Jets Wind Up Red-Faced in Losing at Winnipeg

West Side Story, it wasn’t. There was no critical acclaim here.

There was only satisfaction for Darren Turcotte at helping beat his old team, and there was wrath from Winnipeg Coach Terry Simpson. It was righteous.

“It was an embarrassing effort, that’s about all you can say,” Simpson said before heading into a long post-game meeting with the players that had been beaten by the San Jose Sharks, 7-1, on Wednesday night at Winnipeg.

That’s the Sharks, who have a better record than only Ottawa.

And the Jets, who are fighting to hold onto a playoff spot, with the Mighty Ducks only a point behind.

“The power play was a joke and we didn’t take any penalties because we weren’t involved in the game,” Simpson said. “It was an absolute no-show.”

Jet captain Kris King agreed.

“You go deeper than disappointment on something like this. This was an embarrassment.”

Not for Turcotte, who had two points against the team that had traded him on Monday, and Jeff Friesen, who scored three goals.

“That was very satisfying,” Turcotte said. “Everybody played well and it was a good win for us.”

The Sharks took a 2-0 first-period lead on goals by Friesen and Turcotte and were never headed by a Jets’ team that had four power plays and 19 shots on San Jose’s Arturs Irbe in the first two periods to no avail.

Dallas 2, St. Louis 1--Mike Modano got his 500th NHL point with his 33rd goal of the season and Andy Moog was the winning goalie for the 325th time as the Stars also closed in on Winnipeg with a victory at home.

Moog clinched his victory by turning back a shot by the Blues’ Wayne Gretzky from 15 feet with 34 seconds to play.

Boston 2, New Jersey 1--Jon Rohloff and Sandy Moger scored first-period goals 30 seconds apart for the Bruins, who won at East Rutherford, N.J., and stretched their unbeaten streak to seven games (6-0-1).

Bill Ranford stopped 29 shots for Boston, whose late season playoff rush has moved it into a sixth-place tie with the Devils in the Eastern Conference, with Washington and Tampa Bay only one point behind with 74.

Montreal 3, Hartford 2--Pierre Turgeon scored with 3:11 left to give the Canadiens a victory at home, where Montreal has won eight games in a row, five in the old Forum and three in their new Molson Centre.

Detroit 4, Toronto 3--Darren McCarty scored a power-play goal at 2:41 of overtime for the Red Wings, who beat the Maple Leafs for the second night in a row, this time at Toronto.

Calgary 3, Chicago 2--Gary Roberts, Ron Stern and Michael Nylander scored for the Flames, who got solid goaltending from Trevor Kidd in a victory at Chicago.