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After three straight days of practice, the Winnipeg Jets were raring to go.
The Jets struck for four goals in the first period as they manhandled the still-winless San Jose Sharks 8-3 on Friday night at the Canada Life Centre.
After a pair of tight-checking overtime wins, the Jets scored early and often to start the season with four straight wins for the first time in Jets history. The Jets are one of just three unbeaten teams left in the NHL.
“We obviously had only scored one goal the last couple and we had gotten lots of chances,” said head coach Scott Arniel. “Each unit and each line seemed like they had their fair share of opportunities that didn’t go in and tonight it’s nice to see everybody kinda get rewarded for it.”
Cole Perfetti and Nikolaj Ehlers each scored twice. And Perfetti and Vladislav Namestnikov both had a career-best four-point nights.
“We’re all using our speed, our skill,” said Namestnikov. “And just getting those pucks on net and it worked out today.”
The Jets second line had problems producing offensively in the first three games. But Ehlers, Perfetti, and Namestnikov broke out in a big way as they combined for 11 points in the victory.
“We believe in one another and we know what we can do,” Perfetti said. “I don’t think anything magically changed. I think we just had the mindset of the confidence and belief in what we can do as a line.
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“We knew it was going to come. It just took a couple games and hopefully now the floodgates will open and I think that was a really good confidence game for our line.”
The Jets, with the NHL’s top-ranked power play, scored four goals on the man advantage in seven chances. It’s just the second time in Jets 2.0 history they’ve scored four power play goals in a game. They’ve now been successful on 50 per cent of their power play opportunities in the first four games.
The Jets wasted little time getting on the board. After Ehlers skated the puck into the Sharks’ end, he took it into the corner before he passed it back to Colin Miller, who then sent a cross-ice pass to Josh Morrissey. His wrister from the point eluded Mackenzie Blackwood to make it 1-0 just 1:59 into the contest.
Winnipeg continued to pour on the pressure during the first 10 minutes with San Jose barely getting a sniff of the puck, leading to a pair of Sharks penalties that put the Jets on a lengthy 5-on-3.
The Jets red-hot power play took full advantage. After cycling the puck around the San Jose end, Gabriel Vilardi found Ehlers for a one-timer that he buried to make it 2-0 at the 9:25 mark.
Winnipeg took a penalty shortly after Ehlers scored, putting the Sharks on the power play where they cut into the Jets’ lead. Former Jet Tyler Toffoli tipped a Jake Walman point shot past Connor Hellebuyck to make it 2-1.
But less than two minutes later, Winnipeg restored the two-goal lead. Perfetti made a great play, stealing the puck on a solid back-check before rifling the puck ahead to Ehlers in stride. He ripped a wrister past Blackwood to make it 3-1 at the 13:31 mark.
The Jets found themselves on another power play late in the first and their second unit cashed in. An innocent-looking wrist shot from Neal Pionk beat Blackwood through some traffic to make it 4-1 after 20 minutes.
The Sharks chose to leave Blackwood in for the second but he lasted just 1:46 before Kyle Connor roofed his third of the season past him, ending his night in favour of Vitek Vanecek who had played the night before in Chicago.
Winnipeg continued to dominate possession through much of the second but the only other goal in the period came from San Jose. Luke Kunin got loose in the slot and beat Hellebuyck five-hole from close range around the midway point of the period.
The Jets made it 6-2 at the 9:50 mark of the third when Perfetti took a pass from Alex Iafallo in the slot and ripped it past Vanecek.
Just 19 seconds later, San Jose made it 6-3 when Fabian Zetterlund beat Hellebuyck on a 2-on-1.
Winnipeg soon found themselves on yet another power play and again they took advantage with Perfetti scoring his second of the period on a slapshot that should have been stopped by Vanecek but beat him five-hole.
Not wanting to be left out of the goal-scoring barrage, Namestnikov buried one in transition with just over 30 seconds remaining to make it 8-3.
In making his 500th career start, Hellebuyck had to turn aside just 19 shots to earn the win on Hellebuyck night as the club celebrated his Vezina and Jennings Trophy award wins from last season.
The Jets return to action Sunday afternoon against Pittsburgh when they will honour Bryan Little. The pregame show is at 12 p.m. on 680 CJOB, with puck drop just after 2 p.m.
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