Jets defeat Coyotes for 6th straight win

TEMPE, Ariz. -- Mark Scheifele scored two goals for the Winnipeg Jets, who won their sixth straight game and extended their point streak to 12 with a 6-2 victory against the Arizona Coyotes at Mullett Arena on Sunday.

Nikolaj Ehlers had a goal and an assist, and Vladislav Namestnikov, Cole Perfetti and Adam Lowry also scored for the Jets (26-9-4), who improved to 10-0-2 during their point streak despite playing their third road game in four days. Connor Hellebuyck made 15 saves.

“It was a great effort by a lot of guys,” Scheifele said. “There’s no excuses in this league. When you’re playing a lot of games in a little few days, you’ve just got to find the energy and we did that tonight.”

Winnipeg has allowed two goals or fewer in nine straight games, and three or fewer in 29 straight, a franchise record.

“That was a great effort by everybody," Jets coach Rick Bowness said. "When we get four lines rolling like that, the six defensemen and everyone taking great pride in the goals against and keeping the puck out of our zone, that's the result."

Dylan Guenther scored in his season debut, and Karel Vejmelka made 31 saves for the Coyotes (19-17-2), who have lost the first three games of a five-game homestand (outscored 15-4).

“They’re a really good team, maybe the best hockey team in the NHL, and they're really stingy,” Arizona coach Andre Tourigny said. “But I didn’t like that we didn’t stay with it when we had some adversity. It's out of character for us.”

Namestnikov gave Winnipeg a 1-0 lead at 17:16 of the first period. Perfetti’s pressure behind the net forced Arizona defenseman Sean Durzi to turn the puck over to an unguarded Namestnikov, who quickly scored from the edge of the crease.

“We’re just chugging along right now, and I think everyone's just feeling really, really good about themselves,” Perfetti said.

Ehlers made it 2-0 at 3:53 of the second period, scoring with a slap shot from the high slot after his intended pass for Dylan Samberg deflected back to him off the defenseman's skate.

Nick Schmaltz cut it to 2-1 at 8:10 from the bottom of the left circle.

At the time of the goal, Winnipeg was outshooting Arizona 22-5.

Perfetti responded for the Jets to make it 3-1 at 14:04, putting in his own rebound at the right post during a delayed penalty.

“I was trying to find the right time to pop into that spot and kind of just got lost in coverage, especially with it being 6-on-5,” Perfetti said. “I was just trying to chip it up in the air and I don't know what happened, there was a scramble and the puck went in, so I was happy to take it.”

Scheifele scored on a breakaway off a spinning pass from Ehlers to extend the lead to 4-1 at 5:11 of the third period.

Guenther got the Coyotes to within 4-2 at 12:33 on a wraparound after Hellebuyck misplayed the puck to the right of the net.

“I’m happy to be back here,” said Guenther, who had 15 points (six goals, nine assists) in 33 NHL games as a rookie last season. “I thought we got off to a good start. We were playing fast, but then we gave them too many Grade As. … But I thought I skated well, and the goal was a beneficiary of that.”

Scheifele’s empty-net goal at 18:08 pushed it to 5-2, and Lowry scored at 19:11 for the 6-2 final.

NOTES: Namestnikov has eight points (two goals, six assists) in his past six games. ... The Jets are 3-0-0 against the Coyotes this season. ... Winnipeg's 29-game streak of allowing three or fewer goals is the sixth-longest run in NHL history. The 1928-29 Boston Bruins own the record at 44 games.