Kyle Connor Post-game The Winnipeg Jets win their fifth straight road game to open up the season with a resounding 6-2 win over the Detroit Red Wings. The win was a big one as it saw a few milestones like forward Kyle Connor recording his 500th career point. The former Michigan Wolverine returned to his home state in style with a three-point night, that included a goal and a pair of assists. The game didn't start out in Winnipeg's favor initially as Detroit forced a couple bad turnovers to make their presence felt early. The Jets turn and head back the other way off a turnover in the neutral zone by the Red Wings and find themselves on a three-on-two odd man rush. Kyle Connor quickly finds a streaking Gabe Vilardi on the rush, who beats the Detroit defender and gets his stick in front and makes himself available for a cross crease pass. Vilardi redirects Connor's pass into the net for a quick opening goal to the game. Just minutes later, the Jets win a faceoff in the Red Wings end and work it to the point, where Connor pulls up to the blueline and takes a low pad shot that bounces to an incoming Neal Pionk from the point, who grabs and shoots the loose puck past Red Wings netminder Alex Lyon, extending the Jets lead to two. Detroit responded with some pressure of their own but it quickly evaporated when a speeding Connor picks up a loose puck off the boards and makes a quick pass up to Vilardi. Connor's quick legs helps him beat out Red Wings defenceman Moritz Seider for a similar play like Vilardi's goal. Connor gets open for a net front pass which he grabs and makes a quick move past Lyon to extend the Jets lead to 3-0 in just the first period. The first was capped off with the Jets on the penalty kill after Scheifele tripped up Detroit defenceman Moritz Seider. The Jets killed just over half the penalty as the period expired. Winnipeg started off the second by killing off the rest of Scheifele's penalty but the Red Wings had the momentum and turned it into a big bounce back period. Both sides shared moderate scoring chances with the Jets having slightly more until an interference penalty by Dylan Samberg. The Red Wings took only five seconds into the power play to respond on a quick passing play with Dylan Larkin burying a quick shot from the faceoff dot past Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck for their first goal of the game and cutting the deficit to two. It wasn't until the end of the period, where the Red Wings found the back of the net again as they were on the power play after a Neal Pionk hook. Detroit cycles the puck around on a break into the Jets end with Lucas Raymond taking a shot towards linemate Alex DeBrincat in front of the net, who redirects the shot past Hellebuyck for Detroit's second goal and cutting the deficit to one goal. The third period saw the Jets clean things up and get back on track as they got lucky with a goal ten seconds in the period. Nino Niederreiter takes a swing at a loose puck in front of the Red Wings net coming out of the corner. The puck takes a favourable bounce off Detroit defenceman Ben Chariot's skate and surprises Lyon as it goes in the net for the Jets fourth goal and extending the lead to multiple goals again. Momentum continued to go their way, when Ehlers made a quick move on defenceman Albert Johansson and beat him cleanly with Johansson needing to trip Ehlers to avoid a breakaway but sends the Jets to the power play. Pionk made up for his costly hooking penalty by scoring his second goal of the game with a quick wrister from the point on the man advantage, regaining their three goal lead at 5-2 with ten minutes left to go in the period. Things got more ugly for the Red Wings, when Colin Miller gets a pass back to the blueline and rips high shot that catches Lyon off guard and blows past him for another goal, making it 6-2 for the Jets. Winnipeg put the game on cruise control for the remainder of the third and shut the door on the Red Wings to secure the victory. Starting goaltender Connor Hellebuyck didn't have to do much as he made 19 saves on 21 shots and recorded his sixth win of the season. The Jets blueline got in on the scoring with Neal Pionk scoring a pair of goals while Colin Miller also scored for his second goal of the season. It was a great response from the Jets after suffering their first loss of the season and they will look to stay hot when continuing their road trip to Columbus on Friday to take on the Blue Jackets.
