The Winnipeg Jets are back in the win column.
On Friday night from downtown Winnipeg, the Jets rediscovered their secondary scoring, beating the visiting Buffalo Sabres 4-1 for their first victory at home since November 18.
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Entering the game losers of six of their last seven, the Jets received goals from Kyle Connor, Tanner Perason, Cole Koepke and Gabe Vilardi, while Eric Comrie shut the door on 34 of the 35 shots he faced on the night.
Photo by James Carey Lauder
“I thought that, as a group, our details and our compete, some of the things that 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 head coach Scott Arniel, post-game.
“As much as you saw their speed, I thought we did a really good job of getting numbers back whenever possible. I just thought it was a solid game where we forced them to play in their end a lot more, certainly more than we did down in Buffalo and we were rewarded for it.”
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Winnipeg improved to 14-12-1 on the year with the win, and will now take their talents on the road to Edmonton for a late-night battle with Connor McDavid and the Oilers in the second half of a back-to-back on Saturday.
Connor opened the scoring just 4:24 into the first period, as he whacked the puck past Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen on his second rebound on the doorstep. Gabe Vilardi and Dylan Samberg picked up the helpers on Connor’s 15th of the season.
But with Jonathan Toews in the penalty box for tripping, Jason Zucker tied the game on a rebound tally of his own as the period wore on.
Buffalo outshot the Jets 15-8 in the first period, but Winnipeg escaped with the 1-1 draw.
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The second period saw the tide change, as the Jets piled on the offence to the tune of three decent scoring chances. And they scored on two of them.
Photo by James Carey Lauder
Adam Lowry was denied on a penalty shot, but Pearson and Koepke each scored on strong individual efforts.
“It’s huge for us,” Keopke said of his two-point night. “We haven’t quite had a game like that for us this year. We’ve been just really working at it, and have just been trying to continue to build our game. It was great for us as a line, and the team was rolling as well, so it’s even better when it comes in a win.”
Pearson’s fourth of the season came on a breakaway, while Koepke’s marker was nifty deke, which came as his first goal as a member of the Jets.
“A bit of both. If (Koepke) is in that position, he’s probably beating anyone up the ice,” Pearson said. “So I knew there was a good chance he was behind me. He said afterwards that he probably picked the guy to give me more time. Thankfully, it did.”
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Later, Josh Morrissey rattled the iron with a long-range point shot, but Luukkonen kept Winnipeg’s lead to two goals with a few stellar stops in the period.
On the other side of the ice, Comrie continued to shut the door on all of Buffalo’s scoring chances after letting in the Zucker marker.
Mark Scheifele nearly had another for the home team, but his 15th of the season was called off due to a successful offside coach’s challenge from the Sabres’ video coaching staff.
Vilardi potted his 12th of the season into the empty net with assists from his linemates, sealing the deal on the Jets’ 14th win of the season with 33 seconds left to play.
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Comrie finished the night with 34 stops, while Luukkonen was torched for three goals on 20 shots.
Next up for Winnipeg is the second game of the back-to-back, as the team heads to Edmonton for a test with the Oilers on Saturday. That game will be aired live on Sportsnet at 9:00 PM central time.