WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) - Adam Lowry kept the Winnipeg Jets’ playoff hopes alive - even if just barely.
Lowry scored a power-play goal in the third period and Michael Hutchinson made 28 saves to lift the Winnipeg Jets to a 2-1 win over the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday night.
The go-ahead goal by Lowry came with 8:13 to go, keeping the Jets mathematically alive in the playoff picture - although one loss or one win by St. Louis the rest of the season would knock Winnipeg out of contention.
“It’s always nice to score goals at crucial times,” Lowry said. “At this time of the year, it’s still fun to win. We’re still trying to put our best foot forward in the game.”
Mathieu Perreault also scored for Winnipeg.
Alexander Edler had the only goal for Vancouver, while Ryan Miller made 30 saves.
Lowry’s goal came moments after Hutchinson stopped Sven Baertschi on a short-handed, 2-on-1 breakaway. Blake Wheeler led the offensive transition the other way, and Perreault wound up with the puck, made a nifty move down low and fed Lowry in the left circle, where he fired a wrist shot over Miller.
“The D-man kind of gave me the lane to the net, so I took it and the goalie made a good save there,” Baertschi said of his missed opportunity. “I tried to pick a corner, but he made a good save and obviously it went the other way right away.”
The Canucks scored as the first period was winding down. Edler’s wrist shot from the point weaved through traffic and beat a handcuffed Hutchinson with 21 seconds left.
The Jets capitalized on the game’s first power play, 13:51 into the second, when Perreault, Wheeler and Mark Scheifele worked the puck back and forth between each other before Perreault stepped in to Miller’s right and fired a shot over his glove hand to tie it at 1.
The Canucks were unable to win for the third time in four games and moved to 13-16-1 in back-to-backs this season after winning 4-2 Saturday night in Minnesota.
Winnipeg, with its third straight victory at home, improved to 19-18-1 at MTS Centre this season.
“It’s always nice when you play in those games where it’s tight going into the third,” said Hutchinson, who won for the third time in four games. “With us having a young team, every game we can have close in the third period, we’re treating it as a playoff game. . We battled hard in front of the net, even when they pulled their goalie.”
NOTES: With his goal, Perreault extended his points streak to six games. He has four goals and 11 points in that stretch. … Patrik Laine, the Jets’ leading goal scorer, missed a morning skate and was scratched before faceoff with an illness. … Dustin Byfuglien sat out his second straight game with a lower-body injury. … The Jets have not lost in regulation at home to the Canucks since relocating in 2011. … The Jets are 8-12-0 at home since the Christmas break after going 10-6-1 before it.
UP NEXT
Canucks: return home for a three-game homestand against Pacific Division teams starting Tuesday night against Anaheim.
Jets: At New Jersey on Tuesday night before returning home for two games.
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