Jets defeat Sabres to extend point streak to five

WINNIPEG -- Blake Wheeler had a goal and an assist to help the Winnipeg Jets to a 4-3 win against the Buffalo Sabres at Bell MTS Place on Friday.
Wheeler has scored in four straight games and has eight points (five goals, three assists) in a five-game point streak.

"I've told you all along, it's not about points for me," Wheeler said. "It's finding a way to help our team win. Obviously, when forward 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."
***[WATCH: [All Sabres vs. Jets highlights]*
Dustin Byfuglien, Jacob Trouba and Bryan Little also scored for the Jets (24-11-7), who extended their point streak to five games (4-0-1). Connor Hellebuyck made 26 saves for his 22nd win. He is 6-0-2 in his past eight starts.

"Give the credit to our [defense]," Little said. "They were moving their feet and getting things through. That makes a huge difference when those are getting blocked. They did a good job tonight of not standing still and trying to get it through, but moving their feet and finding the lanes."
Marco Scandella, Johan Larsson and Scott Wilson scored for the Sabres, (10-22-9), who were playing the second game of a back-to-back after losing 6-2 against the Minnesota Wild on Thursday. Chad Johnson allowed four goals on 29 shots.
Buffalo, 1-3-2 in its past six games, went 0-for-5 on the power play.
"It's disappointing," said Sabres forward Ryan O'Reilly, who had four shots on goal. "I've got to find a way to put it past them. I had some great opportunities and it's just not good enough. I've got to contribute more, it's part of my job."
Byfuglien scored his first of the season on a point shot on the power play at 9:27 of the first period to make it 1-0.
Scandella, also without a goal this season, tied it 1-1 on a point shot at 11:40.
Trouba made it 2-1, with his point shot beating Johnson at 15:46.

Wheeler extended Winnipeg's lead to 3-1, scoring on a wrist shot on the power play at 6:06 of the second period.
"It seems like it's a lot of the same questions with a lot of the same answers," Sabres coach Phil Housley said. "It starts out we take a penalty 200 feet from our net. You can't afford to do those kinds of things against a good team like this. Especially a power play that's top four in the League."
Larsson made it 3-2 at 18:03.
Little scored 25 seconds into the third period to make it 4-2 before Wilson pulled the Sabres back to 4-3 at 12:17.

Goal of the game

Little's goal 25 seconds into the third period.

Save of the game

Hellebuyck's save on Wilson at 3:27 of the third period.

Highlight of the game

Byfuglien's goal at 9:27 of the first period.

They said it

"It's frustrating. They have a good power play and I thought we were prepared for them. We've got to stay out of the box. When someone's that good, you can't give their best players the opportunities because they'll make us pay, and they did." -- Sabres forward Ryan O'Reilly
"Special teams was the difference for sure in the game tonight. I think we got right out of any kind of 5-on-5 rhythm in the game and it never came back, I'm not sure it did for either team. You run as many power plays as they did without a result, they'll have a certain amount of offensive frustration too." -- Jets coach Paul Maurice

Need to know

Sabres forward Jason Pominville, who had two assists, has 15 points (four goals, 11 assists) in his past 16 games against the Jets. ... Jets forward Patrik Laine has six assists in a four-game point streak. … The Jets have at least one power-play goal in each of the past four games and are 6-for-16 (37.5 percent) in that stretch.

What's next

Sabres: At the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday (1 p.m. ET; SN, NBCSP, MSG-B, NHL.TV)
Jets: Host the San Jose Sharks on Sunday (3 p.m. ET; TSN3, NBCSCA, NHL.TV)