Jets open with shutout win against Oilers
Hellebuyck makes 30 saves, Appleton has 3 points
By
Gerry Moddejonge
NHL.com Independent Correspondent
"I just thought the guys in front of me were just keeping everything outside, allowing me to see pucks, allowing me to feel it, clearing rebounds, clearing lanes," Hellebuyck said. "They made my night really easy. Once in a while I made a big save, which allowed me to feel like a part of the team. So, that was just a great team effort tonight."
The Jets goaltender had been away from the team for the previous two days on personal leave to deal with family matters.
"It's been a pretty crazy week. It's been tough on the whole family but I thought the boys played great for me and they've been really supportive this entire time," he said. "I really cherish these moments and I cherish my time with family, so I hope they're doing all right."
Hellebuyck's shutout was the first in a season opener in franchise history, dating back to its inception as the Atlanta Thrashers in 1999.
Mason Appleton had a goal and two assists, and Adam Lowry and Mark Scheifele each had a goal and an assist for the Jets (1-0-0), who play their next four games at home.
It was the season opener for each team.
"Obviously, it's great just to get the season off on a good note," said Jets coach Scott Arniel. "I did have a sleepless night worrying about some of these guys on offense on the other team there. You know how powerful they are as a group."
Stuart Skinner allowed five goals on 13 shots over 31:08 for the Oilers (0-1-0), who are playing their first four games of the season at home. He was replaced by Calvin Pickard, who stopped six of seven shots.
"It’s tough to rebound against this team, last year they were the best defensive team in the League, so when you’re giving them goals it’s tough to get them back," said Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch. "We got punched pretty good tonight but we’ve always been able to respond. Last year, I was happy with our guys, when we did have a bad game we usually responded really well. We’ll see this weekend. It’s one game. After this weekend, definitely that will be a tell of where we are at."
A turnover in the defensive zone by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins ended up with Nino Niederreiter centering a pass from behind the net to Lowry, who banked in his own rebound off Skinner's skate 14:56 into the first period to put the Jets ahead 1-0.
"Honestly, it was a great save by Skinner on the first one to get a toe on it. I just tried to get it back out in front and fortunately it found its way into the back of the net," Lowry said. "To come into Edmonton, we know the roster they have here, they're a great team and to get the first win of the season right away, it's a good feeling and we're going to look to build on that."
Appleton made it 2-0 with 1:25 to go in the period, taking a cross-ice pass from Niederreiter and snapping it past Skinner's glove from the left dot.
Winnipeg went ahead 3-0 at 4:17 of the second period, when Josh Morrissey sent a feed to the side of the net for Rasmus Kupari, who snapped another one in off Skinner's skate.
Just 20 seconds later, Dylan Samberg made it 4-0 with a shot from the top of the left circle that made its way high stick side off a cross-ice pass from Appleton.
At 9:33, Kyle Connor made it 5-0 on the power play with a wrist shot from the right dot that scored past the blocker of Skinner, who was pulled for Pickard during the next television timeout.
The goal was Connor's seventh consecutive season-opening game with a goal, an NHL record.
"It is very frustrating to start like this. It is just not ideal, I don’t feel great, but I can’t do much about what happened tonight so I’m going to go back to a couple sheets and draw up some new stuff for me to work on and just get better from this," Skinner said. "I have been pulled before, I have let in five goals in a game before, obviously you just don’t want to do it the first game.
"You don’t want to do it ever. I’ll just get better from this and move on."
Scheifele redirected a pass by Nikolaj Ehlers on a fly by on the power play for the 6-0 final at 14:15 of the third period.
Notes: Arniel was making his debut as Winnipeg's head coach, replacing the retired Rick Bowness after serving as associate head coach the past two seasons. Arniel previously coached the Columbus Blue Jackets for two seasons from 2010-12, with a 45-60-18 record. ... Scheifele began his 14th season with the Jets, passing Bryan Little and Blake Wheeler for the most in franchise history. He also extended his franchise record in scoring his 10th goal in a season opener. ... The Jets went 3-2-1 in the preseason, while the Oilers went 3-5. ... Samberg's first goal of the season matched his entire total in 78 games played last season. ... The Oilers outshot Winnipeg 15-7 in the second period, but were outscored 3-0. ... Since being acquired by the Oilers on Feb. 28, 2023, defenseman Mattias Ekholm has a league-best plus-71 rating.
