{"id":523622,"date":"2026-03-09T01:58:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T01:58:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/523622\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T01:58:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T01:58:08","slug":"morrissey-makes-his-presence-felt-in-return-to-jets-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/523622\/","title":{"rendered":"Morrissey makes his presence felt in return to Jets"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck (37) and Josh Morrissey (44) celebrate Morrissey’s overtime goal against the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday in Winnipeg.JOHN WOODS\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Josh Morrissey didn\u2019t just return to the Winnipeg Jets lineup on Saturday \u2013 he made history, skating into the franchise\u2019s record books.<\/p>\n

Playing his first game since suffering an upper-body injury at the Milan Cortina Olympics, the star defenceman scored 1:49 into overtime to lift Winnipeg to a 3-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks in front of 14,294 at Canada Life Centre.<\/p>\n

The game-winner was Morrissey\u2019s 417th career point, officially moving him past Dustin Byfuglien for the most points by a blueliner in franchise history.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is pretty special,\u201d Morrissey said of surpassing his former teammate. \u201cI think about him and what he meant to me when I came into the league with his mentorship and friendship and I learned so much from him. Getting to play my first 50 games in the league beside him, it was pretty special.\u201d<\/p>\n

Morrissey had tied Byfuglien\u2019s mark earlier in the night when he assisted on Gabriel Vilardi\u2019s game-tying power-play goal with fewer than five minutes remaining in regulation.<\/p>\n

His teammates were quick to praise his immediate impact and work ethic after missing time.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s an elite player,\u201d Vilardi said. \u201cHe was part of Team Canada for a reason. They missed him out there, obviously. It just shows how big of a difference maker he is for us.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not sure what his minutes were, but I imagine they were in the high 20s again. He\u2019s one of the top-tier defencemen in the league.\u201d<\/p>\n

The milestone capped off a remarkably seamless return to game action for Morrissey, who, along with the goal and assist, finished with five shots and was a plus-one in 24:27 of ice time.<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Winnipeg Jet Josh Morrissey (44) celebrates his goal against the St. Louis Blues in a game earlier this season.FRED GREENSLADE\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, my legs and conditioning, everything felt really good,\u201d said Morrissey, who now has 91 goals and 326 assists in 719 career games.<\/p>\n

\u201cWasn\u2019t able to have an actual practice with the guys because of the schedule and all the optionals and days off. So it\u2019s kind of right out of the bag skate drills into the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jets head coach Scott Arniel noted that Morrissey\u2019s offensive gifts are only part of what makes him an elite talent, pointing to the defenceman\u2019s evolution into a perennial Norris Trophy candidate and Olympian.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just the last four years. He was in more of a checking role at one time and then as personnel changed here and guys left, he got put into that role as a top guy. He\u2019s taken advantage of it,\u201d Arniel said.<\/p>\n

\u201cJosh is the one that drives himself to be the best and he\u2019s a guy that works his tail off in the summer. I\u2019m really proud of the fact that he\u2019s doing that from the red-line back, and then what he does offensively is his best gift.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Jets needed every bit of Morrissey\u2019s composure in a game where they heavily outshot the Canucks but found themselves trailing 2-1 late in the third period. Rather than panicking, Winnipeg kept at it and was finally able to score the equalizer to force overtime.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe crowd really wanted me to shoot, but I just didn\u2019t feel the lane. And so, made the right read,\u201d Morrissey said of the historic assist. \u201cThankfully, he [Vilardi] scored, and it makes me look smart. But, I mean, just an incredible play on his behalf. It\u2019s a big time play at a big-time moment in that game.\u201d<\/p>\n

The milestone is a testament to longevity and consistency for the 2013 first-round pick.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not sure I would have thought at the time that was attainable, but at the end of the day, I have just been fortunate to play with so many great players,\u201d Morrissey said. \u201cIt is cool to think about \u2026 all the great players that I have gotten to play with.\u201d<\/p>\n

The victory extended Winnipeg\u2019s point streak to six games (4-0-2) in what\u2019s been a surprising run since the Olympic break, especially given the Jets were sellers during Friday\u2019s NHL trade deadline and have been dealing with several injuries.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince the break, the guys have been playing fantastic hockey, scratching and clawing while never looking fazed,\u201d Morrissey said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck (37) and Josh Morrissey (44) celebrate Morrissey’s overtime…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":523623,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194296],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,22073,883,913],"class_list":["post-523622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-winnipeg","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-winnipeg","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=523622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523622\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/523623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=523622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=523622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=523622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}