Three Jets scored their first goals of the season and defenceman Jacob Trouba contributed a trio of assists as Winnipeg defeated the Arizona Coyotes 5-3 on Saturday.
Tyler Myers, Josh Morrissey and Mathieu Perreault each recorded their first goals. Adam Lowry put in his fourth of the season and Blake Wheeler added an empty-netter. Morrissey and Myers also had an assist each and Kyle Connor had two helpers.
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Making his second start of the season for the Jets (5-2-1), backup goalie Laurent Brossoit stopped 40 shots for his second victory.
Clayton Keller scored twice and Christian Fischer had one goal for Arizona (2-5). Oliver Ekman-Larsson chipped in three assists.
Antti Raanta made 27 saves for the Coyotes, who haven’t won in Winnipeg since the Jets returned to Manitoba in 2011 (0-10).
The game was tied 1-1 after the first period and Winnipeg led 3-1 after two.
The Coyotes were outshooting the Jets 13-2 in the first period with nothing to show for it until Fischer took a pass from Ekman-Larsson and moved the puck around the front of Brossoit before
flipping it into the net at 15:37. Winnipeg had two shots on goal at that point.
The Jets went almost 14 minutes between their second and third shots, but made a late one count when Morrissey fired the puck from the point and it hit Lowry’s blade and went in with 44 seconds left in the period.
Arizona had a 16-6 shot advantage in the opening period and went 0 for 2 on the power play.
Winnipeg got its first power play of the game midway through the second and peppered Raanta with six shots, but the netminder turned them aside.
After making a couple more big saves, Raanta couldn’t stop Myers’ high shot that made it 2-1 at 14:28 of the second. Myers had time to move to the net after Trouba drew two Coyotes toward himself.
On Winnipeg’s second power play, Mark Scheifele sent Morrissey a pass to the high slot and he bent down low and fired the puck in for the 3-1 lead.
The Jets have at least one power-play goal in four straight games.
Arizona’s shot advantage was down to 27-22 after two.
Keller made it 3-2 at 3:50 of the third, but Winnipeg responded with Perreault’s goal less than two minutes later. A coach’s challenge for goaltender interference on Perreault’s marker was unsuccessful.
Keller netted his second of the game with a shot under the crossbar on Brossoit’s stick side for a 4-3 score at 11:53.
Arizona had a power play with just over five minutes remaining when Wheeler was penalized for slashing, but Brossoit snapped out his glove to stop a Keller shot. Wheeler then scored with 42 seconds left.
Winnipeg continues its six-game homestand with the fifth game (3-0-1) Monday against St. Louis. The Coyotes finish their four-game road trip (1-2) Tuesday in Columbus.
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