The boo birds were out early and often in Winnipeg Thursday night. Shane Doan, who was returning to the city where he started his NHL career in 1996, heard the fans displeasure a little louder than his teammates; however, during the first commercial break the crowd gave the Coyote captain a roaring standing ovation.
Contrary to a report earlier in the day, Kyle Turris was in the lineup tonight for the Yotes. Turris lined with Patrick O'sullivan and Raffi Torres, and played strong in his first few shifts back. Torres and Turris had a great two on one chance early in the period, but a pretty stacked pad save by Jets goalie Ondrej Pavelec stopped the former holdouts first shot of the season.
The home team Jets fed off the playoff like atmosphere their crowd provided, and won a lot of the battles in the corners. Jets center Bryan Little managed to put in an Evander Kane rebound and put his team up 1-0 early in the first period.
The Jets go into the first intermission with the 1-0 lead, and if the Coyotes want to stay in the game they will need to regroup and come out strong to start the second period.
Scratches for the Coyotes are: Paul Bissonnette, Cal O'Riley, and Kyle Chipchura.