Cole Perfetti notched his first career hat trick to lead the Winnipeg Jets past the visiting Utah Hockey Club 5-2 on Friday night.
Nikolaj Ehlers reached 500 career points with a goal and two assists for the Jets, who avenged a 5-2 loss at Utah on Monday. David Gustafsson also scored, Dylan DeMelo had two assists and Connor Hellebuyck made 17 saves as Winnipeg earned its fifth victory in seven games.
Nick Schmaltz and Barrett Hayton scored for Utah, which had won three straight, including a 4-0 road win over the Minnesota Wild on Thursday. Clayton Keller had two assists, and Connor Ingram stopped 24 shots.
Perfetti put Winnipeg ahead 3-2 at 5:51 of the third period when he knocked in a loose puck in front of Ingram. The tally secured Perfetti’s sixth career multigoal game.
Ehlers made it 4-2 at 12:16, stealing the puck at the Jets’ blue line and beating Ingram with a backhand shot on a breakaway.
Perfetti scored into an empty net at 18:15 off a pass from Ehlers to seal Winnipeg’s second straight win.
The Jets took a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 17:52 of the first period. Ehlers carried the puck along the left boards and then passed cross ice to Perfetti, who one-timed it past Ingram from the right circle.
Utah tied the game 1-1 with a power-play goal of its own at 1:13 of the second period. Michael Kesselring carried the puck down into the left circle then dropped a pass back to Keller, whose shot from the high slot was deflected in by Schmaltz.
Schmaltz increased his point streak to eight games (four goals, six assists).
Gustafsson made it 2-1 Winnipeg at 8:48 of the second after DeMelo’s dump-in caromed off the boards. Gustafsson knocked the puck into the open net as Ingram had gone behind the net to play the puck.
Hayton tied it 2-2 at 1:19 of the third period, scoring on a wrist shot from the high slot off a pass back from John Marino. Hayton has four goals and two assists in his past three games.
–Field Level Media
