They didn’t get the help they needed on the scoreboard out of town, but the Winnipeg Jets took care of business Tuesday night as they fight to stay alive in the playoff hunt.
For just the second time in their last 11 regular season meetings, the Jets were able to overwhelm the Vegas Golden Knights, defeating them 4-1 at the Canada Life Centre.
The Jets didn’t get a single shot on net for nearly 10 minutes to start the game, but they completely flipped the script, scoring the first three goals en route to their second straight win to start the stand.
“They surrounded us early,” Jets coach Scott Arniel said. “There were a lot more shots from the outside. I mean, what was eight-nine-nothing or whatever, but there were a couple that were in front of Helly (Connor Hellebuyck). It was more from the outside. I just think that’s when we started playing fast and just took over the game from that point.”
Vegas had won their last five straight trips to the Manitoba capital.
The Jets now have at least one point in six of their last seven games.
Thanks to Nashville’s win over San Jose, however, Winnipeg remains five points out of a playoff spot with 11 games left to play.
Mark Scheifele had his fourth Gordie Howe career hat trick. After recording a pair of assists, Scheifele scored the empty-netter and also had a fight with Oakbank’s Brett Howden in the second period after Howden tied Kyle Connor.
“Just the thing to do,” Scheifele said. “That’s my boy. Just the game of hockey. That’s my boy. I didn’t like the hit, so it happens.
“I’m a terrible fighter. I think I caught him with a lefty, so, I don’t think anybody expected me to throw a lefty tonight. But, yeah, I don’t know how I have as many Gordie Howe hat tricks as I do.”
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Connor, Cole Perfetti and Alex Iafallo also scored for Winnipeg in the win.
“Really after the first period, I thought we just shut down their rushing game and their time in the O zone,” Perfetti said. “They’re definitely a team that likes to make a lot of plays and they’re very talented in that area. And I thought in the second and third period we shut them down quickly, we didn’t give them much, and they were still trying to make plays, and I thought we found our offense from that.”
Vegas has scored just five goals in its last five games with four of those losses.
The Golden Knights got off to a better start, registering nine shots on goal through the first nine-plus minutes before Winnipeg could generate any.
The Jets got the first power play of the game when Nic Dowd was called for a fairly weak interference penalty and took a shot on goal but never really threatened to score.
Winnipeg broke the ice with 2:35 left in the period thanks to some of their star players. Scheifele tracked down a loose puck in the corner in the Vegas end and hit the play, sending the ball back to Josh Morrissey at the left point.
Morrissey made a nice move to escape a Golden Knight before skating down the boards. He then spotted Connor open at the opposite faceoff point, so he made a perfect pass across the ice that Connor one-timed into the top corner of Adin Hill for his 32 of the season.
Winnipeg held that slim lead going into the second, despite being outshot 13-5 in the first 20 minutes.
The first line struck again just 2:08 into the second. Shea Theodore had the puck behind her net and sent the puck to her point, but no Golden Knights were close, allowing Scheifele to scoop it up. He sent a pass to Alex Iafallo at the opposite end of the faceoff and Iafallo put a handball past Hill to make it 2-0 with his 12th of the season.
Less than two minutes later, the Jets made it 3-0.
Dylan DeMelo sent the puck up the boards from his end as several members of the Golden Knights went for a line change. Brayden McNabb whistled the puck as he skated over it, allowing Gabriel Vilardi to pick it up and take it into the Vegas zone in a 2-on-1 matchup with Perfetti.
Vilardi held onto it as long as he could as he got close to the net before slotting the puck over a sliding Teodoro right to the stick of Perfet, who headed it in for his 10th of the season.
The Golden Knights got their first power play of the night with 11:06 left in the second because Iafallo was called for roughing it and Vegas took advantage. Rasmus Andersson took the puck near the faceoff point and sent a pass into the crease that went off the skate of Colton Sissons and through the legs of Connor Hellebuyck.
Less than two minutes later, Neal Pionk was called for a questionable penalty, but with 42 seconds left in the minor, Sissons was called for a hitting penalty.
The teams would eventually go back to 5-on-5, but not for long before Noah Hanifin drove to the box for a jumper. Winnipeg wouldn’t convert on the power play.
In the final minute of the period, Howden caught Connor with a hard but legal hit, and Scheifele immediately took the exception. He skated towards Howden and shoved him a few times before the two dropped gloves.
The score would remain 3-1 in Winnipeg’s favor heading into the third as the Jets outscored Vegas 9-8 in the middle frame.
Vegas was only able to generate one shot through the first 11 minutes of the third before Winnipeg got their fourth power play of the night, but for the fourth time, the Jets failed to convert, and to make matters worse, after Cole Smith came out of the box and went down the ice for the puck, he was checked into the boards by Eliasson to give Elias Salomons the power play:
Winnipeg rallied, but with 4:18 to go, Dylan Samberg was called for a high penalty and Vegas decided to pull Hill to make it 6-on-4. The Jets killed it off before Scheifele scored on an empty net with 1:18 left to seal the deal with his 32nd of the season.
Hellebuyck stopped 26 shots to earn the win, just his seventh in his last 21 starts.
The Jets will be back in action Thursday night against Colorado. Pregame coverage on 680 CJOB begins shortly after 5:00 PM with the ball dropping shortly after 7:00 PM
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