Coming off an impressive overtime win over the Washington Capitals, would there be a letdown for the Winnipeg Jets Friday against New Jersey.
Not a chance.
The Jets wasted no time putting to bed any worry of a letdown, scoring twice in the opening two minutes en route to a 4-0 win that moved them in front of the Capitals for first in the NHL standings.
The first goal came from Alex Iafallo just 58 seconds into the contest. Mark Scheifele started the play by skating the puck from the Winnipeg end all the way down to the New Jersey zone before sending a cross-ice pass to Kyle Connor. He then sent it to Iafallo in the slot who backhanded the puck into an open net as Jake Allen overcommitted to Connor.
Just 54 seconds later, it was 2-0 thanks to David Gustafsson, playing in his first game since Mar. 6 with Rasmus Kupari out due to an injury.
New Jersey had the puck safely in their own end as players from both teams changed but Simon Nemec couldn’t handle a simple pass, coughing it up to Brandon Tanev. Tanev then drove to the net and was denied by Allen but Gustafsson knocked home the rebound for his second of the season and just his sixth goal in 143 NHL games.
The Devils got the game’s first power play later in the period but failed as they controlled possession for the bulk of the first, holding the Jets to just one shot in the 13 minutes that followed the Gustafsson goal.
For a very brief moment, the Devils thought they had cut the lead in half when Erik Haula banged home a rebound with 5:34 left in the first but it was immediately waved off. Haula had bumped Connor Hellebuyck before jamming home the rebound and New Jersey did not challenge the call on the ice.
Thanks to a late flurry of shots, Winnipeg wound up with a 9-8 advantage in shots in the first but for most of the second, the shot counter barely moved.
Over the first 11:40 of the middle frame, there was only one shot on goal. New Jersey registered their first with 8:20 to go and Winnipeg didn’t get their second of the frame until there was 7:31 remaining.
New Jersey got some decent looks on their second power play of the night but Winnipeg killed it, and just after he stepped out of the box, Colin Miller drew a penalty to give the Jets their first PP look of the evening.
Winnipeg’s man advantage has been struggling but they took advantage on this one. Allen stopped a one-timer from the point off the stick of Josh Morrissey but Nikolaj Ehlers chipped the rebound to the right of Allen where Iafallo was standing. He gloved the puck down and whacked it into the net to make it 3-0 with 4:15 to go in the second.
With less than a minute to go in the period, the Jets made it 4-0. Scheifele made a slick play at the Jets blueline to take the puck away from Brian Dumoulin and skated up the ice with it. After taking it into the Devils’ end, he dropped it off to Connor whose shot went wide but after the puck bounced hard off the endboards, Scheifele chipped it into the net from the side of the crease.
Winnipeg carried a 15-13 edge in shots on goal into the third where Hellebuyck turned aside all 11 shots he faced to clinch the 4-0 win.
Hellebuyck turned aside a total of 24 shots on the night to pick up his league-leading seventh shutout of the season, which is also a new career high for the reigning Vezina winner.
Allen made 15 saves in defeat for New Jersey.
Winnipeg will wrap up their homestand Sunday afternoon against Vancouver.