Connor show in Detroit

At this point, it feels inevitable: Kyle Connor is going to score on opening night. The Michigan product returned to his home state Sunday and, as he so often does when he’s back in familiar territory, put up a bunch of points. Connor scored twice and added an assist as the Jets jumped out to a 3-0 second period lead and held on for a 3-2 win over the Detroit Red Wings.

Connor sure likes playing in his home state. The Michigan product now has 12 points (7G, 5A) in eight career appearances in Detroit, while Cole Perfetti had a goal and two assists and Josh Morrissey chipped in with a pair of helpers. Stuart Skinner stopped 33 shots to pick up his first win as a Jet.

The Jets got a friendly bounce to open the scoring on the power play in the first period. Connor tried to find Perfetti in the slot, but the puck went off Perfetti’s stick, popped into the air and sailed over Red Wings goaltender John Gibson and into the net at 13:04. 

"You want to contribute in any fashion you can and tonight it was on the power play and helping out that way," said Perfetti who has four points in two games this season.

"Some games it's going to be in the defensive zone and that kind of stuff. But yeah, it's definitely nice to get the start on that unit (the Scheifele line) and make an impact."

J.T. Compher got an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after the Perfetti goal which gave the Jets another man advantage. 90 seconds later, Connor was allowed to walk right in on Gibson and found some space short side and underneath the crossbar for his second goal of the year.

The power play went right back to work in the second. Morrissey’s point shot was stopped by Gibson, but the rebound landed right on Connor’s stick, and he made no mistake into the wide-open net for his third power-play goal of the season and a 3-0 Jets lead.

You have to go all the way back to February 2022 for the last time the Jets scored three power-play goals on the road. Their three goals with the man advantage in Detroit also snapped a pretty ugly trend — Winnipeg had gone just 2-for-21 on the power play in its previous 10 meetings with the Red Wings.

The Jets power play was the best in the NHL just two years ago, it’s 4-for-7 through two games this season.

 “I think everybody's got to be shot ready and be available to when it's their turn when it comes around,” said Connor.

“There's an opening to have no question about putting the puck to the net. I think we've done that and just everybody knowing where each other are just makes our reads a lot quicker.”

Detroit finally got on the board while DeMelo was in the penalty box. Former Jet Andrew Copp found Viktor Arvidsson with a cross-crease pass, and Arvidsson made it 3-1 with just over three minutes left in the second.

The Red Wings kept coming in the third and pulled to within one when Emmitt Finnie finished off a nice pass from Michael Brandsegg-Nygard at 4:56.

That’s when Skinner really had to earn it. He kept the Jets in front with a huge glove save during a delayed penalty call against DeMelo, then came up big again with Detroit pressing and Gibson on the bench. Skinner stared down Lucas Raymond on a chance in tight, and when the rebound came right back to Raymond, he fired it wide.

The Jets killed off the DeMelo penalty and finished the day 4-for5 on the penalty kill.

For a team that struggled in one goal games a year ago, this was a huge two points for the Jets on the road. The 27-year-old Skinner has won some big games in his career, this was another one considering how he locked in late in the third.

He's a real popular guy. And just for us to hang in there tonight, making sure whatever it took to to get him that win," said Scott Arniel. 

"Again, he was strong. He has to be your best penalty killer, and he was that as well."