Connor and Pionk shine as Winnipeg Jets cruise past Detroit 6-2 – Winnipeg

After suffering their first loss of the season on Monday, the Winnipeg Jets responded in a big way by taking care of the Red Wings 6-2 on Wednesday night in Detroit.

The Jets scored three times in each of the first and third periods, and Kyle Connor recorded three points, including the 500th of his career, as the Jets bounced back for their ninth victory in their first ten games.

Winnipeg finally got off to a strong start after giving up the first goal of the game in seven of their first nine games, scoring the first three goals of the game to take an early lead.

“Our start in the first definitely set the tone,” Jets head coach Scott Arniel said. ‘I thought it was everyone.

“Great contributions from everyone. We went after them and had them play on their side of the rink to hopefully take the crowd out of it a little bit and we did that.

The Jets rode a hot power play in the first nine games, but scored five goals at 5-on-5 in the win over Detroit.

Neal Pionk scored twice for just his second career multi-goal game. The Jets never trailed as they avoided their first losing streak of the season.

“We sucked against the Leafs and still had a chance to tie them up,” Jets forward Mark Scheifele said. “There is just resilience in this group.

“I think this was a great reaction play. I thought we had all gone a step further and obviously I didn’t like that last bit, and that’s what good teams do.”

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Connor has a point in every game this season. He scored his ninth goal of the season, one behind the league lead and his 17 points are just two points behind the NHL lead. He achieved his milestone 500th point in his old backyard in his home state of Michigan.

“500 points, that’s incredible,” Arniel said. “It shows what type of player he is, how hard he works. Again, I just love that there were a few times in the third period where we were up by three goals or whatever it was, and he still comes back on the backcheck. He’s still trying to pop sticks and he’s a professional through and through.

“He’s an elite player in this league and we’d like to keep him our little hidden secret, but I don’t think that’s going to happen yet.”

The Jets wasted little time getting on the board, opening the scoring just 2:48 into the game. Connor gave Gabriel Vilardi a solid lead in transition as he passed Alex Lyon to make it 1-0.

Just 1:14 after Vilardi’s goal, the Jets made it 2-0. Scheifele won an offensive zone faceoff back to the point from Pionk, who sent the ball to Connor. His shot towards the net was tipped by Scheifele and trickled to the back post, where Pionk stormed to the back door and smashed it home for his second of the season.

After picking up a few helpers, Connor started scoring late in the first inning. He grabbed a loose puck in his own end and started moving up the ice, firing a cross-ice pass to Vilardi in the neutral zone. After taking the ball to Detroit, Vilardi sent a perfect pass to the back door where Connor was on hand to receive the ball and eliminate Lyon to make it 3-0 after 20 minutes.

Winnipeg nearly made it 4-0 around eight minutes into the second when Cole Perfetti hit the post from close range, and moments later Dylan Samberg was called for interference near the Wings’ blue line, giving Detroit a power-play opportunity they would doing. make quick work of it.

Six seconds after the puck dropped in the Jets zone, Dylan Larkin scored on a one-timer to make it 3-1.

Detroit capitalized on the momentum from that goal and put a lot of pressure on Winnipeg as the period expired, earning another power play that they would capitalize on again.

With Pionk in the box for hooking, Alex DeBrincat tipped a Lucas Raymond shot high over Connor Hellebuyck’s shoulder to make it 3-2 heading into the third.

But just eight seconds into the final frame, a stranger helped the Jets restore their two-goal lead. After Jeff Petry mishandled the puck in the corner, Nino Niederreiter gently sent it on target, but Lyon’s attempt to steer the puck away from the net bounced off Ben Chiarot and into the net.

Winnipeg ran away with the game from there, scoring a power-play goal at 7:19 of the third when a long wrist shot from Pionk beat Lyon cleanly for its second of the night.

Colin Miller started the fun just after halfway when he beat Lyon from distance as the Wings netminder tried to catch the high shot but whiffed on it.

Ten different Jets recorded at least a point in the win, while Hellebuyck only had to make 19 saves to earn the victory.

Winnipeg will try to get two more points against the Blue Jackets on Friday in Columbus. The pregame show starts at 4:00 PM on 680 CJOB, with puck drop just after 6:00 PM

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