Jets hold off Sabres to extend point streak to five games

Special teams played a big role in the win, with both Byfuglien and Wheeler's goals coming on the power play. The Jets also killed off all five minor penalties they took in the game, including three in the second period.
"I think our forwards did a really good job at taking away that seam pass. That makes it a lot easier for the defencemen just to worry about the guy in front, and the guy in the slot crashing down," said Trouba. "We know if we give them that shot from the outside, (Hellebuyck) is going to be there to make the save. We have to take away that outside half of the net. That was the plan we stuck with, and it worked."
In just his second game back from a lower-body injury, it would be Dustin Byfuglien getting the Jets on the board first.
His long-awaited first goal of the season came when he hammered a point shot on the power play off a pass from Blake Wheeler through the Adam Lowry screen stick side on Chad Johnson.
"I think there was more talk about it three or four weeks ago just before he got hurt, and then it kind of got away," said head coach Paul Maurice.
"There's clearly more there. He's had a lot of good chances, and had a lot of good shots at the net…. I think he's been slightly under appreciated for the quality, the change, the attention he's put into trying to play within that style of game. When we've had leads, and we've had a lot of them, he's played a real smart game."

The Sabres would tie it on a point shot of their own, when Marco Scandella's first of the year banked off the glove of Andrew Copp and beat Connor Hellebuyck on the glove side, just after Bryan Little's high sticking minor expired.
Winnipeg would get the lead back with 4:14 to go in the opening frame, and it was another defenceman helping out.
After Matt Hendricks kept the play alive at the blue line, his backhand pass found the tape of Andrew Copp along the half wall. Copp sent a quick pass to Trouba, who pounded a drive past Johnson's stick side for his third of the season.
But it wasn't the stick Trouba has used all season. It was one he switched to just before game time.
"(Joel Armia) got some samples made of one, and didn't like them. I figured I'd try it. I went back there and picked out a similar one before the game, taped it up, and that's about it," Trouba said.
"The lie is different, the curve is different, the flex is different, the construction of the whole stick is different, and it's about an inch shorter."

The power play would add to the Jets lead in the second period, when captain Wheeler found twine for the fourth consecutive game. This time it was a wrist shot from the right wing circle, with Mathieu Perreault providing the screen in front of Johnson.
Wheeler now has five goals and eight points in his last four games.
"Those are the ebbs and flows of the season. You go four games and have ten points, sometimes you'll go five or six games and you'll have just a couple of them," said Wheeler.
"Obviously when (Mark Scheifele) went down, I wanted to step up and make an impact. But I'm not alone in that. I think everyone did that. The team has been playing good, the puck has been finding me."
Buffalo pulled back within one before the end of the second, as Johann Larsson won a battle behind the net to move the puck in front, then found a loose puck behind Hellebuyck in the crease. He chipped home his second of the campaign to make it 3-2 Jets with 1:57 on the clock.

Just 25 seconds into the third, the Jets were back up by two. Trouba's wrist shot deflected off a stick in front of Johnson, and despite the Sabres' goaltender making the first stop with his right pad, Bryan Little was right there to pot the rebound in the empty net, making it 4-2 Jets.
"We didn't plan on scoring first or second shift, but we wanted to come out hard and keep the pressure on them, and not sit back," said Little. "They ended up getting back to within one again in the third. I thought that's when we took it up another level again and kept it in their end. We were patient with it."
Scott Wilson would get his first as a member of the Sabres with 7:43 left in regulation, but that's as close as the Sabres would get.
The win moved the Jets to 19-0-1 when leading after two periods, and also gives Maurice and his staff video to work with, especially with the rematch with the Sabres coming on Tuesday at KeyBank Center.
"There's lots in that game that we can get better at. I'm not discounting that team. I think that's a pretty darn good team," said Maurice.
"A win is a good result. We'll take what we need to get better at for when we play them again. That will be it."