Mark Scheifele became the Jets’ all-time scoring leader and recorded three assists in Winnipeg’s 5-2 win over the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday.
Already the franchise’s all-time leading scorer, Scheifele played in his 898th career game in a Jets uniform, passing Blake Wheeler for the most games in franchise history. Scheifele celebrated the milestone with his third three-point game of the season and his 16th career game with three or more assists.
The Jets are 3-1-0 in their last four games.
Neal Pionk, Kyle Connor and Josh Morrissey each had a goal and an assist and Nino Niederreiter had two assists. Adam Lowry and Logan Stanley scored the other goals for Winnipeg.
Eric Comrie stopped 20 of 22 shots, including a stellar save on Kent Johnson during a Columbus power play in the third period. Comrie is 4-1-0 in five starts this season, playing sparingly but effectively behind workhorse starter Connor Hellebuyck.
The regulation time loss ended the Blue Jackets’ streak of five consecutive games with at least one point (3-0-2).
Miles Wood and Zach Werenski scored for the Jackets and Elvis Merzlikins stopped 25 of 30 shots.
At 7:35 of the first period, a nice pass in the slot from Niederreiter allowed Lowry to score the first goal of the season. Lowry missed Winnipeg’s first 12 games while recovering from off-season hip surgery.
Wood equalized at 18:35 of the first period, after a pass from Damon Severson behind the goal line was deflected by Wood near center ice. Wood outplayed Jets defenseman Dylan DeMelo to the loose puck and scored his fifth goal of the season.
Morrissey fired a great pass from Scheifele in front of the Columbus net at 1:12 of the second period to give Winnipeg the lead again. Pionk added his first goal of the season during a Jets power play at 15:30 of the second period, firing a one-timer past a screened Merzlikins.
Connor dropped a shot from a bad angle between Merzlikins and the post at 2:45 of the third period. Werenski cut the Blue Jackets’ deficit with a goal at 4:04 of the third period, but Stanley responded with a booming slap shot for the Jets at 6:23.
–Field level media
