Jets overwhelm Devils in 5-2 win

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This article was published 11/11/2018 (2491 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There are nights it looks like the Winnipeg Jets can almost score at will, rolling four potent lines that eventually overwhelm the competition.

Sunday was one of those nights.

Winnipeg lit the lamp early and often, beating the New Jersey Devils with a 5-2 score at Bell MTS Place. The Jets improve to 10-5-1, while the Devils drop to 6-8-1. 

“It’s always nice when we can roll four lines like that, when all four lines are going. We’re a good team when we do that. It’s fun to be a part of,” Jack Roslovic said, who got the offensive party started with his first goal of the season just 3:02 into the game.

Mark Scheifele struck just 29 seconds later, a sure sign this could be a long night for veteran New Jersey goaltender (and former Manitoba Moose member) Cory Schneider.

“That fourth line got us going. It was a great shot by (Roslovic) and we’re definitely happy he got his first,” Scheifele said of seizing momentum early after what had been a rough first few shifts by his team.

After the Devils cut the deficit in half before the end of the period, the Jets really turned things on in the middle frame. Scheifele cashed in again with his team-leading ninth, and then Nikolaj Ehlers and Mathieu Perreault scored before the game was barely past the halfway mark.

“We started to skate better. I thought we had a pretty full bench going up front,” head coach Paul Maurice said of what allowed his team to pull away.

Captain Blake Wheeler had another big night, finishing with two assists to give him an NHL-best 20 helpers on the year. That includes 16 assists in the past eight games, six in his past two games and two goals and 17 assists over a 10-game point streak. He finished his evening tied for third in overall NHL scoring pending the result of late games.

Wheeler’s first assist Sunday also marked a milestone, as it was his 500th point in a Jets uniform.

“We feel if we take care of our end and stay underneath the puck and do the little things, support each other (with) little chips and really with the smart, easy plays it gives ourselves a chance to create some offence coming up the ice and we capitalized a couple of times,” Wheeler said of his red-hot line which produced a total of seven points Sunday.

Scheifele also had a helper for a three-point night, while Ehlers had two points with an assist as the Jets followed up Friday’s 5-2 win over Colorado with a similar, solid effort.

“It’s been awesome. We’ve been playing the right way. We’ve been in the right spots. Lines are starting to figure out each other. A little more consistent on our routes. That’s what we want. We want to continue to build off this. It’s two solid games for us. We’re definitely happy to see the results we’ve got in the last two and we just got to continue to build,” Scheifele said.

Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck made 34 saves for the win. He was happy for the early offensive support as the goals start to come for his teammates following a bit of a slow start to the season.

“We’re playing great defensively and it’s leading to a whole lot of chances and we have the skill to bury on those chances. We’re playing a nice, patient, detailed game and it’s fun to play,” Hellebuyck said.

The line of Roslovic, Nic Petan and Andrew Copp all played double-digits, which Roslovic said helps get into the rhythm. There have been many nights this season where that fourth unit only plays a handful of minutes.

“It’s easier to feel into the game. It’s nice to have those minutes,” said Roslovic, who came close to scoring on a couple of other occasions, including hitting a post.

“When you start to feel it, I guess, more chances start to come. Especially when you’re doing the right things. When you get one that early, especially for our line, it’s important because you know it’s a sign to the coach that we might be going a little bit extra hard tonight.”

Winnipeg’s win wasn’t without some controversy. Dustin Byfuglien laid a huge second-period hit on New Jersey’s Brian Boyle, sending the 6-6 forward crashing to the ice. He was given what was announced as a two-minute check-to-the-head penalty. Boyle remained in the game.

“It was a car wreck, right. Somebody had to go to jail. Just two enormous men coming together. And something bad had to have happened,” Maurice said of the collision. Officials later changed the call to charging, apparently deciding it was a shoulder-to-shoulder blow.

“I think they thought differently of it when they came together, so they changed it. And rightfully so,” he said.

While the Jets seem to be pointed in the right direction, the slumping Devils are heading south. New Jersey has now lost three in a row, giving up 18 goals in the process to Winnipeg, Toronto and Ottawa. They’ve lost six of their past seven overall.

Winnipeg’s franchise record of 11 straight games with a power play goal came to an end Sunday as they went 0-for-1 with the man-advantage.

However, the home dominance continues. The Jets are now 16-1-1 in their past 18 regular-season games at Bell MTS Place, dating back to last year. That includes a perfect two-for-two so far, following the return from the Global Series in Finland, which included almost a full week of practice.

“The week of practice actually helped to work on some things. We did a lot of good things and we got the details back. Now, we’re back in that groove and it’s fun,” Hellebuyck said.

“We’ve been kind of hammering home on it. We liked the direction we were going before the trip. It throws a little wrench into what you’re doing, with all of the travelling and some of the changes, but overall, it was great.

“We identified some of the things that made us successful and some of the things that we want to keep trying to do. The week in between games helped us solidify some of those things in practice, we watched a little bit of video and we were able to execute some of those things in the games,” Wheeler said.

They’ll get a chance to keep things cooking in their own barn when they finish out this four-game homestand with visits from Washington on Wednesday and Buffalo on Friday.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg