Saturday night will be a night Mark Scheifele won’t soon forget.
The first ever draft pick of the Winnipeg Jets scored early to set a new franchise standard for career points as the Jets took care of the Nashville Predators 4-1 at Canada Life Centre.
With the Jets on a power play, Kyle Connor fed Scheifele with a fantastic cross-ice pass that Scheifele one-timed past Juuse Saros at the 2:39 mark of the first for his sixth goal of the season.
That gave Scheifele 813 points in his Jets career, one more than Blake Wheeler for most in franchise history. During a break in play, a video of Wheeler congratulating Scheifele played in the arena before a hearty ovation was given to Scheifele by the hometown faithful.
The goal was part of a dominant opening 20 minutes from Winnipeg.
Just past the midway point of the period, Dylan DeMelo made a good play in his own end to take the puck away from Nashville. He slid a short pass to Vladislav Namestnikov, who then sent a phenomenal stretch pass up the ice to spring Nino Niederreiter on a breakaway.
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The former Predator put a deke on Juuse Saros and slid the puck into the net for his second of the year to make it 2-0.
Winnipeg outshot Nashville 11-5 in the opening period, though the Predators drew a penalty as the period expired so they began the second with the man advantage.
The Jets managed to kill the penalty off but spent much of the second period shorthanded, including 44 seconds of 5-on-3 but the Winnipeg penalty kill rose to the occasion, including Connor Hellebuyck, who had to make several key saves with his team a man down.
Josh Morrissey picked up a penalty for playing without a helmet in the dying seconds of the period, so the Preds began the third with 1:44 left on the power play, following a middle frame in which Nashville outshot Winnipeg 15-4.
The Jets got the kill once again to start the third and not long after got an insurance marker from an unlikely source.
Gustav Nyquist banked a pass off the boards to the point where Logan Stanley blasted the puck past Saros to make it 3-0. It was Stanley’s second goal in the last three games, marking the first time he’s ever scored more than one goal in a single regular season.
Winnipeg added a late one on the power play when Namestnikov finished off a great pass from Jonathan Toews with 3:08 remaining.
But Connor Hellebuyck couldn’t quite secure the shutout as Michael Bunting managed to shove a loose puck past Hellebuyck with 64 seconds left to ruin the bid.
Hellebuyck still had a fantastic night, stopping 30 shots to help the Jets pick up their fourth win in a row.
Winnipeg will go for a fifth straight victory Monday night in Calgary.
