Mason Appleton had a goal and an assist in the third period and the Winnipeg Jets beat the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins 6-3 on Sunday.
Mark Scheifele scored his fifth goal for the Jets, who have won five straight to start the season. Nikolaj Ehlers, Josh Morrissey and Colin Miller had two assists apiece, and Eric Comrie made 39 saves in his first start of the season.
Lars Eller scored twice for the Penguins and Alex Nedeljkovic made 31 saves in his first start of the season. Rookie Joel Blomqvist was the backup and Tristan Jarry was a healthy scratch.
Kevin Hayes gave the Penguins a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 1:30 of the second period. During a scramble in front, Jesse Puljujarvi passed to Rickard Rakell in the left circle, and he passed across to Hayes, who knocked it in from the right post.
Eller made it 2-0 when he backhanded in the rebound of Erik Karlsson’s shot from the point at 5:21.
Winnipeg rallied with three goals in the second half of the period to tie it.
Kyle Connor pulled the Jets within 2-1 at 12:18. During a delayed penalty, Connor jumped on the ice, took a cross-ice pass from Ehlers and scored on a wrist shot from the right circle.
Scheifele tied the score 2-2 at 17:36 when he scored off the rebound of Miller’s shot from the point.
The Jets took a 3-2 lead when Vladislav Namestnikov redirected a pass from Ehlers past Nedeljkovic with 31 seconds left in the period.
Eller tied the score at 1:39 of the third period when he won a battle for the puck along the boards and beat Comrie with a wrist shot from the right circle.
Adam Lowry regained the lead for the Jets at 4:20, backhanding home a pass from Appleton to make it 4-3.
Appleton increased the lead to 5-3 at 7:41, scoring from the left circle off a pass from Neal Pionk on the rush. Nino Niederreiter scored into an empty net for the 6-3 final.
–Field Level Media
