In Winnipeg Sunday, the match between the Jets and visiting Pittsburgh Penguins was over early.
Blake Wheelernetted a hat trick in the first period, a franchise record, in a 7-1 win Winnipeg win.
“It felt really good to get the win, that’s it,” Wheeler said. “We’re going to score goals. Ultimately though, we’re worried about playing the right way. Playing fast. Trying to lead with the way we play and with that comes some scoring chances and we’re going to score on our fair share.
“It’s all about getting two points [in the standings]. We have every guy pushing in that direction.”
Wheeler’s trick was among four Jets’ goals scored in a span of 4:20 in the opening frame.
“The last three games have all been really good. Going into those buildings against those teams, who are going to be two of the better teams this year, we had every right winning those games too. I think it’s a progression,” Wheeler said. “The last week has been pretty good. Like I said, we were able to make the plays tonight that maybe we missed out on in Columbus. If you play the right way, the same way every night, you’re going to get scoring chances and we were able to bury them tonight.”
Brendan Lemieux, Andrew Copp, Joel Armia, and Mark Scheifelealso scored for the Jets who improved to 5-3-2 on the season.
“It feels great,” Lemieux said. “Obviously, really fortunate to have been able to get one and really excited. Every day I’m up here has been a blessing and I’m just trying to run with it.”
The lone strike for the Pens came off the stick of Evgeni Malkin as Pittsburgh dropped to 7-5-1.
“Our starts, you look at all those, we get scored on early and teams build on that,” Penguins captain Sidney Crosby said. “It’s not like we’re giving up one in the first, we’re giving up a bunch and in this case, five. We’ve been here before, we’ve got to find a way to fix it.”
Connor Hellebuyck made 31 saves for the Jets’ win.
[WATCH: All Penguins vs. Jets highlights]
Matt Murray allowed those record-setting four goals in the first period and was given the hook; he was relieved by Casey Desmith who made 12 saves in his first NHL action.
“It’s disappointing. We talk about doing the right things, we talk about managing the puck the right way, we talk about staying on the right side of people and then we go out and our actions are just the opposite. We turn the puck over a handful of times, we gave up some high-quality chances and they converted. It’s hard to win when you play that way,” Pens head coach Mike Sullivan said of the effort in the loss.
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