With Hellebuyck ill, 'fantastic' Rittich steps up as Jets knock off Senators

WINNIPEG -- There have been plenty of times where David Rittich simply hasn’t been given the run support that can make life a little easier for a backup goalie.

But on a night when workhorse starter Connor Hellebuyck was unavailable due to a non-COVID illness, Rittich stood tall and the offence did its part in a 5-1 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday.

Starting consecutive games for the first time this season, Rittich outplayed his former crease partner with the Calgary Flames, Cam Talbot, finishing with 35 saves as he improved to 5-3 on the season.

Finding a sound second-string goalie was a high priority for the Jets after Eric Comrie left for the Buffalo Sabres as an unrestricted free agent during the off-season. What started out as a bit of a reclamation project has quickly turned into a stabilizing option.

“He’s got tons of personality, as I’m sure you know. And he’s been fantastic for us,” said Jets defenceman Josh Morrissey, who chipped in a goal and an assist. “I always thought highly of his game in Calgary and the other teams he’s played on. He’s the kind of guy who can steal a game for you and put out a great performance.

“It's not an easy job when you’re playing sporadically. You get a lot of the second night on back-to-backs where the team’s tired and situations like that. He brings a lot of energy to the room, and when he’s been in net, he’s been unbelievable.”

Of course, it’s important to remember that the sample size for Rittich remains small, as he’s made only eight starts through 32 games for the Jets this season.

However, he’s done his part to date, essentially giving his team a chance to win in seven of his eight starts.

The outlier of the group came when Rittich allowed four goals in the first period of his first outing against the Vegas Golden Knights, but he settled down after that shaky start and didn’t allow another goal.

The other strange occurrence on Rittich’s scorecard this season was the three late goals he allowed to the Carolina Hurricanes with an extra attacker -- but all of those goals featured plenty of traffic in front of him and he didn’t have much of a chance to stop any of them.

“He looks very comfortable in the net,” said Jets head coach Rick Bowness. “For a guy who didn’t play much last year and didn’t have a great year, for him to come to camp with the attitude and the work habits and everything else, give him a lot of credit. The guys feel very, very confident when David is in the net and that’s a compliment to him.”

After not generating much at even strength in Sunday’s 3-2 loss to the Seattle Kraken, the Jets scored four times at five-on-five and added another with an extra attacker during a delayed penalty call against Ottawa.

The offensive outburst included goals from Kevin Stenlund, Morrissey and Sam Gagner and a pair from Kyle Connor.

Both Morrissey and Connor extended their personal point streaks to 10 games, as they continue to drive the offence.

In addition to his goal, Morrissey picked up his 32nd assist of the campaign, the result of a beautiful cross-ice slap pass to Connor, who is up to 15 goals.

Connor is second on the Jets behind Mark Scheifele and suddenly is back on pace for the third 40-goal season of his career.

That’s an impressive turn of events for a guy who had two goals through the first 13 games, including an empty-netter in the season opener against the New York Rangers.

As for Morrissey, he set a career-high for points in the 32nd game of the season, up to 38 and counting.

Those 32 assists are tops among blue-liners and combined with his defensive play, Morrissey is building his case to remain in consideration for the Norris Trophy as the midway point of the season quickly approaches.

“One of the best (defencemen) in the league,” said Rittich. “Great in d-zone, making plays, finding open guys … (Morrissey’s play) speaks for itself.”

Axel Jonsson-Fjallby, just a few games removed from being a healthy scratch, chipped in two assists for the first multi-point game of his NHL career.

Both of those assists were the result of hustle plays and hard work in the offensive zone.

There was also a great example of Jonsson-Fjallby catching someone on the back check -- a clear sign he got the message the coaching staff was sending after his line was on the ice for two even-strength goals against in a loss against the Washington Capitals on Dec. 11.

“He’s using his asset and that’s his speed. Forechecking. Backchecking. Pressuring the puck,” said Bowness. “He’s got to do all those things so yeah, that’s what we need from him. That fourth line has got to give you quality -- especially with the schedule that we have, we can’t run those top guys 22 minutes. They’re dead. They’re just not going to make it.

"That fourth line has to give us those 10-12 minutes right now, with the injuries that we have and the heavy schedule that we have and they’re giving us those minutes and Axel is a big part of it.”

Stenlund continues to stake his claim for further work on the Jets’ fourth line after scoring his first NHL goal in nearly two years.

David Gustafsson, the guy moved to the wing on the fourth line and challenged by Bowness to contribute a bit more offence, made an important offensive contribution on the Jets’ first goal -- finding Stenlund alone in the slot.

“I think he has been very detailed in his game,” Morrissey said of Stenlund. “Obviously, he has been playing centre. You work a lot with the centremen in your own end and sort of all over the ice as a d-man. It sort of seems like he’s always in the right spot. He’s got a big body and has some nice hands and we saw that on the first goal. He’s just been really smart in his game.”

The Jets, who improved to 21-10-1 on the season, close out the pre-Christmas portion of the schedule with games against the Boston Bruins on Thursday and Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals on Friday.

Bowness reiterated after the game that Hellebuyck would be on the trip and he’s expected to be ready to go for at least one of the two starts.