Fans have been begging the Winnipeg Jets’ depth players to start contributing on the scoreboard, and Friday night at Canada Life Centre, they finally did.
Yes, the top line stayed hot, but a pair of fourth line goals helped as well as the Jets dumped the Buffalo Sabres 4-1 to avenge an embarrassing loss from only four days earlier.
A return to home ice is just what the doctor ordered as the Jets picked up a much-needed win after losing six of their previous seven games.
“As a group, our details and our compete, some of things maybe I’ve talked about in the past that weren’t up to speed, I thought tonight as a whole we did a better job,” said Jets head coach Scott Arniel. “As much as you saw their speed, I thought that we did a really good job of having numbers, getting numbers back whenever possible. I just thought it was a good solid game where we forced them to play in their end a lot more, certainly than we did down in Buffalo, and we got rewarded for it.”
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In their last six losses, the Jets didn’t have a forward from outside their top line score a single goal, but the fourth line made a huge contribution against the Sabres with Tanner Pearson and Cole Koepke both scoring in the victory.
“That was huge for us,” said Koepke who scored his first goal with the Jets. “We haven’t quite had a game like that yet this year, but we’ve been really working at it and just trying to continue to build our game. And it was great for us as a line and then the team was rolling as well, so it’s even better when it comes in a win.”
2:22
RAW: Winnipeg Jets Cole Koepke Interview – Dec. 5
Kyle Connor scored his 299th career goal to open the scoring, giving him goals in four straight games. Mark Scheifele assisted on Gabriel Vilardi’s empty netter to give him a six-game point-streak.
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The Jets took a 3-1 lead into the third period and didn’t give up many quality chances in the final frame as they picked up just their second win in the last eight games.
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“I think that’s what it needs to be, right.” said Pearson. “I think you get in the one-two goal games, you have to lock it down and not give up many chances, right. And I think we did a good job of that tonight.”
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RAW: Winnipeg Jets Tanner Pearson Interview – Dec. 5
As has been customary in recent vintage, the Jets were slow to get going out of the gates, with Eric Comrie being forced to turn aside six shots in the first three minutes before his side could muster a shot.
That proved to be critical because, at the 4:24 mark, Winnipeg’s top line struck again.
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A Dylan Samberg point shot was stopped and the rebound wound up in the corner where Scheifele retrieved it. Scheifele sent it back to the point where Samberg passed it down low to Vilardi, who one-touched a pass in front to Connor. His initial shot was stopped but he slid the rebound through the five-hole of Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen for his 15th of the season.
Winnipeg held the lead until the 14:44 mark when Buffalo took advantage of their second power play look of the period.
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Josh Norris took the initial shot on net, and it did not get all the way through, but the puck sat right in front of the crease for Jason Zucker. He was robbed by Comrie on his first attempt before he whacked the puck into the net to level the score.
The Jets came up empty on their lone power play look late in the period as they finished the first with eight shots on goal to Buffalo’s 15.
Winnipeg finally got a contribution on the scoreboard from their depth as Pearson put them ahead early in the second. Alex Tuch turned the puck over at the Jets’ blueline, allowing Koepke to spring Pearson on a long breakaway. He skated in and whipped a shot past Luukkonen for his fourth of the season at the 2:22 mark.
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It was just the fourth time in eight games that someone other than Scheifele, Vilardi or Connor scored for Winnipeg.
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Logan Stanley nearly extended the Jets’ lead when he jumped up in the rush, but he managed to put it off the post with the net open.
Buffalo then had a long sequence in the Winnipeg end where Rasmus Dahlin hit the post.
Moments later, Adam Lowry escaped the Jets’ zone with the puck and was destined for his own breakaway before Dahlin blatantly hooked him in the neutral zone, earning the Jets’ captain a penalty shot.
With the crowd on their feet, Lowry skated in on Luukkonen and fired it right into the goalie’s pads as he attempted to go five-hole.
The close calls continued a short time later when Josh Morrissey rang a shot off the crossbar from fairly close range before Buffalo had a couple decent looks where Comrie was scrambling in his crease, but the Sabres couldn’t bury it.
Late in the period, Winnipeg finally converted a chance to make it 3-1, and it came from an unlikely source.
After a stretch of play in the Jets’ end of the ice, Dylan DeMelo sent a long pass up the ice to Morgan Barron as the Sabres went for a line change. Barron took it into the Buffalo zone before sending the puck to a streaking Koepke, who made a move on Luukkonen before depositing a backhand into the net for his first in 18 games as a Jet with 1:18 left in the second.
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Very little happened over the first half of the third, with each team managing just one shot on goal.
Winnipeg’s top line appeared to put the game on ice with 6:36 remaining. A point shot from Neal Pionk went well wide and ricocheted off the end boards, right to the stick of Scheifele on the other side of the net. He banked it in off the skate of Luukkonen, but after a challenge by Buffalo, the goal was called back because Scheifele had been offside by a whisker 21 seconds before the goal was scored.
The Sabres were not able to take advantage before Vilardi scored into an empty net with 33.8 seconds remaining.
Comrie was rock solid in net for the second game in a row, stopping 34 shots.
The Jets will now head to Edmonton for a Saturday night showdown with the Oilers. Thomas Milic will get the start when the puck drops just after 9 p.m. with pregame coverage on 680 CJOB beginning at 7 p.m.
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RAW: Winnipeg Jets Scott Arniel Interview – Dec. 5
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