After suffering their first loss of the season Monday, the Winnipeg Jets responded in a big way by taking care of the Red Wings 6-2 in Detroit Wednesday night.
The Jets scored three times in each of the first and third periods, and Kyle Connor recorded three points, including the 500th of his career, as the Jets bounced back for their ninth win in their first ten games.
Winnipeg finally had a strong start after giving up the first goal of the game in seven of their first nine contests, scoring the first three goals of the game to jump out to the early lead.
“Our start in the first obviously set the tone,” said Jets head coach Scott Arniel. “I just thought it was everybody.
“Big contributions from everybody. Went after them and made them play in their end of the rink to hopefully take the crowd out of it a little bit and we did that.”
The Jets rode a hot power play in the first nine games, but scored five goals at 5-on-5 in the win over Detroit.
Neal Pionk scored twice for just his second career multi-goal game. The Jets never trailed as they avoided their first losing streak of the season.
“We sucked against the Leafs and still had a chance of tying it,” said Jets forward Mark Scheifele. “There’s just a resiliency in this group.
“I think that was a great response game. I thought we all stepped up and obviously didn’t like our last one and that’s what good teams do.”
Connor has a point in every game this season. He scored his ninth goal of the season, one back of the league lead and his 17 points is just two points back of the NHL lead. He notched his milestone 500th point in his old backyard in his home state of Michigan.
“500 points, that’s unbelievable,” Arniel said. “It just shows what type of player he is, how hard he works. Again, I just love the fact there was a couple times in the third period, we were up three goals or whatever it was and he’s still pouring back on the backcheck. He’s still trying to pop sticks and he’s a professional through and through.
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“He’s an elite player in this league and we like to keep him our little hidden secret, but I don’t think that’s going to happen anymore.”
The Jets wasted little time getting on the board, opening the scoring just 2:48 into the game. Connor fed a hard-charging Gabriel Vilardi in transition and he roofed it past Alex Lyon to make it 1-0.
Just 1:14 after Vilardi’s goal, the Jets made it 2-0. Scheifele won an offensive zone faceoff back to the point to Pionk, who sent it near-side to Connor. His shot toward the net was tipped by Scheifele and trickled to the back post where Pionk charged to the back door and knocked it home for his second of the season.
After picking up a pair of helpers, Connor got in on the scoring late in the first. He picked up a loose puck in his own end and started up the ice, firing a cross-ice pass to Vilardi in the neutral zone. After taking it into the Detroit end, Vilardi sent a perfect pass to the back door where Connor was ready to receive it and deke out Lyon to make it 3-0 after 20 minutes.
Winnipeg nearly made it 4-0 around eight minutes into the second when Cole Perfetti hit the post from point-blank range, and moments later Dylan Samberg was called for interference near the Wings’ blue line, giving Detroit a power play chance that they would make quick work of.
Six seconds after the puck was dropped in the Jets’ zone, Dylan Larkin scored on a one-timer to make it 3-1.
Detroit rode the momentum of that goal and put lots of pressure on Winnipeg as the period rolled along, earning another power play that they would again take advantage of.
With Pionk in the box for hooking, Alex DeBrincat tipped a Lucas Raymond shot high over the shoulder of Connor Hellebuyck to make it 3-2 heading to the third.
But just eight seconds into the final frame, a weird one helped the Jets restore their two-goal lead. After Jeff Petry mishandled the puck in the corner, Nino Niederreiter steered it softly on goal but Lyon’s attempt to send the puck away from the net bounced off Ben Chiarot and into the net.
Winnipeg ran away with the game from there, scoring a power play goal at the 7:19 mark of the third when a long wrist shot from Pionk beat Lyon clean for his second of the night.
Colin Miller got in on the fun just past the midway point when he beat Lyon from distance as the Wings’ netminder tried to catch the high shot but whiffed on it.
Ten different Jets recorded at least a point in the win, while Hellebuyck only had to make 19 saves to earn the victory.
Winnipeg will look to pick up another two points Friday in Columbus against the Blue Jackets. Pregame show starts at 4 p.m. on 680 CJOB, with puck drop just after 6 p.m.
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