The Winnipeg Jets had to wait nearly the entire season to make up for an embarrassing home loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs in the opener.

Josh Morrissey and Dustin Byfuglien scored 1:10 apart in the second period as the Jets beat the Maple Leafs 3-1 on Saturday night.

Winnipeg lost 7-2 to Toronto to open the season on Oct 4 Calvin de Haan Jersey Kids , and was also coming off a disappointing 6-2 loss in Chicago two nights earlier that ended a six-game winning streak.

”We kind of owed them one,” Morrissey said. ”We didn’t like the way the last meeting went at the start of the year … and with the way we played in Chicago the other night we really wanted to rebound.

”We had a lot of motivating factors.”

Andrew Copp had the other goal for the Jets, while Connor Hellebuyck stopped 28 shots in a matchup of the only two Canadian teams headed to the playoffs.

Winnipeg was eager to get back to playing a physical, defensively sound game after the loss to the Blackhawks.

”We were on the puck much better,” Jets captain Blake Wheeler said. ”That’s a (Toronto) group that wants time, wants space, wants to be creative.”

Patrick Marleau scored for Toronto, and Curtis McElhinney had 26 saves. The Maple Leafs were playing for the third time in in four nights, including the second of a back-to-back following Friday’s 5-4 victory at the New York Islanders.

”I’m disappointed,” Leafs coach Mike Babcock said. ”When you don’t have quite as much juice, you’re not quite as good. … It was tight. In the end, they were better.”

The Maple Leafs are all but assured of finishing third in the Atlantic Division. The Jets, meanwhile Riley Nash Jersey , look just as certain to wind up second in the Central.

Both teams are hoping to use these final few outings as playoff tuneups.

”It just shows you’ve got to be sharp each and every night, and sometimes the details of the game is the difference – most of the time it’s the difference,” Marleau said. ”Tonight was no different.”

Toronto’s only blemish at home in more than two months coming into this game was Monday’s 3-2 loss to last-place Buffalo that snapped a 13-game winning streak at Air Canada Centre.

Scoreless after a first period lacking much in the way of emotion, Toronto grabbed a 1-0 lead just 2:02 into the second when the league’s third-ranked power play went to work. Auston Matthews looked primed to shoot on Hellebuyck from the left faceoff circle, but passed to Marleau, who redirected his 26th of the season home from the top of the crease.

After a pad stop on Blake Wheeler’s deflection later in the period, McElhinney could do nothing at 8:30 when Morrissey’s blast from the point past a screen caught him moving the wrong way for the defenseman’s sixth.

McElhinney was then run into by Winnipeg’s Mark Scheifele after he stopped Wheeler’s breakaway seconds later, but no penalty was called on the play.

Playing without rookie defenseman Travis Dermott because of a lower-body injury suffered in the first, the Leafs went to the penalty kill when play resumed after Jake Gardiner cross-checked Scheifele hard into the boards, much to the chagrin of home crowd.

The Jets’ power play – which was fourth overall coming in – went to work, and Byfuglien snapped his seventh off the post and in past a screened McElhinney at 9:40.

Winnipeg pulled ahead 3-1 seemingly out of nothing on a broken play with 2:26 left in the period when Copp fired his sixth shortside off a pass from Adam Lowry.

”It’s tough when you give up a power-play goal,” Morrissey said. ”That’s some of the growth in our team – we got right back on our horse and really went after it.

”That’s something we’re going to have to do definitely going forward here and into the playoffs.”

Playing the second of a back-to-back, McElhinney saw his first action in place of Frederik Andersen since making 33 saves in a 4-0 win over Montreal on March 17.

Toronto went back to the man advantage midway through the final period after Winnipeg was whistled for too many men Dustin Brown Jersey , but neither unit could connect despite extended zone time.

The Leafs pressed further with McElhinney out for an extra attacker, but couldn’t find a way past Hellebuyck before Ron Hainsey took a holding penalty on Copp with 67 seconds left in regulation to kill any hope of a comeback.

Hellebuyck had to be sharp to snag Nazem Kadri’s deflection of a shot by Marleau midway through the first before also blocking Connor Brown’s batted effort and rebound chance from in close with under two minutes left.

Brown had another opportunity with Hellebuyck swimming in his crease moments later, but couldn’t quite find the handle on a loose puck.

NOTES: Toronto came in 8-2 over its last 10. … Leafs forward Mitch Marner saw his 11-game point streak (five goals, 11 assists) come to an end. … Leo Komarov replaced Andreas Johnsson on Toronto’s fourth line after missing seven games with a lower-body injury. … Winnipeg D Jacob Trouba (concussion) returned to the lineup following a five-game absence.

UP NEXT

Jets: At Ottawa on Monday night.

Maple Leafs: Host Buffalo on Monday night.

Leave it to Terrell Owens to choose to become the first person to celebrate being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame somewhere other than at the Canton, Ohio shrine.

The receiver who provided so many exhilarating and exasperating moments during one of the NFL’s most prolific careers is about 600 miles away from Canton this weekend. Hours before the other inductees are honored, Owens will give his own acceptance speech at Chattanooga , where he played college football and basketball and ran track.

Owens announced on Twitter in June that, while ”incredibly appreciative,” he wouldn’t attend the induction ceremony. Owens never shared his reasons for staying away. Less than a month later, Owens again used social media to say he’d hold his own induction ceremony in Chattanooga.

”Getcha popcorn ready!” wrote the man who once celebrated a touchdown with popcorn.

Owens said Friday in Chattanooga there’s a ”flaw in that system” about how Hall of Famers are selected and he wanted to ”make a stand” for future candidates. Owens, who wasn’t selected to the Hall of Fame until his third year of eligibility, noted how grateful he was to accept this honor ”right here where it all began.”

He’s been quite chatty on social media in the weeks leading up to his induction. Owens tweeted that he ”wouldn’t have a PRO career if it wasn’t for Chattanooga (hash)THISISFORYOU.” When asked why he’s bypassing the Canton ceremony, Owens tweeted that ”I don’t need to be on their stage to do it. I’ll be fine & im sure they will be too.”

Chattanooga remains a place where Owens is loved for what he accomplished well before becoming an NFL star. Owens had 2 Kris Letang Jersey ,320 career yards receiving in college and also played basketball on two NCAA Tournament teams before the San Francisco 49ers selected him in the third round of the 1996 draft.

In the NFL, Owens strung together numerous antics – posing on the Dallas Cowboys‘ star logo at midfield, engaging in sideline tirades – with five teams over 15 seasons. But his college coaches marveled at his work ethic and considered him fun to coach.

”First guy (on the field), last guy off,” former Chattanooga football coach Buddy Green said. ”He worked hard, man. He tried to get better every practice. You’d put him on a special team, and he was the first guy down the field. He just loved to play the game. He was great to coach. He worked as hard as anybody on the field, even harder probably.”

Mack McCarthy coached Chattanooga basketball during Owens’ years on campus and remembers a guy who could come off the bench and defend at any position.

”He could not have been a better teammate,” McCarthy said. ”He couldn’t have been better to coach.”

Owens has a busy weekend planned for his return to campus.

He spoke to Chattanooga’s current student-athletes Friday morning and also took 35 area youths on a shopping spree . Athletic director Mark Wharton said the school will have a private dinner for him Friday night and estimates about 2,000 people will gather at McKenzie Arena for Owens’ induction speech Saturday afternoon.

Plans to celebrate Owens’ Hall of Fame career in Chattanooga had been in the works since March. That’s when Wharton attended Owens’ induction into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame and heard some of the receiver’s stories from his college days for over an hour.

”From there, his team started saying fairly immediately that he wanted to do something in Chattanooga round the Hall of Fame,” Wharton said. ”I assumed – we all assumed (since) nobody’s not gone to Canton – we assumed and started planning for the weekend before. Then in May or so, Terrell notified all of us his desires to have it here.”

Owens’ decision to avoid Canton has been called a mistake by Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones Womens Jordan Reed Jersey , Owens’ former boss who was inducted into the Hall of Famer last year. Several former players and Hall of Famers also have criticized Owens.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame still will honor Owens as part of the weekend festivities. Owens, who ranks second in NFL history in career yards receiving (15,934) and third in touchdown catches (153) , will be part of the 2018 class exhibit with his picture on a light standard at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium and his own glass locker.

Hall of Fame President David Baker called Owens’ decision unprecedented and disappointing .

”We respect he has strong feelings of his own and I respect his right to make that decision,” Baker said. ”I invited him to the hall, even at the last moment he would be welcomed, and he is welcomed every day the rest of his life. Even though he is not here, we will honor him to the best of our ability.”

Owens has never wavered. He retweeted someone who noted any message he provides in his induction speech would be heard by many more people in Canton rather than Chattanooga.

”This choice wasn’t made for the millions,” Owens replied via Twitter . ”It was made for the ones that matter.”

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AP Pro Football Writer Barry Wilner contributed to this report.

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