Winnipeg Jets react to 3-2 win over Arizona Coyotes

Chris Thorburn wasn’t even supposed to be on the ice, and yet he scored the game-winning goal for the Winnipeg Jets. Jets head coach Paul Maurice said following the game the severity of Pavelec’s injury will be revealed following Sunday’s practice.

A humbled Thorburn added that he was fortunate on the play that led to his third goal of the season.

“I went out there to force heck on the puck and I was able to take it away from him (Stone) and backhand it past the goaltender”, Thorburn said.

“The adrenaline was rushing”, said Thorburn. It seemed loud and I just got caught up in the moment. We fell behind and we battled back and it was back and forth.

Right winger Chris Thorburn scored a sensational shorthanded goal in the third period to power the Winnipeg Jets to a 3-2 victory over the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday night.

The Jets have to win this game in order to stop the bleeding after a rough stretch over the last couple of weeks. Game time is 7 p.m.at MTS Centre.

The Jets franchise, which has won six of seven overall against Arizona and earned at least one point in the last seven home matchups dating to when it played in Atlanta, snapped a six-game skid with Wednesday’s 4-1 victory over Vancouver. There was no immediate update on Pavelec’s status. “But (Hutchinson) did a great job at coming in at the end of the game and playing great for us”. Mike Smith’s 31 saves in goal was critical, but the Coyotes were effective blocking shots and clearing the zone after they had allowed three power-play tallies combined in losses to Columbus and the NY Islanders. He played out the period but did not return for the third, with Huchinson getting pressed into duty.Doan served out a two-minute minor penalty for goalie interference, but Winnipeg’s power-play unit didn’t get a shot on goal.NOTES: Arizona RW Steve Downie is still nursing an upper-body injury and did not dress…. Maurice said he was “thinking of taking up cigar smoking” to combat the stress of his team’s discipline issues. “We’ve got to work hard at staying out of the penalty box”.

“I think those first two periods there was a lot of penalty trouble”, added Scheifele. “That’s the team we’re trying to become”. “There were times where things weren’t pretty, but we stayed with it and got the two points and that’s big for us moving forward”. The goalies combined to block 27 shots.Scheifele opened the scoring for the Jets with an unassisted marker at 6:50 of the first period when he knocked down a clearing pass, walked in and fired a wrist shot past Lindback.