Winnipeg's second line of Nikolaj Ehlers, Sean Monahan, and Tyler Toffoli powered the Jets to a 6-1 victory over the Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena on Sunday.
1 | 2 | 3 | F | |
---|---|---|---|---|
BLUE JACKETS | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
WPG JETS | 1 | 4 | 1 | 6 |
1st Period
Winnipeg opened the scoring at 1:6 when a wide-open Kyle Connor took a feed from Mark Scheifele and a fired snapshot from the slot past Elvis Merzlikins.
Exactly how we drew it up pic.twitter.com/TENCCRMkDe
— Winnipeg Jets (@NHLJets) March 17, 2024
The Blue Jackets nearly tied the game at 4:36 when Ivan Provorov's left-point shot hit the crossbar.
Winnipeg responded by nearly doubling the lead on the power play at 12:32 when Ehlers' shot trickled past Merzlikins, but Erik Gudbranson was able to clear the puck out of harm's way.
The Jets led 1-0 after 20 minutes despite trailing 11-7 in shots on goal.
2nd Period
Ehlers would double the Winnipeg lead at 1:10 with a snapshot from the left circle off a no-look backhand feed from Toffoli.
Less than 90 seconds into the period, AGAIN pic.twitter.com/SQjShF7JOD
— Winnipeg Jets (@NHLJets) March 17, 2024
Toffoli added to Winnipeg's lead at 9:45 with a shot from the slot on the rush that started after Kirill Marchenko was dislodged off the puck against the boards in the Blue Jackets' offensive zone.
Elite goal scorer Tyler Toffoli is a Winnipeg Jet pic.twitter.com/nz7pFWAE3k
— Winnipeg Jets (@NHLJets) March 17, 2024
Logan Stanley made it 4-0 Jets at 12:00 with a left-point slapshot through a screen.
STANIMAL pic.twitter.com/S8MxtqXYLQ
— Winnipeg Jets (@NHLJets) March 17, 2024
The Jets extended their lead to five at 18:24 when Vladislav Namestnikov took the rebound from Pionk's blast that took a weird carom off the backboards and roofed a left-circle shot past Merzlikins, who was halfway out of the net.
Lucky bounce? pic.twitter.com/7rQio8duXK
— Winnipeg Jets (@NHLJets) March 17, 2024
Winnipeg led 5-0 after 40 minutes and took a 20-19 advantage in shots on goal into the third period.
3rd Period
Brendan Gaunce got the Jackets on the board at 0:39 when he cleaned up a rebound in the crease for his second goal of the season.
Brendan Gaunce gets the @BlueJacketsNHL on the board.#CBJ pic.twitter.com/DxEyaCthuv
— Bally Sports Columbus (@BallySportsCBUS) March 18, 2024
Winnipeg thought they regained a five-goal lead at 4:34 when Morgan Barron deflected a long shot past Merzlikins, but the goal was taken off the board because he scored with a high stick.
Toffoli scored his second of the game at 17:34 after intercepting Damon Severson's pass and beating Merzlikins on a breakaway.
Another puck has lepre-gone into the net for Toff! pic.twitter.com/b846FpsbcO
— Winnipeg Jets (@NHLJets) March 18, 2024
With the 6-1 loss, the Blue Jackets fall to 23-34-11.
Stats
- Shots on Goal: WPG 27-31 CBJ
- Face-off %: WPG 45.8-54.2 CBJ
- Power play: WPG 0/1-0/2 CBJ
- Giveaways: WPG 1-8 CBJ
- Takeaways: WPG 2-3 CBJ
- Blocked shots: WPG 22-11 CBJ
- Hits: WPG 8-10 CBJ
-
5-on-5 stats (via naturalstattrick.com):
- Expected Goals (xG): WPG 2.41-1.51 CBJ
- Shot Attempts (CF): WPG 42-54 CBJ
- Shots on Goal (SF): WPG 25-24 CBJ
- Scoring Chances (SCF): WPG 21-25 CBJ
- High-Danger Chances (HDCF): WPG 11-8 CBJ
Injury Update
- Adam Boqvist is out with an upper-body injury sustained on Thursday against the Ottawa Senators. There is no timetable for his return.
- Sean Kuraly is week-to-week with a lower-body injury sustained on Tuesday against the Montreal Canadiens.
- Yegor Chinakhov is day-to-day with an upper-body injury he suffered during Tuesday's against the Canadiens.
- Justin Danforth suffered a concussion on Mar. 7. There is no timetable for his return.
- Kent Johnson has been placed on injured reserve with a torn labrum in his left shoulder that will sideline him for the remainder of the season. He underwent successful surgery on March 7 and is expected to make a full recovery in six months.
- Patrik Laine entered the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program on Jan. 28 and will be away from the team indefinitely.
- Adam Fantilli suffered a calf laceration on Jan. 28 and is expected to miss eight weeks.
Next Up
The club will kick off its five-game road trip on Tuesday against the Detroit Red Wings at 7 p.m. ET on Bally Sports Ohio.
They'll continue their road trip on Friday against the Colorado Avalanche at 9 p.m. ET on Bally Sports Ohio.