Nikolaj Ehlers and Adam Lowry each scored in the first period, and the Winnipeg Jets held on for a 2-1 victory over the visiting Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday night.
Morgan Barron and Neal Pionk each added an assist for Winnipeg (40-29-3, 83 points), which won for just the second time in the last five games. Connor Hellebuyck made 29 saves.
Barrett Hayton scored the lone goal for Arizona (27-33-11, 65 points), which saw its four-game winning streak come to an end. Clayton Keller picked up an assist, extending his point streak to nine games. Karel Vejmelka turned aside 23 shots.
The Jets wasted little time grabbing the lead, as Ehlers pulled in a turnover by the Coyotes on the blue line in the Jets’ offensive zone and went straight up the ice on a breakaway. His initial shot was stopped, but he picked up his own rebound and chipped it into the net, giving Winnipeg a 1-0 edge with 15:43 remaining in the first period.
The Jets would double their lead just over seven minutes later.
On the penalty kill, an outlet pass by Pionk found Barron, springing him and Lowry on a two-on-one rush. Barron settled the puck down and sent it to Lowry, who pulled the trigger on a wide-open net at the 11:33 mark.
Hellebuyck kept Arizona off the board early in the second stanza, making his best save of the night while out of the net, sliding his stick across the goal line to deny Michael Kesselring.
The Coyotes eventually broke through, though, as Hayton popped in a rebound while just outside of the crease, getting Arizona on the board with 8:14 left in the middle frame.
Arizona outshot Winnipeg 18-3 in the second.
In the third, however, a trio of penalties took away the Coyotes’ momentum, and they failed to generate a late push to extend their winning streak.
With the win, the Jets swept the thee-game season series with Arizona.
–Field Level Media