It’s been a while since the Winnipeg Jets looked that dominant.
Playing consecutive games on home ice for the first time in a month, the Jets were powered by their top line and their power play in a 8-1 romp over the Boston Bruins in a fight-filled contest on Tuesday.
Mark Scheifele scored twice and the top line exploded for four goals and eight points in a lopsided victory over one of the league’s hottest teams as they ended the Bruins’ four-game win streak.
“We played a hell of a hockey game against a good hockey team,” said Jets head coach Scott Arniel. “We had lost our last game here that wasn’t a real good outing by us. Like I said, a good veteran team, the way we come out and played – that’s what I’m proud of.”
With the Jets ahead by five goals in the third period, the game took a nasty turn with three fights. Trent Frederic one-punched David Gustafsson, while Logan Stanley scrapped Mark Kastelic in the same stoppage. And right after they dropped the puck Adam Lowry and Nikita Zadorov took their turns throwing punches.
Gustafsson needed stitches to close a gash after his first career fight.
“For guys that fight, we generally know who on the other team fights,” Lowry said. “Gussy, I’m real proud of him not backing down, but I think that’s a situation that he shouldn’t be put in the first place. That’s what I was upset about.”
Scheifele pushed his point-streak to five games and extended his franchise record with at least a point in his 13th straight home game. And he’s clearly over whatever injury was bothering him with seven points in his last four contests now.
The Jets had seven different goal scorers, struck five times in the final frame, and also notched three power play goals as they went 3-for-6 with the man advantage. The Jets had scored just twice on their previous 15 power play opportunities since Nikolaj Ehlers was injured.
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“We had a lot of good chances,” said Scheifele. “We could have had even more. We have guys in the right spot. We have guys filling into areas in the right way, so, that’s definitely a positive outlook tonight.”
The Jets have now won three of their last four games.
Winnipeg got a great early chance to create some momentum when Frederic was called for interference just 25 seconds into the game but the Jets’ sputtering power play failed to get anything going.
They got another chance just past the midway point of the period when Brandon Carlo received a double-minor for cutting Kyle Connor with a high stick, and this time they made Boston pay.
Late in the first minor penalty, a point shot from Neal Pionk whistled wide of the net but it bounced hard off the end boards and back in front of the net. There, it bounced off the leg of Nino Niederreiter and off the post before Vladislav Namestnikov whacked the loose puck into an open net to make it 1-0 Winnipeg.
The Jets failed to score on the second minor but they managed to extend their lead with 1:59 to go in the period.
After Gabriel Vilardi carried the puck into the Boston zone, David Pastrnak attempted to steal it away but as he tried to skate off with it, Vilardi made a good poke check, leaving the Jets with a 3-on-2 in close. The puck landed on the stick of Connor in the corner, who waited as Scheifele skated to the slot and buried a perfect pass past Jeremy Swayman to make it 2-0 after 20 minutes.
Boston was the better team over the first few minutes of the second, leading to their first power play chance of the game but it was nullified after 49 seconds when Pastrnak lifted Logan Stanley’s stick into Stanley’s face, which the officials deemed to be a high-sticking penalty.
Not long after Winnipeg’s penalty expired, the Jets struck on the power play again. Josh Morrissey collected a loose puck at the top of the Boston zone, looped in on the right side and fired a cross-ice feed that Scheifele buried to make it 3-0 Jets.
A Pionk slash put Boston on their second power play of the night and this time they took advantage. Moments after Pastrnak missed the net on a one-timer, he got the puck back and wired it top shelf over the left shoulder of Connor Hellebuyck, making it 3-1 Winnipeg at the 9:13 mark of the second.
It stayed 3-1 into the third before the Jets added to their lead just 75 seconds into the period. Brad Marchand fumbled the puck at his own blueline, allowing Scheifele to pick it up and carry it down the boards before he found Connor in the slot for his 16th of the season, matching Scheifele for the team lead.
The lead kept growing at the 5:33 when Vilardi beat Swayman from the faceoff dot with a wrist shot that snapped Vilardi’s stick as he released it.
Less than two minutes later, the Jets power play struck again when Alex Iafallo tipped a Pionk point shot past Swayman to make it 6-1. Nikita Chibrikov, playing in his 2nd NHL game, picked up his first NHL assist on the goal.
With the game out of reach, the silliness began. First it was Gustafsson and Frederic dropping the gloves and as they were being escorted to the box, Stanley and Kastelic got in a fight, which earned them a game misconduct for being the second fight during one stoppage in play.
Off the ensuing faceoff, Lowry and Zadorov dropped the gloves and not long after, Charlie McAvoy was called for his second penalty of the night but Winnipeg couldn’t cash in on their sixth power play of the game.
Mason Appleton got in on the fun with 3:44 when he sent the puck on net from just below the goal line and somehow beat Swayman.
Ten seconds later, Cole Perfetti forced a turnover in the Boston end when he got a stick on an Andrew Peeke clearing attempt, sending the puck slowly into no-man’s land where Chibrikov blasted a shot top-shelf to make it 8-1, the final touch on a much-needed offensive explosion for a Jets team that had scored 19 goals total over their past nine games.
Hellebuyck make 23 saves to pick up the win, while Swayman allowed all eight goals on 35 shots.
The Jets will look to make it back-to-back wins when they host the Vegas Golden Knights Thursday night. Pregame coverage on 680 CJOB begins at 5 p.m. with the puck dropping just after 7 p.m.
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