Mason Appleton scored a goal and added two assists and Connor Hellebuyck made 30 saves as the visiting Winnipeg Jets rolled to a season-opening 6-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday.
Adam Lowry and Mark Scheifele each had a goal and an assist while Rasmus Kupari, Dylan Samberg and Kyle Connor also scored for Winnipeg. Nino Niederreiter and Josh Morrissey each had two assists.
Connor scored in his seventh consecutive season-opening game — an NHL record.
Hellebuyck shut out the Oilers for the third time in his career as he improved to 14-13-3 vs. Edmonton. He has 38 lifetime shutouts.
Oilers starting goalie Stuart Skinner allowed five goals on 13 shots before he was replaced by Calvin Pickard with 8:52 remaining in the second period. Pickard made eight saves in relief.
Winnipeg scored twice in the span of 3:39 of the first period to jump out to a 2-0 lead.
Lowry opened the scoring, banking his rebound off Skinner at 14:56. Appleton doubled the lead, putting a wrist shot under Skinner’s glove at 18:35.
Zach Hyman nearly got the Oilers on the board with 42 seconds remaining in the first, beating Hellebuyck blocker-side but hitting the post.
Winnipeg doubled its lead by scoring twice in 20 seconds early in the second period.
Kupari made it 3-0 at 4:17, one-timing a Morrisey cross-ice feed off Skinner’s skate and in for his first goal in 70 games. Kupari’s last goal came on Jan. 3, 2023, while he was a member of the Los Angeles Kings.
Samberg made it 4-0 at 4:37, snapping a shot off the crossbar and in.
Connor gave the Jets a 5-0 lead at 9:33 of the middle period on a power play, beating Skinner blocker side from just above the right faceoff dot.
Scheifele made it 6-0 on a power play at 14:15 of the third period, redirecting Nikolaj Ehlers’ pass past Pickard.
Both clubs are coming off a season in which they finished second in their division with more than 100 points. The Jets fell in the first round of the playoffs to the Colorado Avalanche, while the Oilers reached the Stanley Cup Final before losing to the Florida Panthers.
–Field Level Media
