Three things - Vilardi with three points, Jets beat Wings

WINNIPEG - The Winnipeg Jets got back into the win column with a 5-2 decision over the Detroit Red Wings and improved to 13-0 when scoring four or more goals this season. Neal Pionk, Nikolaj Ehlers, Axel Jonsson-Fjallby, Gabe Vilardi and Mark Scheifele scored for the Jets and Laurent Brossoit made 26 saves. Winnipeg is in sole possession of first place in the Central moving a point in front of Dallas and Colorado. The Jets will close out their pre-Christmas break schedule against the Boston Bruins Friday in the Manitoba capital.

BIG SECOND PERIOD

After the Red Wings tied the game at the 1:44 mark of the second period, the Jets got Canada Life Centre going with three goals in a span of 8:51 to make it 4-1 after 40 minutes. Nikolaj Ehlers finished a beautiful pass from Gabriel Vilardi for his 11^th, Axel Jonsson-Fjallby scored his first goal since April 13 and Vilardi rounded out the scoring tapping in a Cole Perfetti pass. Winnipeg outshot Detroit 18-7 in the middle frame to take over the game.

TOP LINE CONTINUES TO PRODUCE

Vilardi, Ehlers and Scheifele all scored tonight and combined for six points (3G, 3A) for the Jets with all of their goals coming at five-on-five. The top line has clearly been the one driving all the offence since Kyle Connor was lost on December 10, Scheifele (3G, 3A), Ehlers (4G, 5A) and Vilardi (5G, 5A) have produced 25 points (12G, 13A) since the Anaheim game.

FOURTH LINE REWARDED

Jets got off to the right start in the first period when Neal Pionk got his second goal of the season at 15:38. Pionk snapped a shot from the right point that went off Detroit defenceman Jeff Petry and behind James Reimer. It was the first goal for the 26-year-old since November 7, ending an 18-game goalless drought. The fourth line of Morgan Barron, Axel Jonsson-Fjallby and David Gustafsson had a tremendous night doing the work that led to Pionk’s goal and Jonsson-Fjallby recorded the game winning tally.

“Yeah, for sure. Those guys, they don’t play a lot but once they’re out there, they work their butts off. A guy like (Jonsson-Fjallby), I don’t think I’ve ever seen a guy skate that fast and (Gustafsson) is winning a lot of faceoffs and important ones too,” said Nikolaj Ehlers.

“And (Barron) is a big body who can skate and can shoot. Those three guys have played unbelievable for us so far. It’s exciting to see them get rewarded.”