The Winnipeg Jets have improved to 9-5-2 on the season following a 3-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Friday.
Cole Perfetti extended his goal scoring streak to five games, while Vlad Namestnikov and Nino Niederreiter had two assists each as the Winnipeg Jets beat the visiting Buffalo Sabres 3-2 on Friday night.
"You know, they’re not all going to be pretty, especially last game, that was an ugly one," Perfetti laughed postgame. "But puck’s going in the back of the net and I’m just keeping on trying to funnel it towards there."
The Jets faced off against old friend Eric Comrie, who signed a two-year contract with the Sabres in the summer of 2022. He stood opposite his fellow backstop Connor Hellebuyck, who was handed duties for the first game of the back-to-back for Winnipeg.
It wasn't the greatest showing from either netminder, but it was the Jets' No. 1 man, who turned aside 25 shots for his eighth victory of the year.
“You are at ease when he’s in the net, that’s for sure," Perfetti added of Hellebuyck. "He’s one of the best in the world. When you know you’ve got Bucky in net, you’re feeling pretty good about it; he can steal games. He played fantastic tonight.”
Also returning to Winnipeg for the Sabres were former Winnipeg ICE stars Peyton Krebs and Zach Benson who had a number of locals in attendance sporting their former Winnipeg sweaters.
Other than a last-minute breakaway to the NHL's scoring leader Kyle Connor, there was nothing doing offence-wise from either club in the opening frame. Connor's breakaway was stopped by Comrie, before the 12-goal man fanned on the loose rebound.
The Jets outshot the Sabres 7-6 through 20 minutes.
But it was in the middle stanza where things really took off for Winnipeg. Despite only putting up a total of four shots in the frame, the Jets scored three goals, including two in the first 4:33.
Cole Perfetti opened the scoring for Winnipeg 2:12 into the frame, as he extended his goal streak to five games and point streak to eight games in the process.
Mason Appleton followed that up with his fifth of the season just 2:21 later, as he put the finishing touches on another pretty passing play from the team's third line.
But just 23 seconds later, it was Buffalo's Alex Tuch who responded for the visitors on a netfront scramble that ended up in the cage behind Hellebuyck.
Winnipeg restored its two-goal lead, as Nikolaj Ehlers found his fifth of the season on an absolute floater from the point. The seeing-eye shot somehow made its way through a maze of bodies and past Comrie, who was heavily screened by defenceman Owen Power.
“Classic hockey goal, very well-rehearsed and practiced and exactly how we wanted it," Ehlers laughed.
“No. I mean, at first it was going well over the net and it kind of just dipped at the end so, I mean, nine out of 10 players would have let that one go because it came that high.”
That goal gave Winnipeg six different players with five goals scored on the season.
“I didn’t even know what was happening; I thought everyone was changing," Perfetti recalled. "So I was starting to slide down the bench and all of a sudden started hearing the goal horn. I was like, ‘what happened there?’. So, I saw that one on the replay – it was a crazy one, but we’ll take it.”
After Comrie shut the door on Connor in the first period, it was Hellebuyck who denied a JJ Peterka breakaway in the middle frame.
The final period gave Jets fans a bit of a scare, as Peterka finally found a way to beat Hellebuyck, scoring on his own rebound on his second breakaway of the game. His goal came just one minute into the frame, cutting Winnipeg's lead to one.
The Jets held on, as Hellebuyck shut the door on everything else fired his way, including a final minute desperation push, helping Winnipeg to its ninth win of the year.
He finished the night with 25 saves on 27 Buffalo shots, while his old mate Comrie turned aside 15 of the 18 Jets pucks fired his way.
Winnipeg concludes its season-high, five-game homestand on Saturday with a Central Division matchup with the visiting Arizona Coyotes. The game begins at 6:00 PM central time and will be aired live on Sportsnet.
