Three things - Special teams lead Jets to win

WINNIPEG - The Winnipeg Jets returned to their winning ways with a 2-1 victory over the New York Rangers at Canada Life Centre. Vladislav Namestnikov and Gabe Vilardi scored for the Jets who are now 45-17-4 and move eight points up on Dallas for first in the Central, the Stars have two games in hand. Connor Hellebuyck made 21 saves; the Jets will host Dallas on Friday.

NAMESTNIKOV LINE GETS IT STARTED

The Jets second line has been creating a lot of chances as of late but have not seen that translate into the red light turning on. That changed in the first period when Cole Perfetti slid a perfect backhand pass to Vladislav Namestnikov who was standing in the Rangers crease and finished off the play with his 11^th. Perfetti ended the night with two assists and now has a career high for points in a season.

“I think tonight it's great to see Vladdy score. We were talking about earlier. Just got to get to the net. And that's exactly what happened,” said Perfetti.

“So, he goes to the net, and we find a goal. And hopefully, that's the start of, we start seeing the puck go in the net a little bit more for us.”

SPECIAL TEAMS COME UP BIG

With the score tied at one in the second period, Winnipeg went to work on the power play when Matt Rempe was whistled for goaltender interference at 3:11. The Jets capitalized, Cole Perfetti slid a pass to a wide-open Gabe Vilardi who hammered home his 27th of the season for the eventual game winning goal.

The penalty kill stepped up in the third period with the Jets hanging onto a one goal lead. Dylan DeMelo went to the penalty box and the Jets held the Rangers to just two shots on goal with that man advantage and helped seal the win.

SCHENN TIME

Luke Schenn made his Jets debut on the right side of the third defence pairing with Haydn Fleury. Schenn played in the 1,058^th game of his career logging over 16 minutes of ice time and added five hits and five blocks.

“Yeah, it's a lot more fun to play with him then against him,” said Perfetti.

“Couple really big hits, couple really big blocks, I think, and he's just always making the smart, simple play, and he's a rock back there. So, it's, again, a lot more fun to play with him.”