Mark Scheifele had a goal with two assists, and Kyle Connor scored his 14th of the season, as the Winnipeg Jets won their third straight, 5-2 over the visiting Arizona Coyotes on Saturday night.
Scheifele scored his sixth of the season to even the score late in the first period, then helped break a 2-2 tie when he set up Connor to go top shelf with 8:34 remaining in the second period. At 4:15 into the third, Scheifele was at it again, assisting via a two-on-one with Josh Morrissey, who recorded his 200th career assist earlier in the night and buried an insurance goal for the Jets, who have won six of seven.
Connor, who entered Saturday tied for first in the NHL in goals, also had an assist, while Vladislav Namestnikov scored, Mason Appleton added an empty-netter and Laurent Brossoit stopped 16 of 18 shots for Winnipeg.
Meanwhile, Matias Maccelli and defenseman Matt Dumba each scored for Arizona, which finished a 2-2-1 trip. The Coyotes got 21 saves from Karel Vejmelka.
After nearly 15 minutes of scoreless action, things got a little wild in the final portion of the first period. Arizona struck first when Alex Kerfoot found a gliding J.J. Moser, who sent a cross-slot pass for Maccelli to push by Brossoit with 5:07 remaining in the opening frame.
However, Winnipeg quickly responded with two goals in 58 seconds.
First, Scheifele, after his wrist attempt was broken up, stayed with the puck and backhanded it past Vejmelka with 2:56 left in the first. Then, the Coyotes were victims of a fluke play as Vejmelka went to retrieve the puck behind his net, only for Namestnikov to get there first, then send it in front of an empty goal to deflect in off the skate of Arizona’s Lawson Crouse.
Arizona, though, leveled the contest 6:08 into the second period. On the transition, Dumba jumped into the slot and perfectly redirected a pass from Travis Boyd past Brossoit for his second goal of the season.
–Field Level Media
