Mark Scheifele made sure his milestone night would be a good one.
Playing in his 898th NHL game, setting a new franchise mark for games played, Scheifele tallied three helpers to propel the Winnipeg Jets to a 5-2 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday night.
The Jets had goals from five different players, including three markers from defencemen as they started the three-game homestand on a winning note. Winnipeg scored three straight goals as five players had multi-point nights in one of their most complete games of the season.
“I thought we did good coming out,” said Jets forward Kyle Connor. “Their first goal, I thought it was, you know, bouncing puck. It just kinda goes that way. It didn’t let us deteriorate from our game plan, stuck with it and yeah, we are able to keep coming. Top to bottom it was a full team effort tonight. Everybody did a great job, so you need that in this league. You need to be four lines deep and we really showed our depth tonight.”
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Josh Morrissey, Neal Pionk and Logan Stanley all scored goals for the Jets and it’s the first time since March of 2023 the Jets had three different defencemen score in the same game.
“When your ‘D’ can add offence from that back end, it makes you that much more dangerous,” said Jets head coach Scott Arniel. “We talk about depth scoring and sometimes you just look at the forwards, but I actually think Columbus is the highest scoring ‘D’ in the league right now and that’s a big part of the game.”
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Morrissey had a goal and an assist to give him a six-game point streak and he’s now second in defencemen scoring in the NHL with 21 points in 19 games.
Morgan Barron returned to the lineup from injury for the Jets, giving the team a completely healthy forward unit for the first time this season.
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After hitting a bit of speed bump on the road trip, Scheifele is heating back up again. With three assists in the win, he now has six points in his last three games.
“The first game after a long road trip you kinda never know what you’re going to get,” said Scheifele. “We just tried to get the energy up and know that they had a really tough back-to-back for those guys. So, we just wanted to jump on them early. It’s a good effort.”
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Scheifele came into the night tied with longtime teammate Blake Wheeler for the most games played in Jets/Thrashers franchise history (Thomas Steen has the overall Winnipeg NHL record, playing 950 games with the original Jets).
“I didn’t know either,” said Scheifele. “Obviously it’s pretty cool. Been here for a long time so feel old some days, but obviously it’s a tremendous honour.”
After a failed power play in the opening minutes of the first period, the Jets, playing at home for the first time since Nov. 1, broke the ice thanks to some great 5-on-5 play by their third line.
Adam Lowry drove down low in the Columbus end and tried to center the puck but it deflected to the opposite corner. He tracked it down and sent it to the point for Pionk before circling towards the slot. Pionk then sent it back down low to Nino Niederreiter, who found a cutting Lowry for a point-blank chance that Lowry buried for his first goal of the season.
Winnipeg held onto the lead until late in the period when the Jackets drew level with 1:33 to go.
The play started innocuously with Columbus goalie Elvis Merzlikins handling a dump-in by banking it off the end boards to Damon Severson. He sent a pass to Miles Wood at the blue line that the speedy winger chipped up the ice before winning a footrace with Dylan DeMelo. Wood was hooked as he skated past DeMelo, which would have been a penalty or a penalty shot but Wood made it a moot point as he deked out Eric Comrie before sliding the puck through the five-hole.
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Both teams managed to get 11 shots on net in the first but early in the second, the Jets restored their lead thanks to their big guns.
Scheifele picked up the puck in the neutral zone and cut across the ice before taking it into the Columbus zone. He carried it to the faceoff dot before sliding a perfect pass through the crease and through the legs of Zach Werenski, right to the tape of the stick of Morrissey who steered it into the net just 72 seconds into the middle frame.
The game’s second penalty also went to Columbus with 5:10 left in the second when Luca Del Bel Belluz was called for holding, his first career penalty in his 22nd NHL game, and Winnipeg made him pay.
With the Jets’ second power play unit on the ice, the puck was cycled around the Columbus zone before Gustav Nyquist sent a point-to-point pass to Pionk that the blueliner blasted through Merzlikins for his first of the season.
Winnipeg outshot Columbus 8-4 in the second as they carried the multi-goal lead into the final frame and built on their advantage at the 2:45 mark of the third.
Connor made a juke at the blue line before taking the puck towards the corner in the Columbus end. As he reached the goal line, he noticed some daylight high in the net and beat Merzlikins with a sharp angle shot that banked in off the goaltender.
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The Jackets were able to cut the lead back to two just 79 seconds later. After the Jets failed to clear the puck, Charlie Coyle sent it across the ice to Cole Sillinger, who found Werenski in the slot. His shot eluded Comrie to make it 4-2.
But a little over two minutes later, the three-goal cushion was restored. Scheifele took the puck into the Columbus end before dropping the puck back to Stanley for a one-timer that the big man pounded past Merzlikins for his third of the season, extending his career-high.
Winnipeg held on from there to improve to 12-7 on the season. Comrie turned aside 20 shots as he personally improved to 4-1.
The Jets will look to make it three wins in a row when they host the Carolina Hurricanes Friday night as Nikolaj Ehlers makes his return to Winnipeg.
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