The NHL’s best team in October kicked off November in style on Friday night in Columbus.
After an impressive win in Detroit, the Winnipeg Jets defeated the Blue Jackets 6–2 to improve to 10–1 on the season.
Nikolaj Ehlers opened the scoring at the 5:28 mark of the first when he reached the Columbus end and beat Alvin Merzlikins with a long-range slap shot.
Shawn Kuraly answered for the Jackets with just 11 minutes remaining. James van Riemsdyk won a puck battle behind the Jets’ net and fed Kuraly in front, who shot past Eric Comrie to tie the score.
But just four minutes later, Ehlers restored the Jets’ lead. Columbus had a chance to clear the puck but failed to do so due to some good stick work from Dylan Samberg at the blue line. After a scramble near the blue line, the puck finally found its way to Ehlers in some open ice and he made a stiff wrist putt to make it 2-1.
It remained that way until the 2:20 mark of the second period when the Jets made it 3-1 thanks to some nice puck movement on the offensive end. Adam Lowry passed it to Neal Pionk as he went down the wall, before Pionk fed Mason Appleton in the slot. He came home once for his fourth year of the year.
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Winnipeg kept up the pressure looking for more goals and Kyle Connor came very close when he fired a goal off the crossbar but Merzlikins kept his team in the game.
Columbus got some life late after Mark Scheifele was called for tripping and just eight seconds later, Sean Monahan gave up a point shot past Comrie to make it 3-2.
However, before the period ended, Winnipeg regained its two-goal cushion. After a scramble in front of Merzlikins, the puck escaped and landed on the stick of Ehlers, who had a wide-open net to score his fifth career hat trick and first since December 2018.
The Jets took a 4-2 lead in the third period after outscoring Columbus 19-8 in the second period and 31-16 in the first two periods.
It remained a two-goal game until 11:39 of the third, when Josh Morrissey scored from the point on the power play to make the score 5–2.
Gabriel Vilardi made the score 6–2 with just five minutes remaining, capping off a brilliant game from Connor, who pulled a nice toe round a defender before sending Vilardi in front of the crease.
For Connor, who was named the NHL’s second star of the month of October on opening day, it extended his season-opening point streak to 11 games.
Comrie had to make only 20 saves to improve to 3-0 on the season, while Merzlikins made 38 shots in the loss.
The Jets return home to face the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday afternoon. It’s a 2pm puck drop with pregame coverage on 680 CJOB starting at noon.
