The third period in Columbus, belonged to Blake Wheeler on Sunday.
Well, the whole game was his but the third was especially his.
Wheeler struck for three of his four goals in the third period as the Winnipeg Jets beat the Blue Jackets, 5-2, for their second straight win.
Blake Wheeler nets four in win in COlumbus – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
“You want to contribute, that’s the biggest thing. That’s the goal of our line (Laine-Mark Scheifele-Wheeler) every night, to contribute in some fashion,” Wheeler said. “The score sheet is part of our job, but we kind of pride ourselves on the little details of the game. That’s the rewarding part, trying to make an impact, try to get the good feeling in our room, continue it on our road trip.”
Connor Hellebuyck made saves in the win as the Jets kept pace with the Nashville Predators.
Nick Foligno and Seth Jones scored for the Jackets who could not keep pace with Wheeler, never mind the Jets.
“It’s hard to pick our game apart, because we did a lot of good things,” Foligno said. “That’s a good team over there. The way we played, we dictated play for a lot of the game.”
Winnipeg improved to 38-22-4.
“First and foremost, it was a great job by those guys getting the pucks to net,” Wheeler said. “That’s the majority of the battle right there. You get a good shot to the net, even if you don’t get a tip on it, we’ve got bodies going there and we’ve got a chance for a second-chance opportunity.
“It’s typically how I’m going to score most of my goals, around the net.”
Sami Niku also scored for Winnipeg.
“We had guys paying the price. We had guys scoring, and we stuck to our game and we pulled it out late. That’s the way we want to play,” Hellebuyck said.
[WATCH: All Jets vs. Blue Jackets highlights]
Sergei Bobrovsky made 21 saves in the loss.
“We don’t have a choice. We’ve got step up our game even more. It’s playoff time. We can’t wait another 15 games to get going,” Jones said.
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