Jets bounce back with big win over Oilers

WINNIPEG - One night after a disappointing loss in Edmonton, the Winnipeg Jets came up with the response they needed in the rematch on Saturday night.
"We were ready to play tonight," said Josh Morrissey, who had two goals and an assist in a 7-5 Jets win over the Oilers. "I thought we competed tonight and brought the intensity and played on our toes."
The victory at Canada Life Centre snaps a five-game winless skid for the Jets (36-25-2), who were still without Pierre-Luc Dubois and Mason Appleton due to injuries, but had new acquisition Vladislav Namestnikov making his debut.
He assisted on Dylan DeMelo's empty-netter, with the other goals coming from Adam Lowry, Morgan Barron, Mark Scheifele, and Kyle Capobianco.
It truly was a team effort, from top to bottom.
"When you play back to back with these guys, and now we're not going to see them again, it was important," said head coach Rick Bowness, noting the Jets earned the season series victory over the Oilers. "We got four points out of the six that were there. We're very, very happy with that."

The start of the game, though, looked all too familiar.
Just as he did the night before, Leon Draisaitl opened the scoring with a power play marker early in the first. Draisaitl pounced on a loose puck after a shot from Evan Bouchard didn't get all the way to Hellebuyck, and Draisaitl was there to whack it home for his 39th.
"The most important thing with that is how you respond," said Bowness. "We responded much better tonight than we did last night. That's what made me very happy."

That response came from Scheifele, who got to the net front at the perfect time to deflect a DeMelo point shot past Campbell for his 36th of the season. The goal came with 8:26 to go in the first, and was followed quickly by another one from the Jets.
Morrissey floated a wrist shot from the left point 3:35 after Scheifele's goal, and it went off the skate of Oilers defenceman Vincent Desharnais and changed direction, beating Campbell on the glove side. Morrissey's 14th of the campaign continues to build a new career-high in that department.
"The (Josh Morrissey) shot had some eyes and all of the sudden we were able to flip the script," said Lowry. "We played a lot freer today and faster. Even though we gave up that one early, we had some great responses."
There was a chance for the home side to extend the lead with an early power play in the middle frame, but Edmonton scored its league-leading 12th shorthanded goal instead, as Ryan Nugent-Hopkins fed Mattias Janmark on a two-on-one, and Janmark's shot beat a sprawling Hellebuyck.

Draisaitl's second of the game - and 40th of the season - came on a nifty backhand with 6:12 off the clock in the second, but the Jets had another response in them.
First, Lowry broke a 35-game goal-scoring drought with a deft deflection of a Morgan Barron wrister from the left wing.
"The longer that thing goes on, the more you think about it and the more ways it just starts affecting other parts of your game," said Lowry. "It's nice to get that out of the way. (Morgan Barron) snapped his slump as well. Nice to get a little secondary scoring and get back into the win column."
Before his goal song, Sandstorm, could come to an end, Capobianco put the Jets ahead 4-3. Capobianco was playing in his first game since January 30, snapped home his second of the season, going high short side on Campbell from the right wing.

Capobianco - and Dylan Samberg - were in the line-up as part of some changes from Bowness, which kept Nate Schmidt and Logan Stanley out of game action on Saturday.
"I know that Capo scoring, you see Schmitty, he's fired up for him and that's the type of guy that Schmitty is," said Morrissey. "(Capobianco) comes to the rink every day happy, works hard. And I think it's a testament to his character because every time he's come in I thought he's played well, especially with long layoffs which isn't easy to do."
The see-saw battle continued, as Draisaitl completed his hat trick with his second power play marker of the game just 2:02 after the Capobianco goal. Again, the Jets responded. This time it was Barron, using a burst of speed to get in on a break before tucking in a backhand with 9:15 remaining in a wild second.
To cap off a seven-goal period, Morrissey notched his second of the game with 1.2 seconds left, wiring a slapshot from the point on the power play to give the Jets a 6-4 lead.

At that moment, Scheifele leaped into Morrissey's arms in the neutral zone, causing Morrissey to fall over.
"Probably a good thing that I don't use a very sharp skate blade cause my right leg, afterward, when I watched it, was kind of in an uncomfortable spot," Morrissey laughed. "It was just emotion and that was the compete and effort and intensity and heart that we brought all night."
There were light moments though, just ask Lowry.
"(David Rittich) looked at me at one point and he goes, 'This might be 10-8,'" Lowry smiled. "And I go, 'I certainly hope not.'"

The Oilers got one more, just 2:55 into the third, as Nick Bjugstad scored in his Oilers debut.
But that was the last puck to beat Hellebuyck, who made 13 of his 30 saves in the final period to keep the Jets ahead.
"You talk about timely saves, there were a lot in that third period," said Bowness. "Listen, they're a great hockey club. Those two guys are…how they can make plays, you've got them covered and all of a sudden they're making plays. It's unreal."
Namestnikov was a big part of the Jets closing the game, making a key shot block in the dying minutes, then picking up an assist on DeMelo's empty net goal with 35 seconds left in regulation.

"He's not the biggest guy out there, but he's very very competitive," said Bowness. "Those shot blocks are absolutely huge. That's how you win games. That second effort, you gotta pay the price to win, especially against a great team like they have."
Now the Jets will try and carry this momentum into the next game on the home stand, which is on Monday against the San Jose Sharks.
"That's what we're looking for, not to wilt under pressure, not to wilt when things get touch, but come together and play the way we're asked to play," said Lowry. "It's certainly been missing the last couple of weeks and that's going to be something where the consistency of that is going to have to be there down the stretch for us."