That’s one heck of a way to break out of a goal scoring drought.
Cole Perfetti scored for the first time in over a month then added two more for his first career hat trick as the Winnipeg Jets dumped Utah 5-2 Friday night.
The first period was mostly uneventful until Matias Maccelli was called for holding with just under three minutes to go.
With Mark Scheifele briefly in the locker room after blocking a shot with his hand, Perfetti jumped on the top unit and that proved to be a boon for the young player. After the Jets struggled to enter the zone for the first half of the power play, Nikolaj Ehlers skated the puck down the wall before sending a cross-ice pass that Perfetti one-timed into the back of the net for his first goal since Dec. 21, ending a 14-game scoring drought.
Utah would begin the second period on a power play as Gabriel Vilardi was called for slashing with 14 seconds left in the first, and Utah took advantage just over a minute into the middle frame.
The Jets got a clear but behind the play, Alex Iafallo lost his stick and went to his bench to get a new one. That allowed Utah to carry the puck back into the zone on a 5-on-3 with Michael Kesselring as a wide-open trailer. He got a pass at the top of the zone and wired a shot that was tipped by Nick Schmaltz and through the legs of Connor Hellebuyck to level the score.
Winnipeg regained the lead at the 8:48 thanks to a friendly bounce. Dylan DeMelo fired the puck into the Utah end from the neutral zone and Connor Ingram left his crease to intercept it behind the net. But as he did that, the puck took a funky bounce off a stanchion in the corner and rolled into the slot where David Gustafsson rushed in to whack it into the yawning cage before Ingram could get back in position.
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The goal was Gustafsson’s first of the season and fifth of his career in his 131st game.
Winnipeg nearly made it 3-1 a few minutes later when a net front scramble resulted in Rasmus Kupari scoring after an early whistle. Officials announced that there was inadvertent goalie interference on the play, therefore they blew the whistle.
The Jets carried a 21-14 edge in shots on goal as well as their 2-1 lead into the third period but the lead didn’t last long as Utah, like they did in the second, struck just over a minute into the final frame.
John Marino skated the puck towards the faceoff dot to the Hellebuyck’s left before dropping it off to a trailing Barrett Hayton, who ripped a shot high over Hellebuyck’s right shoulder to tie the game at the 1:19 mark.
Less than five minutes later, Perfetti struck again to restore Winnipeg’s advantage.
A point shot from DeMelo was stopped by Ingram but Vladislav Namestnikov slid the rebound to the side of the crease where Perfetti was open for a tap-in goal with 14:09 remaining.
Ehlers got in on the fun with just over eight minutes to go, pouncing on a turnover at the Utah blueline. Kesselring fumbled the puck, then tripped as Ehlers took the puck away and skated up the ice on a breakaway. He glanced behind him to see how much time and space he had before undressing Ingram and sliding a backhand into the goal to make it 4-2.
Utah pulled Ingram with just under three minutes to go but couldn’t muster much of a push before Ehlers made a great play to get the puck to Perfetti for an empty netter, sealing his first career hat trick and giving Ehlers his 500th NHL point with the assist.
Hellebuyck only had to make 17 saves to earn his 30th win of the season while Ingram turned aside 24 shots in defeat.
Winnipeg will look to make it three wins in a row when they host Calgary on Sunday at 5 p.m. Pregame coverage on 680 CJOB begins at 3 p.m.
