Jets close home stand with divisional win over Predators

WINNIPEG - Even with two of their star players out of the line-up, the Winnipeg Jets have shown they still have a lot of offensive fire power.
Five different goal scorers powered the Jets to a 6-4 victory over their Central Division rivals, the Nashville Predators, at Canada Life Centre. The win gives the Jets two in a row on home ice and improves their record to 2-2-1 on the season.
In total, there were five multi-point performances from the Jets, including a three-point night from defenceman Nate Schmidt.
"You see guys elevate their games in times of need," Schmidt said. "When you look at it, you've got to have contributions from everybody. You've got to have guys up and down your lineup get on the board. And I think tonight was a real good indication of how you can be successful with that."

Just as entertaining as the victory was Schmidt pressing Kristian Vesalainen after the game on where the 22-year-old was going to store the puck he deflected past Juuse Saros for his first NHL goal.

The Finnish winger was just happy someone remembered to pick it up.
"I was actually so glad that I scored so I don't know who picked the puck," Vesalainen said. "It took a lot of weight from my shoulders. That was a long time coming so it was really nice."
In Thursday's win over Anaheim, the Jets gave up the game's opening goal before responding quickly to grab momentum.
Saturday was no different.
Nashville (1-4-0) opened the scoring 1:11 into the contest with Colton Sissons finishing off a cross-crease pass from Tanner Jeannot, but that lead didn't last long.

Just 1:27 later, Dylan DeMelo's diving play in the neutral zone sent Adam Lowry in alone. The Jets forward made no mistake, tucking his first of the season through the legs of Juuse Saros to tie the game at one.
"Every time they got a goal or came close, we came right back and pounced on them and didn't sit back," said Paul Stastny. "You can't expect to get five or six goals a night, so I think we have to tighten up a little bit, 5-on-5 and even PK."
The Jets took their first lead 1:11 into the second, as Pierre-Luc Dubois extended his goal scoring streak to four games with a perfect deflection in front of Saros off a point shot from Schmidt.

The veteran defenceman has been impressed with what he's seen from Dubois so far this season.
"He can play big, he can play skilled, he's got a lot of speed. And people forget, I forget, how young he is," said Schmidt. "He's still a 22, 23-year-old guy in the league that's been around for five, six years. He's figuring out that this league is something he can dominate with his body without having to do it all with his skill."
Another quick strike put the Jets up by two, as the power play found twine for the third consecutive game. Only 83 seconds after Dubois gave the Jets the lead, Stastny backhanded a rebound in front of Saros to extend the home side's lead to 3-2.
When Nashville scored a power play marker of their own with 6:33 left in the middle frame, Winnipeg restored the two-goal cushion with 11 seconds left before the buzzer.

Vesalainen's deft deflection of Schmidt's shot from the right point got past Saros, giving the Finn his first NHL goal - and his team a 4-2 lead. It was Vesalainen's 22nd career NHL game, and a well-deserved reward for the work he's put in this season.
"I've been playing a position he really hasn't played before, right wing, so he's trying to do a lot of the good things but we think there's offense there," said Jets head coach Paul Maurice. "Young players come in and they're conscientious, and a guy like Ves doesn't want to make any mistakes. But this guy's a scorer, and he's got fantastic hands, and really hopeful there's some confidence there that will grow.
The Predators cut into that lead 3:10 into the third when Roman Josi's one-timer from the point went off Dominic Toninato high in the zone and past Connor Hellebuyck, who didn't see it.
Again, Winnipeg responded - and again, it was a deflection.

Stastny's second of the night came 26 seconds after Josi's, as he tipped Neal Pionk's wrister past Saros to put the Jets up 5-3.
Kyle Connor then blasted home his team-leading sixth of the season, a rocket of a one-timer on the power play with 13:46 remaining to push the Jets' lead to 6-3. Connor has goals in three straight, and four of the team's five games.
Nashville would add a second power play marker with 6:19 to go, but that's as close as the visitors would get.

Even though the penalty kill gave up another couple goals on this night, Stastny - who played 3:16 on the PK Saturday - feels the improvement is coming.
"We've been a little more aggressive, there was more flow to it defensively and, like I said, they happened late in the power play or it was weird bounces," he said. "You just have to fine-tune some things. For us, it's about timely PK's, too. Sometimes you might let in one or two and certain times we might get a big blocked shot or a big PK when we only up a goal and that changes the momentum for us."
The Jets now head on the road for a three-game road trip, and they hope to pack all the momentum and confidence from two victories on home ice with them.
"I think you can see that we can play a heavy game, we can play an up and down game, and we can be solid defensively as well," said Schmidt. "It's a big trip for us. This is a trip that sets you in the right direction as a group. And then when you come back home from this, hopefully we're sitting here in, I think, seven days, and be coming back home with a head of steam."