In Winnipeg, the Buffalo Sabres scored twice in the middle frame and once in the third to take a 3-0 lead on the Jets, Thursday night, then held Winnipeg for a 3-2 win.
Owen Power scored in his third straight game for a 1-0 lead in the second period to the Sabres.
Eric Comrie made 19 saves in the Sabres win.
“When the guys play like that in front of you, it’s a pretty easy night,” Comrie said. “That was the best I’ve seen us play all year. That was incredible.”
Buffalo improved to 26-19-3.
“Owen is pretty amazing, obviously, three goals in a row, it’s impressive at his age,” Buffalo coach Don Granato said. “What he does on a nightly basis is just amazing when you factor in his age (20) and lack of experience in our league, to dominate situations and really full games the way he does.”
The Jets dropped to 31-18-1.
“We’ll get a lot more consistent with our play when we stop being so stubborn with the puck,” Winnipeg coach Rick Bowness said. “We’ll play a lot faster, and when you’re playing fast it’s a lot more fun, and you’ll be a lot more consistent. We’re slowing ourselves down and making it too easy for the opposition by our puck management.”
Tage Thompson pushed the Sabres lead to 2-0 in the middle frame.
“[Thompson] is a big body, it’s hard to miss him up there,” Buffalo’s Alex Tuch said. “[Skinner] made an unbelievable pass to hit me wide. Sometimes you’ve got to throw an extra pass in to beat a goalie like Hellebuyck. He played really well tonight. We weren’t able to beat him clean. We had to beat him on a couple backdoors and a couple seeing-eye shots. I think our chemistry is growing a little bit, got a little lucky too.”
Victor Olofsson hit off the power play, early in the third period for the 3-0 advantage.
“That was a dominant performance by our team, and if we can do that every single night that’s a special team we have in here,” Comrie said. “That’s a fun group to play behind and a fun group to be a part of. That’s Buffalo Sabre hockey right now, it’s a lot of fun and exciting.”
Winnipeg rallied for two goals in the third, Nate Schmidt and Pierre-Luc Dubois scored the goals.
But that was as close as the Jets could get.
Connor Hellebuyck made 33 saves in the loss.
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