Jets return to winning ways with 4-2 win over Islanders

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This article was published 16/01/2024 (630 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

At long last, the losing streak is over.

We kid, of course. The Winnipeg Jets had dropped one measly game in a row as they welcomed the New York Islanders to town on Tuesday night. And they made sure that tiny blip on the radar wouldn’t become any bigger, skating away with a 4-2 victory at Canada Life Centre.

Gabe Vilardi, Neal Pionk, Mason Appleton and Kyle Connor — making his return from a 16-game injury absence — scored for the Jets, who improve to 29-10-4 on the year and continue to lead the Central Division, the Western Conference and the entire NHL in win percentage.

Anders Lee had both goals for the visitors, who lost in regulation for a third straight outing and are now 19-15-10.

“We think that good teams don’t lose two in a row, especially at home. So it was a big win for us,” said Appleton.

In a battle of Vezina Trophy runner-ups from last season, Connor Hellebuyck got the better of Ilya Sorokin. Hellebuyck stopped 35 of 37 shots he faced, while the busier Sorokin turned aside 40 of 43.

“I think we’re happy with that performance, coming off a loss,” said Cole Perfetti. “There’s obviously things we want to clean up, but I think we liked that.”

Here’s a further breakdown of how this one played out:

1) JETS STRIKE FIRST: One thing Winnipeg hasn’t done very well lately is open the scoring. In fact, six of the past eight games saw them surrender the opening tally. To their credit, they haven’t let chasing the game impact their play. Still, it’s always better to get on the board first, and Vilardi did just that at 9:41 of the first period.

Josh Morrissey’s point shot was tipped by captain Adam Lowry, and bounced right off Vilardi past Sorokin. It was the 11th of the year for the winger.

“It’s helpful for our team having a guy like that,” Perfetti said of Lowry and his versatility. “With Lows, he’s done an amazing job so far playing big minutes.”

However, Lee answered back at 15:53 of the frame, notching his 12th of the year and setting the stage for a bit of a wacky second period, where Winnipeg would get all the puck luck.

2) BLADE-BUSTER: With the Jets on the power play late in the middle frame, Pionk scored at 15:19 by essentially shooting the puck into a wide-open net. Sorokin was nowhere to be found, and threw his arms up in the air as the red light went on, seemingly perplexed about what had just occurred.

Was he injured? Had he been interfered with? Neither, actually.

Upon closer inspection, the cause was revealed: Perfetti’s shot a few seconds earlier had literally blown the blade off Sorokin’s right skate. And that left him like a fish out of water, unable to push off to scurry over to the vacant left side of his net which Pionk would take full advantage of.

“He couldn’t slide over. I didn’t even realize it. Worked out well. Lucky bounce,” Perfetti said of the play. “I’ve seen it happen before, but I’ve never seen a goal, I think, come of it.”

3) SLUMP-BUSTER: Appleton started the season red-hot, with a rather surprising six goals through his first 16 games. For a player whose career high is just 12, that was certainly encouraging. Unfortunately for the 28-year-old, he’s gone ice-cold since, with a 25-game drought following him around like a dark cloud.

There had been plenty of chances — he’d fired 27 shots on goal in that span — but he seemingly couldn’t buy one.

Until Tuesday.

Appleton got in on the forecheck late in the second period, stole a puck and then banked it off a stunned Sorokin to give the Jets a 3-1 lead.

They don’t ask how, just how many. And Appleton, finally, can say he’s up to seven.

“When you have quite a streak of not scoring, I think you’ve just got to get a greasy one around the net,” said Appleton. “It’s kind of funny that went in, but I’ll certainly take it.”

4) GAME-BREAKER: Lowry called Connor a “game-breaker,” and the Jets were happy to have their leading goal scorer back in the lineup, 37 days after he suffered a serious knee injury following a dirty hit from Anaheim Ducks forward Ryan Strome.

Connor, playing on the top line with Vilardi and Lowry (in for the injured Mark Scheifele), was flying around the ice and had a team-high six shots on goal and 10 attempts.

His final one was into an empty net, with the Islanders pressing for the equalizer after Lee had got them within a goal with a similar bank shot off Hellebuyck just 35 seconds into the third period.

“He was impressive. He was a threat with the puck every time,” said Jets coach Rick Bowness.

“He’s tough to defend when he gets those cutbacks and everything. You give him the puck and something good is going to happen. Give him credit, because most guys take two or three games to get their timing and their reads and everything. He just stepped in there tonight like he hadn’t missed 16 games. That’s very, very impressive.”

Connor is now up to 18 on the year, which is three ahead of Nikolaj Ehlers for the team lead.

5) STATE OF THE STREAKS: The Jets had their eight-game winning streak and 14-game point streak ended on Saturday by the Philadelphia Flyers, who handed them a 2-0 loss.

But a few other franchise-record ones remain intact.

Tuesday marked the 21st straight game the Jets have not given up more than two goals in regulation, with the only blemish in that time being a 3-2 overtime loss to the Montreal Canadiens. That happened 13 games ago.

Winnipeg has also now gone 33 consecutive outings not allowing more than three goals. That’s the second-longest in the NHL’s modern era, and they are quickly closing in on the 2014-15 Minnesota Wild who hold the No. 1 spot at 35 games.

Winnipeg’s loss to Philadelphia was just their first in regulation against an Eastern Conference opponent, so a new streak has started in that regard. The Jets are now 12-1-3 this season.

Finally, Winnipeg slayed a bit of a dragon in downing the Islanders, who had gone 12-1-2 playing against the Jets at the downtown rink since the NHL returned here in 2011.

“A big win tonight by us,” said Appleton. “You know, when you go on such a long win streak and you drop one game, you want to get right back to your winning ways. That’s obviously a really good hockey team, a really disciplined team. They don’t give you much. But we found a way to win and we’re back on the right track.”

6) EXTRA, EXTRA: Axel Jonsson-Fjallby came out of the lineup to make room for Connor’s return. Scheifele and David Gustafsson are on injured reserve, while defencemen Logan Stanley and Declan Chisholm were the two other healthy scratches.

Attendance was down significantly from recent games, at just 12,600. Clearly, the Islanders on a Tuesday night are not a big draw.

Winnipeg went 1-for-5 on the power play, while the Jets killed off both penalties they took.

The Jets don’t play again now until Saturday when they start a three-game road trip in Ottawa against the Senators.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

X: @mikemcintyrewpg