Jets rally past Arizona for 5-3 win Niederreiter hit for hat trick in win

In Tempe, the Winnipeg Jets rallied from 0-2 and 2-3 deficits on Saturday to down the Coyotes, 5-3.

The win ended a three-game schneid for the Jets.

Connor Hellebuyck made 23 saves in the win.

Winnipeg improved to 5-4-2.

Arizona took a 2-0 lead on a first goal from J.J. Moser, and a strike from Liam O’Brien  in the middle frame.

Nino Niederreiter, who had a hat trick, scored at 7:21 of the second to trim the deficit to 2-1.

“The second period was the turning point,” Coyotes forward Nick Bjugstad said. “They came at us hard. We had some scoring chances, but I didn’t like the way we were working as a five-man unit. … An afternoon game like this at our rink, we’ve got to be harder to play against.”

The Coyotes dropped to 5-5-1.

Brenden Dillon, who hit for a double in the win, tied the game for the Jets at midway through the second period

“It’s nice to see sometimes when guys show you a different side of themselves, and every defenseman wants to be a goal-scorer,” Jets associate coach Scott Arniel said. “We actually talked about [us] needing more from our back end, whether it’s shots [or] assists. ‘Dilly’ took it one step further (with his first two-goal NHL game) and any time you can get that on the road, that’s big.”

Lawson Crouse restored the Coyotes lead at 3-2, at 14:47 of the second period, off the power play.

Niederreiter tied the game, 3-3, with three minutes left in the middle frame.

“They’re a young team and they’re very, very skilled and very fast and they make you pay when they get their chances,” Niederreiter said. “That’s something we knew we had to be aware of, and, obviously, being down 2-0 wasn’t in the game plan.”

Dillon put the Jets ahead, 4-3 at 3:23 of the third.

“[After that] we were too slow on breakouts. The puck wasn’t moving, we weren’t getting anything going offensively and they were able to stall us in our zone forever,” Coyotes coach Andre Tourigny said.

Niederreiter scored his hat trick for the 5-3 final at 7:16 of the third.

Karel Vejmelka made 22 saves in the loss.