Kyle Connor and Mark Scheifele scored twice apiece and the Winnipeg Jets continued their historic start with a 6-3 victory over the host New York Rangers on Tuesday.
The Jets became the fastest team in NHL history to reach 15 wins, moving to 15-1-0 on the season as they began a stretch of nine out of 10 on the road. Winnipeg also improved to 7-0-0 on the road and ran their overall winning streak to seven games.
Scheifele scored 57 seconds into the game and a little over a minute into the third period. Connor gave Winnipeg a 3-2 lead late in the second period, added an empty-netter in the final minute and had an assist. Gabriel Vilardi and Vladislav Namestnikov also scored for the Jets, and Neal Pionk and Nikolaj Ehlers each had two assists.
Connor Hellebuyck made 33 saves for the win.
Will Cuylle had a goal and an assist and Alexis Lafreniere and Kaapo Kakko also scored for the Rangers, who frequently struggled with puck control and fell to 4-4-0 in their past eight games since starting 5-0-1. New York goalie Igor Shesterkin stopped 27 shots.
The Jets snapped a 2-2 deadlock when New York’s Mika Zibanejad fumbled the puck along the half-boards deep in the Rangers’ offensive zone. He lost the puck to Pionk, who sprung Connor on the odd-man rush.
Connor motored down the left side, eluded Rangers defenseman K’Andre Miller and tucked a shot from the left circle inside the post for his 10th goal at 16:03 of the second period.
The Jets started their latest win by capitalizing on a turnover by Zibanejad in the opening minute.
Josh Morrissey intercepted an errant clearing attempt and sent it to a cutting Scheifele, who moved through the slot past defenseman Adam Fox and lifted a shot over Shesterkin’s stick.
New York evened it at 13:07 of the first when Cuylle pushed the rebound of Braden Schneider’s shot over Hellebuyck’s pad.
With 11:02 remaining in the second, Vilardi gave the Jets a 2-1 lead on a power play. He finished off a give-and-go with Ehlers by putting a tap-in into the vacated left side of the net.
The Rangers tied it with 7:09 remaining in the middle period when Lafreniere’s shot from above the right faceoff circle got through a Kreider screen and past Hellebuyck.
After Connor’s goal, the Jets took their first two-goal lead when Scheifele redirected a pass from Connor at 1:08 of the third. The Rangers got within 4-3 just 32 seconds later when Kakko scored during a goalmouth scramble, but Namestnikov tucked a loose puck into the vacated corner of the net to put Winnipeg up 5-3 at 13:08.
–Field Level Media
