DeMelo Scores Go-Ahead Goal Late, Jets Defeat Kraken 2-1

The Jets, facing a seemingly insurmountable deficit with time dwindling down, ignited their comeback engine, scoring with a dramatic late surge in the third period to steal a 2-1 victory from the Kraken in a thrilling finish on Thursday, January 16th at Canada Life Centre. The hero of the night was Dylan DeMelo, who scored the game-winning goal in his 600th NHL game, capping off a remarkable individual milestone with a moment of pure elation. Mark Scheifele had also scored for Winnipeg, and Matty Beniers put up the one tally for Seattle. Despite a valiant effort from Joey Daccord, who stopped 34 of 36 shots faced, the Kraken were unable to hold on to a 1-1 tie in the final seconds. On Saturday, the Kraken will be heading back to Seattle to host the Los Angeles Kings, while the Jets will be taking on the Calgary Flames, looking forward to extending their winning streak to four.

Winnipeg Jets Lineup:

Connor – Scheifele – Vilardi

Ehlers – Lowry – Iafallo

Niederreiter – Kupari – Perfetti

Toninato – Gustafsson – Barron

Morrissey – DeMelo

Samberg – Pionk

Stanley – Heinola

Hellebuyck

Comrie

Seattle Kraken Lineup:

Burakovsky – Stephenson – Bjorkstrand

Schwartz – Beniers – Kakko

McCann – Wright – Tolvanen

Kartye – Stephens – Hayden

Dunn – Larsson

Evans – Montour

Oleksiak – Mahura

Daccord

Grubauer

Matty Beniers opened the scoring with 11:48 on the clock in the first period to put Seattle in the 1-0 lead first, scoring his ninth goal of the season. After Vince Dunn got the puck out from behind the Kraken net, Jaden Schwartz got ahold of it after Kaapo Kakko poked the puck toward him, and Schwartz carried it into the neutral zone before shooting it up into Winnipeg’s zone where Kakko drove up and collected it, sending it over to Beniers, who was alongside him, lifting up Kakko’s pass high over Connor Hellebuyck’s leg.

At 10:25 in the middle frame, Mark Scheifele found the back of the net to tie it up 1-1 for his 27th goal of the season when he put a one-timer past Joey Daccord. Josh Morrissey took a pass from Kyle Connor, who was on the left side while Morrissey had been near the right boards… Morrissey and Connor then switched sides all while Josh sent the puck up to Scheifele, who had been just below the left circle. After an attempt, the puck popped out, and Scheifele passed it back, Morrissey handed it over to Connor, who fired from the right circle, and the rebound of his shot bounced to Scheifele, who put up the tally for Winnipeg.

With the game tied in the final seconds remaining in regulation, Dylan DeMelo came up clutch, scoring the game-winning goal on a wrist shot through traffic when Nikolaj Ehlers found him in the slot after Adam Larsson’s clearing attempt had redirected off a stanchion to Ehlers for the 4-3 final.

Dylan DeMelo on his goal in his 600th NHL game, and what went through his mind after scoring the game-winning goal: “Yeah, that was awesome. You know, obviously, I’m a guy who doesn’t score a lot. 600 games – I think it’s a great accomplishment. I’m proud of it. It takes a lot of people to help you get there, so that was kind of in my mind before the game. Between your family, your friends, coaches, everybody, your teammates, all of the staff here to kind of just get you here. So, that was special on its own, right? Then scored the game-winner, just kind of put the cherry on top, and got the win. It was a really special night, a night that I’ll definitely remember,” – “I think it was just kind of euphoria, to be honest with you. I was just so pumped… I think I had my hands in the air for quite a while, so I just thought I’d look up there as well, see if there’s anything up there… You don’t think, you just kind of let your emotions take over, and I think the time of the game, you just kind of let loose a little bit.”

Game Notes:

– Dylan DeMelo’s goal had been his first goal of the season. …With his game-winning goal late in the game, DeMelo scored the second-latest go-ahead goal in Jets/Thrashers history by a defenseman, only behind Dustin Byfuglien (59:50, 7th of April, 2016).

– Connor Hellebucyk made a total of 18 saves for Winnipeg.

– Kyle Connor, who has 26 goals and 34 assists in 46 games, tied Blake Wheeler (46 games, 2018-19) as the fastest in Jets history to reach the 60-point mark in a season… Both Ilya Kovalchuk; 39 games, 2005-06, and 44 games, 2007-08, and Marc Savard; 44 games, 2005-06, hit the mark in fewer games with the Thrashers.

– The Jets extended their point streak to five games (4-0-1).

– Winnipeg: 31-12-3, Seattle: 19-24-3

– The Kraken have lost six of eight; 2-5-1.

– Kaapo Kakko, who picked up an assist, has a total of five points throughout a four-game point streak so far (three goals, two assists), tying for the most in any four-game span in his career. Since being acquired in a trade with the New York Rangers on the 18th of December, he’s collected 10 points (four goals, six assists) in just 13 games with the Kraken.

– Brandon Tanev did not play due to illness… he was a game-time decision.