Jets ride offensive surge into win over Detroit

WINNIPEG -The dam finally broke.
The Winnipeg Jets, who haven't had much puck luck offensively in the last 10 games, finally broke through to the tune of a 6-2 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Friday night.
It was the perfect start to a critical five-game home stand.
"We're a tough team when we play like that," said Mark Scheifele, one of six different goal scorers in the game for the Jets. "When we're on our toes we make it hard to play against, and when we play in the O-zone we're a tough team. That was a big one for us."
Along with the six goal scorers, seven skaters had multi-point efforts in the win which moved Winnipeg to 42-31-3 - Scheifele, Dylan DeMelo, Vladislav Namestnikov, Mason Appleton, Blake Wheeler, Nikolaj Ehlers, and Kyle Connor.
"Sometimes you feel it, sometimes you don't, and today I think we were able to find some pretty good looks and we've got to continue doing that," said Ehlers. "I think we played well tonight, but we've got six games to go and every single one is a huge one."

The Jets got the ideal start, as Connor got a stick on a Brenden Dillon point shot, deflecting it past Magnus Hellberg to make it 1-0. Connor's 29th of the season came 6:56 into the opening period, with Mark Scheifele picking up the secondary assist on the play.
The home side extended the lead to 2-0 with Wheeler finishing a gorgeous back door feed from Nikolaj Ehlers. For Wheeler, it was his 16th of the season and his first since February 14. The play was set up by former Red Wing, Namestnikov in the neutral zone, off a slick area pass that allowed Ehlers to enter the zone with speed.

The trio of Namestnikov, Wheeler, and Ehlers finished with a 6-1 edge in high-danger chances at five-on-five, according to Natural Stat Trick.
"They read off of each other really well," said Jets head coach Rick Bowness. "That's the best Blake has skated in a while, so that was good to see, and I think he felt a lot better after that goal went in. It gave him a little extra jump."

Just 1:37 later, Neal Pionk's shot from the point deflected off a body and bounced toward the Detroit net, skidding past Red Wings goaltender Magnus Hellberg and right on the stick of Scheifele, who pounded home his 39th of the season. The goal not only made it 3-0, but established a new career-high for Scheifele in that category.
Scheifele's official position on the night was right wing with Pierre-Luc Dubois and Connor as his linemates. It was a change from his usual centre spot, though he took face-offs on the right side (his strong side) throughout the night.

"It's definitely an adjustment. But when you play with two good players like Dubey and K.C. it makes it easy," said Scheifele. "Obviously we had to get on them early, especially after being on back to back and travelling from Detroit. It was a great start."
Even with a three-goal lead after 20 minutes, the Jets didn't let up. DeMelo joined the offensive surge with a perfect wrist shot from just outside the left circle just 1:20 into the middle frame. The goal was DeMelo's fifth of the season, setting a new career high for the 29-year-old.
"I mean, that was a snipe. That was pretty incredible," Ehlers said of the shot. "I think everyone was looking at each other going, 'what the hell just happened?'. He's such a great guy off the ice and works hard every game on the ice. It couldn't have happened to a better guy."

Nino Niederreiter made it 5-0, tucking home his first goal in seven games, with 6:18 remaining in the second. His initial attempt - a cross-crease pass from Appleton - didn't get by Hellberg, but Niederreiter collected the loose puck and slipped it five-hole for his 23rd of the campaign.
Ehlers made it 6-0 just over five minutes into the third with his 10th of the season, slipping a nifty pass from Wheeler just inside the left post.
"Tonight's obviously more of an example in how we want to play," said Bowness. "We've also played some pretty good games where we've lost here at home. Tonight, we played really well and we scored some goals. That's really the biggest difference, so yeah. That's how we want to play."
Detroit got on the board on a David Perron power play goal with 9:19 to go in regulation, which was quickly followed by Joe Veleno's eighth of the season 23 seconds later.

But that's as close as Detroit would get, as Connor Hellebuyck finished with 23 saves on 25 shots, earning him his 33rd win of the season - the fourth most in the NHL.
Now the focus shifts to the next big game of the home stand, which comes Sunday against New Jersey.
For a couple hours, though, the Jets will enjoy an offensive performance like the one they put forth in front of their home crowd.
"I hope it does a lot of good," said Ehlers. "We enjoy this one for tonight and then we move on to the next one tomorrow."
ICE CHIPS
Josh Morrissey didn't play in the win over Detroit. Bowness said the defenceman was under the weather, and that he's expected to play on Sunday.