Jets pick up win against Rangers, 5-2

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This article was published 18/12/2015 (3612 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

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The Winnipeg Jets, led by their No.1 line, skated to a 5-2 win over the New York Rangers Friday night at the MTS Centre.

The trio of Andrew Ladd (1g,1a), Bryan Little (2g, 1a) and Blake Wheeler (4a) combined for four goals and nine points in the game, a win that improved the Jets to 15-15-2 on the year. The Rangers fall to 19-11-4 with the loss.

The Jets wasted little time getting to a Rangers team who played the night before, exploding for three goals in the opening period, two of which came off the stick of Little, to take a 3-1 lead after 20 minutes.

Little got the Jets on the board first with his 11th goal of the season and his first in six games. He took a pass from line mate Blake Wheeler, who was stationed behind the net, and made a nice move in front to put Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist out of position before sliding the puck into the empty net.

The two would connect again just minutes later, with Wheeler finding Little at the side of the net where he was able to lift the puck high for his second of the night. The puck bounced out of the net quickly, leaving the refs to wave off the goal off. But after a review it was deemed a good goal and Little was credited with his 12th of the season. He is now tied with Mark Scheifele for most goals on the Jets.

The Rangers would cut the lead in half at the 14-minute mark of the frame. JT Miller made it 2-1 after he was able to find a loose puck in behind Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck, who was unable to control the rebound after a shot from Kevin Hayes. The two-goal lead was restored by Dustin Byfulien with fewer than three minutes left in the period. The Jets blue-line blasted a puck off a face-off win from Scheifele for his ninth of the season.

Dan Boyle made it a 3-2 game late in the second period with a goal on the power play, jumping on a re-directed puck to snap a shot past Hellebuyck. Right when it began to look as if the Jets may be in a bit of trouble, they re-gained some breathing room with a goal from Tyler Myers at the 16:14 mark of the frame. Myers snuck in from the point and let a shot go off the post and in behind Lundqvist for his third of the season.

The third period did nothing to alter the game, with only Ladd scoring on an empty net. New York, with three minutes left in the game and Lundqvist pulled from the net, attempted a late push but came up short thanks to some stingy defence by the Jets.

Connor Hellebuyck made 25 saves to earn his 5th win of the season and now sits at 5-2-0 in seven starts. Henrik Lundqvist turned aside 31 pucks in the loss, dropping his record to 15-8-3.