Jets top Islanders 4-3 for eighth straight win heading into break – Winnipeg

The Winnipeg Jets (38-14-3) beat the New York Islanders (25-21-7) by a score of 4-3 and won their eighth straight game, tying a franchise record.

The Jets put some past struggles against the Islanders behind them after going 1-8 in their last 9 games against the Isles.

Alex Iafallo, Gabe Vilardi (twice), and Nikolaj Ehlers picked up goals in this one, while Connor Hellebuyck made 32 saves for his 34th win of the season.

The top line for the Jets started the game and they had two great chances early on. Vilardi received a pass from Mark Scheifele, but Islanders goalie Ilya Sorokin flashed the leather to keep it scoreless.

Shortly after that, the Jets had another odd-man rush led by Mark Scheifele, who found Dylan Samberg trailing. Samberg would whiff on the shot attempt leading to an Islanders odd-man rush with Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Simon Holmstrom. Holmstrom was looking for Pageau on the backdoor, but the pass ended up taking a bounce and going through Connor Hellebuyck’s legs to give the Islanders a 1-0 lead early.

It wouldn’t take the Jets long to respond. After some sustained pressure from the Islanders, Alex Iafallo took the puck from his own blue line all the way into the Islanders zone and cut towards the net beating Sorokin with a cheeky finish against the grain for his eighth goal of the season, tying the game up at one.

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The pace of play would steady after the two teams traded early goals until a little over 12 minutes into the period. Mason Appleton had the puck behind the net and tried to put it along the boards, however an unfortunate bounce off Neal Pionk’s skate ricocheted right to Marc Gatcomb, who made a move to the backhand and slid one past Hellebuyck to make it 2-1.

That score would stand as the two teams headed into the first intermission.

The second period would start and only two minutes into the period Bo Horvat would get in the way of Vlad Namestnikov resulting in a two-minute minor for interference. Vilardi would get a chance in front, but outside of that the Jets were unable to muster much towards the goal.

Shortly after the powerplay had expired, Kyle Connor brought the puck through center ice and sent a missile of a seam pass to Vilardi, who buried the shot low glove-side for his 23rd goal of the season and knotted the game up at two.

With a little over five minutes to play in the second, Cole Perfetti was parked in the spot that Wayne Gretzky made famous, and made a Gretzky-esque pass to Nikolaj Ehlers who deposited it into the net to give the Jets a 3-2 lead.

The Jets would continue to control play through the second and added a late goal to cap off a terrific second period. The Jets top line went back to work, whipping the puck around the offensive zone before Scheifele sent a return feed to Vilardi in the slot, where Vilardi would rip one bar down for his second of the night, to make it 4-2 for Winnipeg.

The second period would end shortly after Vilardi’s 2^nd goal. While the shots were even after one, the Jets really got the puck towards the net in the second, winning the shot battle 12-7.

Just over 11 minutes into the third, Alexander Romanov would fire a shot from the blue line causing chaos in front of Hellebuyck. The Jets defense would fail to tie up Kyle Palmieri as he would grab the loose change and find the back of the net for his 15^th of the season making it 4-3 Jets.

With just under seven minutes remaining, Dylan Demelo would trip Kyle Maclean and put the Islanders back on the power-play for the 3^rd time of the period. The Jets had held the Islanders to few chances on the powerplay but this penalty kill was different. Connor Hellebuyck had his best sequence of the night making five huge saves to kill the penalty and preserve the lead for Winnipeg.

The Jets will head to St. Louis on February 22nd to face the Blues in their first game back from their two-week break for the 4 Nations Face-Off.