Scheifele shines in milestone game

The Winnipeg Jets can be a real handful when they bring their A game. Now add their A lineup to the mix and you have a legitimate Stanley Cup contender.

Those qualities were on full display Tuesday night in front of 13,847 fans at Canada Life Centre as the healthiest roster of the season skated to a dominant 5-2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Centre Morgan Barron was the latest to come off the injury list — the fifth recent return along with captain Adam Lowry, shutdown defenceman Dylan Samberg and scoring wingers Cole Perfetti and Gustav Nyquist. They represent 25 per cent of the skaters who suited up and give the Jets an entirely different look.

The final score flattered the visitors who, to be fair, had played the night before at home and were not nearly as fresh as the hosts, who had been off since Saturday. Don’t discount the fact the Jets put forth one of their most complete efforts of the campaign, one that would give any opponent fits.

“That was probably one of our — if not the best — of the year, it was right near the top,” said Jets head coach Scott Arniel.

“I like the fact we went after them in the first five minutes. We did a really good job of not letting them get themselves warmed up and into the game. We knew that they had a late night (Monday) night with playing (the Montreal Canadiens). You have to do that. When you get those opportunities, you have to pounce on teams.”

Winnipeg improves to 12-7-0, including 3-1-0 in the past four games following a three-game losing streak. Columbus, which had been on a 3-0-2 run prior to puck drop, falls to 10-8-2.

“First game after a long road trip, you never know what you’re going to get,” said Jets centre Mark Scheifele, referring to the team’s just-completed 2-4-0 trek through the Western Conference. “That’s a really tough back-to-back for those guys and we just wanted to jump on them early. It was a good effort.”

Let’s break this one down further.

FRANCHISE MARK: It was another milestone night for Scheifele. The all-time franchise leader in goals and points dressed for his 898th game, moving him past Blake Wheeler into top spot for the Jets 2.0/Atlanta Thrashers organization.

“That’s pretty cool,” Scheifele said of setting another mark — one he admitted he didn’t realize was on the cusp of falling. “I’ve been here a long time. I feel old, but obviously it’s a tremendous honour.”

Fittingly, the 32-year-old celebrated by doing what he does best — creating plenty of offence.

After a fairly even first period which saw Lowry and Miles Wood trade goals, the Scheifele Show took over for the final 40 minutes.

He made a slick cross-ice feed through traffic to find Josh Morrissey, who re-directed the puck into the Columbus net 72 seconds into the second period to give the Jets a 2-1 lead.

“I was just waiting for lanes to open up and saw Josh go towards the back door,” said Scheifele. “Just tried to make a good pass and put it on his tape. Great finish by him.”

Scheifele then had a pair of helpers in the third period as the Jets pulled away from the Blue Jackets, setting up Logan Stanley for a long-distance slapper that fooled Elvis Merzlikins and then Kyle Connor for a filthy top shelf sneak attack that went in off the back of the Columbus goaltender’s head.

“He’s shown his ability to score, but we all know he’s a great passer,” said Connor.

The assists — Scheifele’s 482nd, 483rd and 484th — leave him 66 behind Wheeler for the No. 1 mark in that category as well. It’s just a matter of time before he owns that record, too, with performances like this serving as Exhibit A.

Scheifele is now up to a team-leading 27 points on the year (11G, 16A) which has him on pace to shatter his career high of 87 set last year.

“He’s been a pillar for this organization for a long time. One of the first draft picks here, even my first couple years and just being mentors to so many guys. And he leads by example,” said Connor.

“He’s also very vocal, caring guy, pushing each other. And yeah, he’s, he bleeds Winnipeg Jet hockey. And he wears his heart in his sleeve out there every time he steps on the ice.”

SHOWING OFF: Samberg and Neal Pionk are not only defence partners and good pals, but Minnesota products who spend their off-season training together. When the subject of Samberg’s continued development was brought up Tuesday morning, Arniel jokingly pointed to the alleged source.

“I know he spent a lot of time with his skills coach, Neal Pionk,” Arniel said with a chuckle. “They skated together all summer and Neal told me he was going to work on him all summer.”

There’s no question the two men work well together, and you know Pionk was one of the happiest people to see Samberg return to the lineup after missing the first 16 games of the season with a broken wrist.

Pionk, who tied his career high last year by scoring 10 goals, notched his first of the season against the Blue Jackets. He one-timed a pass from Nyquist and beat Merzļikins, who couldn’t see a thing thanks to a great moving screen by Jets centre Jonathan Toews.

The tally, which came on the power play with just over four minutes left in the middle frame, gave Winnipeg a 3-1 lead and proved to be the game-winner.

KEY PLAY: Connor’s goal just 2:45 into the third period gave Winnipeg a three-goal cushion and essentially put this one to bed.

“Top to bottom, it was a full team effort,” said Connor, who is now tied with Scheifele for the team lead with 11 tallies. “Everybody did a great job. You need to do that in this league, you need to be four lines deep. We really showed our depth.”

THREE STARS:

1. Jets, Mark Scheifele: 3A

2. Jets, Josh Morrissey: 1G, 1A

3. Jets, Kyle Connor: 1G, 1A

EXTRA, EXTRA: Backup goalie Eric Comrie made his fifth start of the year, stopping 20 of 22 shots to improve to 4-1-0. One of them was a diving glove stop off Kent Johnson coming to a highlight reel near you.

“Everybody wants to win for either goaltender but, at the end of the day, when your backup goes in, you want to make sure that you’re limiting the amount of opportunities that come the other way,” said Arniel.

“That’s one thing about Coms. He frustrates our players in practice, because that save that he made on the power play, diving across — he does that in practice every day, once or twice. He’s very popular in that room. Obviously last year was a little different. We didn’t get him any run support. This year we’re doing a better job when he’s been in the net.”

Both teams were on their best behaviour, with just three minor penalties called all night. Winnipeg went one-for-two on the power play, while Columbus went zero-for-one.

Forward Cole Koepke and defenceman Colin Miller were the two healthy scratches for the Jets. Haydn Fleury is now the only player on the injury list, and the blue-liner is working his way back from a concussion.

The Jets continue the three-game homestand on Friday night as old friend Nikolaj Ehlers and the Carolina Hurricanes blow into town. They’ll wrap it up Sunday against the Minnesota Wild, then hit the road for five more games.

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