who scored his fourth goal of the season on a beautiful redirection to open the scoring, left the ice in significant pain but was deemed to be okay when asked by reporters on the scene in Philadelphia about his status.

“All four lines scored. The fourth line got two,” Bowness told reporters. “It was a heck of a play at the end by Kevin (Stenlund) to get the empty-netter. Just as important was that shot block by Axel. That was huge for us.

“When you find ways to win, you have guys sacrificing like that and you hope the shot block turns into two points for the team — and it did.”

The Jets jumped out to an early 3-0 lead and seemed to be well on their way to cruising to an easy victory, but goalie Felix Sandstrom kept his team in the contest with a number of big saves and then the Flyers were able to take advantage of a miscue late in the first period to cue the comeback.

“It was almost like our chances in the second were better than they were in the first. Their goalie made some big saves for them,” said Bowness. “Listen, we let up a little bit. There’s no question and then they pounced on it.

“I hate giving up those goals late in periods like we did in the first. That gave them a lot of life. That was on us because we made a terrible read on the rush and a bad pinch by our defenceman. We had everything going our way and then we take a bad penalty at the wrong time and they scored. So we kind of had some self-inflicted damage out there, but we’ll address that.”

Although the Jets like to play an aggressive style that includes pressuring at both blue lines, defenceman Dylan Samberg was guilty of the pinch that allowed the Flyers to create the odd-man rush.

Given the three-goal cushion at the time, the safer play would have been to retreat into the neutral zone.

Former Jets centre Kevin Hayes, who is heading to the NHL All-Star Game, scored a pair of power-play goals to help the Flyers even the score.

The Jets had an opportunity to restore the lead during a 28-second two-man advantage but were unable to convert during either minor, setting the stage for an exciting finish.

Karson Kuhlman, back in the lineup after sitting out as a healthy scratch just two games ago, took a pass along the right-wing boards, put his shoulder down and drove hard to the net.

Just as it looked like he was trying to accelerate across the front of the crease to stuff the puck in, it rolled off his stick but still snuck through the legs of Sandstrom for what proved to be the game-winner.

It was just his second goal and fourth point in 18 games with the Jets since Kuhlman was claimed off waivers from the Seattle Kraken.

With the Jets getting closer to full health, contributions like the one Kuhlman made on Sunday will be what’s required to keep him in the conversation to be in the regular rotation once Mason Appleton and David Gustafsson return from injuries.

“It was nice to see that one slide in,” Kuhlman told reporters. “We’ve got a lot of depth on this team, scoring can come from anywhere. It’s huge obviously getting on the board and helping. We have a lot of guys that are going pretty good right now.”

In what has been a common theme, the Jets also had another big contribution from the defence corps as they chipped in five assists to a win that pushed the team to 31-16-1 for the season. The Jets' last win in Philadelphia was Jan. 31 of 2012.

“We’re going to keep preaching it and we’re going to keep pushing it and they’re going to keep contributing,” said Bowness. “They all can move the puck well enough and they’re all a big part of our offence. We’ve stressed that since Day 1 of training camp and we’ll continue to stress that every game.”

Making his 12th start of the season in what was the 48th game for the Jets, Rittich finished with 28 saves (including a couple of highlight reel saves on Hayes to prevent him from notching a hat trick) to improve to 8-4 with a 2.62 goals-against average and .908 save percentage.

The Jets have posted consecutive victories as they get set to close out this season-long five-game road trip against a Nashville Predators team that’s been playing with plenty of urgency of late and currently sits three points behind the playoff line in the Western Conference.

The Flyers' ability to win the special-teams battle 2-0 was a huge factor in them getting back into the game.

The Jets had been a perfect 18-for-18 on the penalty kill in the six previous games and they’re still second in the NHL in terms of efficiency for the season at a sparkling 83.8 percent.

“We're striving to be perfect. We want to be perfect,” Jets defenceman Brenden Dillon, who chipped in two assists, told reporters. “Someone said that before the game. They jinxed us. We just know, overall, there's certain things, passing lanes… like you said, there's a couple of bad bounces mixed in there, and that's going to happen.

“But I think all around, for everyone to come back, whatever happened out there, we came out the next shift and we're better for it.”