The Jets have a legit new problem to worry about. And it's coming from down below.The Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Carolina Hurricanes in OT Saturday night, giving them 68 points in 65 games compared to Winnipeg's 70 points in 66 games. Tampa currently has more regulation plus overtime wins than the Jets. In the event of a tie in points at the end of the season (when all teams have played 82 games), this stat is what is first looked at. Shootout wins aren't counted in this stat. They do still give points, but they don't count in the event of a points tie. The Jets have 27 ROW's, the Lightning have 29.
The Lightning hosted the Rangers on Friday, then had mechanical problems with their plane meaning they didn't arrive in North Carolina until 2:30am. But it didn't seem to matter. The Bolts still won their fourth straight. And after coming from behind yet again.
Tampa grabbed an early goal, only to see it cut down to a two goal deficit by the third period thanks to 3 unanswered goals in the second. Steve Stamkos played a role in all of the key moments, including a full two-minute powerplay in the third. The game winner by Stamkos came during a controversal powerplay. Here's what what said.
Hurricanes center Brandon Sutter was called for roughing after running into goaltender Mathieu Garon. Stamkos was on Sutter's back when Sutter toppled the goaltender.
"I was trying to take his stick and I got my hand on his back," said Stamkos. "Sutter was going so fast. Whether I touched him or not, I think he was running into the goalie obviously. He didn't mean to do it. He was going hard to the net and had a good chance to score. They try to protect the goalies in this league. We were on the right end of the call and we capitalized on it."
Hurricanes coach Kirk Muller took exception to the roughing call on Sutter.
"Sutter did what hockey players are supposed to do: they are supposed to drive to the net and go for plays, go for rebounds," Muller said. "That's hockey. It is hard at this pace to really go there and know if the goalie is in the crease or not. It's quick."
Tampa Bay coach Guy Boucher took a different approach in evaluating the critical call.
"It's the same call we were called on all year," he said. "The standard was the same."
Regardless of the circumstances of the game ending goal, the Lightning are a team to pay closer attention too. Two unanswered points and the Lightning and Jets are tied. With the advantage going to the Bolts.
Well, at least there is some good news for Jets fans. Nashville defeated division leading Florida 3-1. Actually, it might be more fair to say that Pekka Rinne defeated division leading Florida. Rinne's performance helped the Predators improve to 5-1-1 in their last seven games despite being outshot 40-23.
Yeah. Rinne made 39 saves on 40 shots for a 0.975 save percentage. And many people would agree with his being awarded the first star of the game.
"I don't say this in a sarcastic or negative way at all, but goaltending was the difference tonight," Florida coach Kevin Dineen said. "And it had nothing to do with what went on at our end. Pekka Rinne earns his keep every time he goes out. He had a heck of a game. You get a quick look at some of the chances that we had and he had to come up extremely big for them, which he seems to do every single game. We put a lot of pressure on him and unfortunately we weren't able to get any by him.”
The Panthers lost for the sixth time in their last nine outings (3-5-1). Sunday, things may not improve as the Panthers face an Ottawa team that has beaten them nine times in a row. It was the fourth time in the last five games the Panthers fell behind 2-0. They were able to win the first two of those games (3-2 at Carolina and 4-2 against Montreal) before suffering a 7-0 shutout at Winnipeg on Thursday.
The lone Florida goal was scored by Wojtek Wolski who did manage to put 5 shots on goal. But luckily for Jets fans, only one found its way to the back of the net.
