In Edmonton Monday night, the Winnipeg Jets’ Nikolaj Ehlers struck for a natural hat trick in a stunning 5-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers.
“We all knew what we needed to do and are capable of,” Ehlers said. “We didn’t do that the first two games, but we showed it tonight. We played good tonight, simple and fast. We were able to find the holes. We just have to be able to find a way to keep that going.”
The Jets got a complete game from across the bench including in goal where Connor Hellebuyck made 37 saves for the win.
Winnipeg was dreadful in their first two games and Steve Mason was pulled in each of the losses.
“I am very proud of the guys in front of me,” Hellebuyck said. “Everyone really dug in and dug deep and pulled out a team win tonight.”
After starting the season with a 3-0 win over the Calgary Flames, the Oilers have been beaten twice.
“The big concern is where we are with the mental state,” Oilers coach Todd McLellan said. “We’re not near competitive enough. We’re not outworking teams. It feels like it in moments of the game, but consistently from minutes 1 to 60 the last two games we haven’t come close to outworking teams, and structurally, we’re about as loose as we can be. We’re missing assignments.”
Mark Scheifele and Dmitry Kulikov scored in the first period to give the Jets a 2-0 lead.
The Oilers rallied on goals from Leon Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins to tie the game before Ehlers’ heroics.
Blake Wheeler had three assists for the Jets.
“We do still have a young team and guys have to build confidence in themselves and respect the fact that the opposition has good players and bad things are going to happen,” Wheeler said. “But all we can do is get back to our game and have confidence that we can prevail in the end.”
[WATCH: All Jets vs. Oilers highlights]
Cam Talbot made 38 saves in taking the loss.
“I don’t think we remembered how hard it is to win. I’ve experienced this in the past. You have to understand how hard it is. Our guys don’t get that yet,” McLellan said.
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