At some point, the Winnipeg Jets are going to need some consistent depth scoring.
But if their top line can keep firing on all cylinders, they’re going to win a decent number of hockey games, such as Tuesday night in Winnipeg when Kyle Connor, Mark Scheifele and Cole Perfetti supplied most of the offence in a 5-2 win over the Minnesota Wild.
The Jets top line scored four times and combined for seven points as they bounced back from their first regulation loss of the season to conclude the three-game homestand.
Perfetti scored twice, Scheifele notched his first goal of the season and also added two assists, while Connor found the net again for the seventh time in just the first six games.
“Honestly, Fetts (Perfetti) has done an amazing job,” said Scheifele. “He’s done so many good things, good stick, good in battles. He’s been amazing and it’s always a work in progress.”
Connor also became just the fourth player in franchise history to score in each of the team’s first four home games of a season.
Cole Koepke had the other tally for Winnipeg.
The two teams went back-and-forth in the first period, and it was 2-2 after 20 minutes. But the Jets took the lead in the second frame and then scored two more times in the third for their fourth win in their first six games.
“Our detail or our execution getting out of our zone in the first wasn’t very good,” said Jets head coach Scott Arniel. “Talked about it. Looked at some things to be a little bit quicker. Thought we did a fantastic job in the second.
“And them flying in, playing last night, flying in, then we got them on their heels. We got them caught for a couple of long shifts, extended shifts in their end of the rink in that second period which really kinda wore, especially their defence more than anybody. It started to really wear them down which we had hoped to do earlier, but it just took us a little longer to get that.”
The Jets outshot the Wild 13-3 in the middle stanza.
With Josh Morrissey out of the lineup with an injury for the second straight game, Neal Pionk had almost 24 minutes of ice time and registered two assists in the win, including a nifty setup on Scheifele’s goal.
“P (Pionk) has a skill set, obviously moving up to that top power play is big,” Arniel said. “You saw that vision on Schife’s goal, the play that he made there. But we need everybody to have that sorta offensive flare.”
The opening goal came less than two minutes in. After Perfetti entered the Minnesota zone with the puck, he left it for Scheifele who then dropped it back to the point for Pionk. Pionk held it for a moment before sending a shot on goal that was tipped en route by Perfetti and past Cal Pickard at the 1:50 mark.
The goal was Perfetti’s fourth of the season in his sixth game. It took him 36 games to hit that mark last season as he worked his way back from an ankle injury.
But the Wild answered back at the 8:47 mark, taking advantage of a bad giveaway. As Dylan Samberg circled from behind his own net with the puck, he tried to pass it to his partner Dylan DeMelo. The pass was not a good one, landing in DeMelo’s skates and he was unable to corral it before Kirill Kaprizov picked it up.
He skated in alone on Stuart Skinner, who turned aside Kaprizov’s first shot before the Russian star batted the rebound into the net, a highlight-reel finish to a disastrous play from Winnipeg’s back end.
Winnipeg’s star players cashed in again with 2:06 left in the first. Connor skated behind the Wild net with the puck and along the boards before dropping it off to Pionk. Pionk then skated back around the net the other way, taking the puck above the goal line before sending a perfect backdoor pass that Scheifele deposited into an open net for his first of the season.
The lead was short-lived, however, as Kaprizov scored again 44 seconds later when he tipped a Quinn Hughes point shot past Skinner.
Minnesota wound up outshooting the Jets 13-7 in the first, including 9-1 over the final 11:43.
The score stayed deadlocked 2-2 for most of the second period but a long o-zone shift by the second line helped Winnipeg earn their first power play of the night, and they took full advantage.
After Pionk missed the net, Scheifele collected the puck near the left point. He sent the puck below the goal line to Gabriel Vilardi, who quickly steered the puck to Perfetti in the slot for a snapshot that beat Pickard high at the 16:36 mark.
It took 40 games for Perfetti to score five goals last season.
Winnipeg earned another power play less than a minute later as Isak Rosen was held during a strong net drive, but the Jets couldn’t cash in on the ensuing advantage.
Just over four minutes into the third period, the Jets extended their lead, once again thanks to their stars. Tyler Pitlick had a chance to control a loose puck in his own end, but he fumbled it, allowing it to roll to the stick of Connor near the point. He skated to his right to try and get away from Pitlick, which he was able to do after executing a tight spin with the puck.
That left Connor with a lot of space in the slot, which he used to load up and rocket a wrist shot past Pickard for his seventh goal of the season.
With just over five minutes to go, the Jets got an insurance goal from their fourth line. Vlad Namestnikov and Koepke were sprung on a 2-on-1, with Namestnikov carrying the puck into the Minnesota zone before sliding it across to Koepke, who wired it past a sliding Pickard to make it 5-2 with his first of the season.
Skinner stopped 19 shots to earn the win, though he only needed to make eight saves over the final two periods against a Wild team that had played the night before.
The Jets will head out on the road for one game, in Chicago Thursday night. Puck drop is just after 7 p.m. with pregame coverage on 680 CJOB starting around 5:15 p.m.
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