2 weeks Ago By Paul Friesen
The Winnipeg Jets will be able to kick up their heels, crack open a beer and savour the taste of an eight-game winning streak when they hit warmer climes for a 12-day break from hockey this weekend. Gabe Vilardi set a career high with his 23rd and 24th goals of the season as the Jets downed the New York Islanders, 4-3, on Friday night. A crowd of 14,685 watched their team match the length of its season-opening streak against an injury-depleted New York team that had somehow come into Winnipeg 8-1 in their past nine.
Connor Hellebuyck faced 35 shots, 19 of them in the third period, as the Jets saw their two-goal lead cut in half but hung on for just their second win against the Islanders in the past 10 meetings. Winnipeg improves to 39-14-3, their 81 points topping the NHL, while Hellebuyck improves to 34-7-2. A wild first minute and change produced a chance for Vilardi at one end and a three-on-one the other way, New York’s Simon Holmstrom’s half-pass fooling Hellebuyck for the first goal 65 seconds in.
A sparkling solo effort tied it for the Jets barely three minutes later, and it didn’t come from someone you’d expect. Alex Iafallo went from his own zone down the right wing, shook Islanders centre Bo Horvat off him like an unwanted layer of clothing and went upstairs on Ilya Sorokin. Less than eight minutes after that, some sloppiness by the Jets in their own zone handed the visitors a gift: Mason Appleton’s attempt to rim the puck from behind his net glanced off Neal Pionk’s skate and to the front.
Marc Gatcomb couldn’t believe his luck and had the third goal of his 11-game NHL career. The Jets tied it less than five minutes into the second, Vilardi converting an impressive, cross-ice Kyle Connor pass for his 23rd of the season. Winnipeg grabbed its first lead of the night late in the second, when Cole Perfetti’s sneaky pass from behind the net set up Nik Ehlers for his 17th.
Vilardi, set up in the slot by Scheifele, tacked another one on to his career-high even later in the second and it was 4-2, Jets, going into the third. Leading 4-2 midway through the third, the Jets gave up a goal to Kyle Palmeiri on a scramble, tightening their collars a little. But Hellebuyck shut the door as the Isles poured it on during an eight-shot power play, sealing Winnipeg’s league-leading 39th win.
The Jets don’t play again until Feb. 22 in St. Louis.
They’ll return to Winnipeg for three days of practice before that. paul.friesen@kleinmedia.
ca X: @friesensunmedia.
