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Jets defeat Pens, win first game of season

Oct 18, 2011 - 4:52 AM Winnipeg, MB (Sports Network) - Kyle Wellwood's goal in the opening seconds of the contest helped the Winnipeg Jets earn their first victory of the season with a 2-1 decision over the Pittsburgh Penguins at MTS Centre.

Tanner Glass notched the other goal, Alexander Burmistov had two assists and Ondrej Pavelec made 28 saves to halt a season-opening three-game losing streak for Winnipeg.

Zbynek Michalek scored the lone goal for Pittsburgh, while Marc-Andre Fleury allowed two goals on 34 shots in the Penguins third straight loss.

Winnipeg jumped out to a quick lead just eight seconds into the opening period. Pittsburgh won the opening faceoff but Michalek fell over backwards as the puck slid towards him. Winnipeg jumped on the loose disc and went on a 3- on-1 attack. Burmistov passed to Nik Antropov on the left side of the net and Antropov sent a quick pass across the ice to Wellwood, who deflected the puck into the net.

The goal was three seconds off the record for the fastest goal to start a game which is shared by three players, including former Jet Doug Smail.

"Conceding a goal in the first eight seconds got the fans pretty amped up," Penguins head coach Dan Bylsma said. "We expected the Jets to come hard and play with a lot of emotion and energy early on and they did exactly that."

The Jets added to their lead late in the period when Burmistov stole the puck from the Penguins' Ben Lovejoy in center ice, raced down the left boards and sent a pass to the high slot, where Glass' one-timer sailed past the stick of Fleury and into the high-left corner of the net with 1:33 left.

Pittsburgh made it one-goal game late in the second period. After the Penguins won a faceoff inside the Jets' zone, Matt Cooke sent a pass to Kris Letang at the right point. Letang slid the puck to Michalek at the high slot and his one-timer skipped past a screen and into the back of the net with 1:38 left in the frame.

But the Penguins could not take advantage of a late power play in the final period and the Jets held on to earn their first win in Winnipeg since 1996.

"They have been waiting a long time for that one so it was nice to deliver one," Jets forward Andrew Ladd said about getting the win for the fans. "They have been great since day one, so it was nice to give them a little something to cheer about."

Game Notes

Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin sat out the game with a sore right knee and has missed four of the last five games...Bryan Trottier and Alexander Mogilny share the fastest-goal record with Smail...Winnipeg went 0-for-5 on the power play and is now 0-for-18 on the man advantage this season...Pittsburgh went 0- for-2 on the power play.