The Winnipeg Jets gave their fans a nice gift on Thanksgiving Monday, picking up a 5-2 win over the Islanders for their second win in a row and first road win over New York since 2018.
The opening minute was a bit harrowing for the Jets, who allowed several shots including a point-blank look for Mathew Barzal that Eric Comrie had to make an excellent save to deny.
The Islanders continued to be the better team until Winnipeg opened the scoring at the 7:35 mark.
The Jets’ fourth line forced a turnover in their own end, leading to a 2-on-2 rush up the ice. Cole Koepke carried it into the attacking end before sliding the puck to Morgan Barron cutting hard to the net. Barron made a great move before roofing it past Ilya Sorokin for his second goal of the young season.
Winnipeg doubled their lead just over four minutes later on their second power play of the period. There was a scramble to the left of Sorokin, with Jonathan Toews getting a stick on the puck before it wound up on the stick of Gustav Nyquist below the goal line. He sent a cross-ice pass to Nino Niederreiter, who shot the puck off Sorokin and into the net for his first of the year.
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Toews picked up an assist on the play for his first point as a Jet and first point in the NHL since Apr. 13, 2023.
Winnipeg then killed off a pair of penalties to take the 2-0 lead to the second, despite being outshot 12-10 in the first 20 minutes. The Jets also lost Koepke to injury late in the first, getting hurt while blocking a shot.
The Islanders got on the board just over two minutes into the second when Jean-Gabriel Pageau, playing in his 800th NHL game, deflected a point shot past Comrie.
But only 14 seconds later, Logan Stanley joined a rush, took a pass and beat Sorokin five-hole for his sixth career NHL goal in his 205th game.
Winnipeg had to kill two more penalties in the period and did so successfully, and right after their second kill of the frame, they extended their lead.
Niederreiter was serving a penalty for too many men and as he came out of the box, he was sprung on a breakaway. He made a move to draw Sorokin out of the net, then slid the puck back to the crease where Tanner Pearson was waiting for the tap-in.
New York cut the lead back to two when Emil Heineman ripped a one-timer off the post, set up by Jonathan Drouin after the Jets mishandled the puck near their own blue line.
The Jets held on to the 4-2 lead going to the final frame after once again being slightly outshot in the second by a margin of 12-11.
Winnipeg held on to the two-goal lead for much of the third, leading to Patrick Roy pulling Sorokin for an extra attacker with four minutes remaining.
The Jets iced the game with an empty netter a couple minutes later with Kyle Connor stealing the puck from New York and setting up Mark Scheifele for a tap-in to seal the deal.
Comrie made 33 saves while eight of Winnipeg’s 12 forwards registered at least a point in the win.
Winnipeg will look for a third win in a row when they visit the Flyers on Thursday.
