Breadcrumb Trail Links
Published Dec 05, 2025 • 3 minute read
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Jets goaltender Eric Comrie (1) keeps his eye on the rebound as Buffalo Sabres forward Josh Doan (91) tries to corral the loose puck in Winnipeg on Friday, Dec. 5, 2025. The Jets beat the Sabres 4-1 on Friday night. Comrie made 34 saves for the Jets. Photo by THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods /Winnipeg SunArticle content
The fourth line to the rescue.
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Tanner Pearson and Cole Koepke scored second-period goals to pace the Jets to a 4-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Friday night.
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“When your fourth line can do that and score you two goals, that’s a big game changer,” head coach Scott Arniel said. “Especially in the second period of a tight game.”
Pearson’s go-ahead goal came on a two-man breakaway with Koepke at 2:22 of the second period, the opportunity created when Pearson forced an Alex Tuch turnover at the Jets blue line, Koepke picking up the puck and sending Pearson in alone.
Pearson’s shot went glove side on Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen for his fourth of the season. Koepke earned the only assist. Luukkonen stopped 19 shots for the Sabres.
“I knew there was a good chance he was behind me,” Pearson said. “He said afterwards that he probably picked the guy to give me more time. Thankfully, it did.”
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“I did not tell him I was with him,” Koepke said. “I didn’t want to mess with him. I just tried to get a bit of a skate screen and just give him some extra time and let him do his thing.”
Koepke had a two-point game. Pearson and Morgan Barron had one point each.
Koepke scored his first goal as a Jet when he redirected a Barron pass into the net at 18:42 of the second. The assist was Barron’s first point in 10 games.
“That’s a fantastic pass and a high-end play,” Koepke said. “That’s just the kind of plays Barron can make. I’m lucky to play with him.”
Barron had a chance to score his first goal in 17 games on a two-on-one in the final stanza, but Luukkonen was equal to the task. Luukkonen stopped 19 shots for the Sabres.
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The win was restitution for Monday’s 5-1 loss in Buffalo.
Gabe Vilardi scored into the empty net at 19:26 of the third period.
The Jets are 10-1-0 when leading after two. The Sabres dropped to 2-10-1 when trailing after 40 minutes.
Kyle Connor also scored for the Jets. Mark Scheifele had his 15th goal of the season wiped out for offside in the third period. The Jets improved to 7-5-0 at home. The win snaps a two-game home losing streak.
Eric Comrie turned aside 34 shots for the win.
Jason Zucker scored for the Sabres. The Sabres have the fewest road wins in the league at two in a dozen games, the team at 2-8-2.
The Jets are in Edmonton to face the Oilers on Saturday night.
Ice Chips
Luke Schenn, Gustav Nyquist, and Colin Miller were scratched.
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Splitting them up
With good reason, Arniel has zero plans to split up Vilardi, Connor and Scheifele at the moment, but he experimented with a second line of Jonathan Toews between Adam Lowry and Cole Perfetti.
Arniel put the line together to start the second. The trio created an odd-man chance early in the third when Toews found Perfetti alone in the slot, but the shot was blocked on the way to the net.
Lowry had a chance to snap his now 14-game goal-scoring drought at 9:42 of the second period when he was awarded a penalty shot. Luukkonen made the save. Jonathan Toews has gone 11 games without a goal. He has one helper in 10 games. Perfetti has two goals in 13 games.
‘Movement going’
After the Friday morning skate Ariel said netminder Connor Hellebuyck is progressing after arthroscopic knee surgery last month. The Jets never specified which knee received the procedure.
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“He’s into movements,” Arniel said. “He’s got movement going. He hasn’t touched the ice yet. It’s getting close, though. His up and down stuff is starting to happen. It’s progressing as we’d hope.”
The club moved Hellebuyck to the IR list on Nov. 24. The original diagnosis was four to six weeks. Hellebuyck previous start was against the Calgary Flames, a 4-3 shootout win on Nov. 15.
With Eric Comrie and Thomas Milic manning the crease, the Jets are 3-5-1 in nearly three weeks of action.
Cleared to skate
After spending about three weeks on concussion protocol, Haydn Fleury is back on the ice. He skated on Friday morning prior to the team’s game-day skate.
“He’s cleared,” Arniel said. “Now, it’s about conditioning. He wasn’t skating for a stretch there. Friday was his first real go. He won’t make the road trip to Edmonton.”
The Jets defender was injured in a game in Vancouver on Nov. 11. The Jets placed Fleury on injured reserve two days later.
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