Jets howl in Arizona

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This article was published 10/10/2014 (4242 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Pushing the pace like roadrunners, the Winnipeg Jets made road kill of the Arizona Coyotes in the NHL opener for both teams Thursday night at Gila River Arena.

The Jets fired out of the gate with four first-period goals and rocketed to a 6-2 victory before an announced crowd of 17,125.

Blake Wheeler led the track meet with three points, setting the Jets on the fast path to victory with a pair of goals in a 15-second span in the first.

That makes four straight Winnipeg decisions over the Coyotes, counting all three matches last season.

The Jets continue their opening weekend with back-to-back games in San Jose Saturday and Los Angeles on Sunday.

The flurry

When Bryan Little opened the scoring seven minutes into the season, it was the style of goal Maurice will want to see more often. It was a quick-breaking two-on-one with Andrew Ladd.

Arizona’s Mikkel Boedker answered in 38 seconds but less than a minute after that, Wheeler connected from the sidewall to restore the Winnipeg lead, then tipped in Zach Bogosian’s point shot 15 seconds after that.

Mark Stuart added a goal at 14:11 of the first to make it 4-1, delighting scores of Jets fans who made the journey to the desert to watch their team live.

Pedal down

The Jets didn’t try to sit on their lead.

Dustin Byfuglien scored a second-period goal, again off the rush, and Little added a third-period short-handed marker to make it 6-1 on a fleet rush, making Coyotes defenceman Keith Yandle look slow and goalie Mike Smith dull for trying an ill-advised poke check.

Easy does it

Winnipeg also started with a win on the road last season.

After a poor overall training camp, Winnipeg defeated the Oilers 5-4 in Edmonton to kick off the 2013-14 campaign.

But there was a different feel to that night. It was more relief to come back and beat the young Oilers, especially after the stress of losing seven of the eight exhibition games.

Thursday’s game is just one outing, but in this one the Jets did many of the things they said they wanted to do, especially things concerning speed and quickness.

Early exit

This season’s first real-game look at left-winger Evander Kane with centre Mark Scheifele and right-winger Blake Wheeler did not last long in the opener.

Kane left the game early due to a lower-body injury. On his second shift, he was slightly off-balance and straddling the offensive blue-line trying to stay on side. Scheifele was pursuing the puck and didn’t see Kane’s predicament and crashed into Kane’s leg, spilling both players at 2:18 of the first.

Kane was helped off but returned in a few seconds on the next power-play shift to try to play. He couldn’t continue after that shift and disappeared to the locker-room, not to return.

The rest of the night was a hodgepodge of line combinations, but didn’t seem to disrupt the visitors’ flow very much, considering the result. In a rarity and out of necessity, the Jets didn’t have any forwards (other than Kane, of course) who played less than 10 minutes.

 

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca