The Winnipeg Jets dressed most of their regular roster. The Edmonton Oilers did not.
You could tell.
The veteran-heavy Jets had little issue beating the Oilers 6-1 Wednesday night in the third of six preseason contests for Winnipeg.
The Jets had six different goal scorers as Neal Pionk had a four-point night with a goal and three helpers.
“A blind squirrel finds a nut once in awhile you know,” Pionk said. “We’ve enjoyed these moments. It doesn’t happen often.”
The Jets outshot the Oilers 37-27 and scored the first six goals of the game, including three in the second period alone. The Oilers spoiled Kaapo Kahkonen’s shutout in the dying minutes.
“It’s all about good habits,” said Pionk. “I think Arny (Scott Arniel) preached that before the game, after the game, during the game. So, it doesn’t matter who you’re playing in preseason. Roster wise – doesn’t matter who you’re playing with. Got to create good habits and get into shape for the year.”
Nikolaj Ehlers, Kyle Connor, Colin Miller, Brad Lambert and Adam Lowry also scored for Winnipeg. Lambert also had an assist playing centre on a line with Ehlers and Vladislav Namestnikov as he tries to earn his way onto the NHL roster.
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“Obviously a great opportunity,” said Lambert. “It’s obviously a step up from the American (Hockey) League. But that’s what I worked for all summer, so I feel like I’m doing pretty well with them. Obviously I still can improve and will improve, but for the start of it, every 50-50 puck is huge and the more of those you can win, the more you can have the puck.”
The Jets finished the night 2-for-3 on the power play and successfully killed off all five of their penalties.
The Jets had several good early chances and finally made good on one at the 7:49 mark of the first period.
Namestnikov skated the puck across the Edmonton blue line before dropping it to Ehlers. Ehlers returned it to Namestnikov on the left wing before sending it to the slot where Ehlers put it home to make it 1-0.
Winnipeg held a 12-8 edge in shots after one and the disparity grew as the second went along with the Jets dominating the middle frame.
A little over four minutes into the period, Pionk knocked down an attempted zone entry at his own blue line, sending the puck into the neutral zone. Mark Scheifele picked it up and fed a streaking Connor, who deftly deked out Stuart Skinner on a breakaway to make it 2-0 Jets.
Later in the period with the Jets on their second power play of the game, Miller beat a partially-screened Skinner with a wrist shot from the point to make it 3-0 Jets at the 11:08 mark.
Another blueliner got in on the fun with 3:30 left in the second. Rasmus Kupari had the puck in the slot and slid it over to a cutting Pionk, who skated in on goal and made a nice move before backhanding it into the net.
Winnipeg outshot the Oilers 15-5 in the middle frame and continued to pile on in the third.
Just 14 seconds after Edmonton took a penalty, Lambert ripped a wrist shot under the glove of former Manitoba Moose teammate Collin Delia to make it 5-0 73 seconds into the third.
Lowry made it 6-0 with 8:04 to go, capitalizing on a Delia mistake. With the Oilers on the power play, the puck was cleared down the ice. Delia came out to play it, fired it right into Lowry’s shin pads and the Winnipeg captain collected the puck and scored on a wraparound.
The Oilers broke up Kahkonen’s shutout bid with 3:28 to go in the game when Connor Brown redirected a point shot past him.
Kahkonen stopped 26 shots for the win.
Winnipeg will now head to Minnesota Friday for their next preseason contest where it is expected that Connor Hellebuyck will make his preseason debut.
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