The Winnipeg Jets defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-2 at Canada Life Centre Tuesday night.
Mark Scheifele led all skaters with three points (all assists), while five different Jets found the back of the net. Winnipeg improved to 12-7-0 with the victory and have won two straight, while Columbus fell to 10-8-2 with the loss.
Game Recap
The Jets opened the scoring at 7:35 of the opening frame. Adam Lowry bagged his first of the season when he took a nice pass from Nino Niederreiter and wired a shot past Elvis Merzlikins from the inner slot.
The Blue Jackets tied the game 1-1 at 18:27 when Miles Wood blew past Dylan DeMelo and put a backhander through Eric Comrie’s five hole on the breakaway.
The Jets retook the lead at 1:12 of the second when Josh Morrissey tapped in a Scheifele cross-ice pass in on the rush.
They extended the lead to 3-1 on the power play at 15:30 when Neal Pionk one-timed home his first of the season from just above the blue line.
The teams combined for three goals in the first 6:23 of the third. At 2:45, Kyle Connor found a tiny hole to score a sneaky short-side goal to extend the lead to 4-1. The Blue Jackets pulled back within two just 1:19 later when Zach Werenski scored his sixth of the season to record his 400th-career point when he zipped a quick shot under Comrie’s pad.
Logan Stanley scorched a heavy slapper top shelf to give the Jets their three-goal lead back 2:19 after that. The defenseman was the beneficiary of a backhand, no-look pass from Scheifele. That goal capped the scoring despite both teams having some excellent chances in the final 13 and change.
Notes & Observations
The Jets celebrated Winnipeg’s large Filipino community with Filipino Heritage Night.
Morgan Barron returned to the Jets’ lineup after missing six games with an undisclosed injury.
Scheifele became the Atlanta Thrashers/Jets 2.0 franchise’s all-time leader in games played by skating in his 898th.
Merzlikins tallied his sixth-career assist on Wood’s first-period goal. Kirill Marchenko’s 12-game point streak came to an end.
The shots were 30-22 in favour of the Jets. The Jets’ power play went one for two, while the Blue Jackets went zero for one.
The Blue Jackets are back in action Thursday in Toronto against the Maple Leafs in the second game of their four-game road trip. The Jets continue their three-game homestand Friday when they host the Carolina Hurricanes.
