Jets rolling ahead of clash with Lightning

Despite being without their top scorer for three weeks, the Winnipeg Jets find themselves playing their best hockey of the season and in a battle atop the Central Division.

Before starting a three-game road trip, the Jets will play a single home game this week when they finish their season series with the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night.

After splitting a home-and-home set with the Minnesota Wild, Winnipeg is 10-1-2 in its past 13 games -- climbing the standings around the Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars without dynamic left winger Kyle Connor for nine games.

On Sunday, Jets center Dominic Toninato returned home and beat Minnesota by netting the tiebreaking goal at 7:32 in the third period. That gave his club a 3-2 win over the Wild.

A 29-year-old Duluth native, Toninato has points in all three of his outings (one goal, two assists) since being called up on emergency conditions on Dec. 13 after Connor's injury at the Anaheim Ducks.

His emergency conditions status was terminated the next day and he stayed with the club.

"He's taken full advantage of the opportunity," Winnipeg coach Rick Bowness said. "He's at the point of the game now where he's winning faceoffs, playing hard, playing smart. He hit the post in Chicago and could have had a winner there.

"He's doing a lot of good things to help this team win."

On home ice in Tampa the night before Thanksgiving, the Lightning battled back from a 2-0 hole only to lose in overtime after Jets center Vladislav Namestnikov's steal in the three-on-three session ended with Adam Lowry's game-winning goal.

The Lightning's final match of 2023 proved to be strange and costly.

Coach Jon Cooper's squad fell behind the visiting Montreal Canadiens 2-0, with the second goal being one of the NHL's oddest this season.

Following a shot on Habs goaltender Sam Montembeault, the Lightning assumed there was play stoppage and started a line change. At the other end of the ice, goalie Jonas Johansson skated into the corner.

Montembeault passed the puck to Johnathan Kovacevic, who scored from 150 feet away against the stunned home side, which basically had its backs turned on the play.

Cooper said the fans' angry reaction and a feisty fourth line helped stoke the comeback.

"I thought (Pittsburgh goalie Tristan Jarry) scoring on us a few weeks ago was odd, but this one for sure takes the cake," Cooper said after the 4-3 win. "But two things changed after that. One, the crowd was unbelievable. (They) made us grow a foot on the bench. I can't thank them enough for how they support our team.

"What helped after that was when (Tyler) Motte, (Austin) Watson and (Tanner) Jeannot went out there and were basically trying to annihilate everything in their way. That double-downed the energy the crowd gave us. After that, we were a completely different team."

However, the club suffered three injuries.

Nick Paul was stung after being hit in the leg with a slap shot. Defenseman Erik Cernak left in the second period after a hard check by Josh Anderson, and fellow blue-liner Haydn Fleury took a shot off his hand. On Monday, Fleury was placed on long-term injured reserve, meaning he'll be out at least until Jan. 26 against Arizona.

"It was a tough end of the year on the injury front," Cooper said.