Wheeler scores twice as Jets dominate Avalanche

WINNIPEG - From the drop of the puck against the Colorado Avalanche, the Winnipeg Jets were dominant.
Whether it was the defensive zone or the offensive zone, the Jets were "on the puck" - a phrase they've used countless times throughout the season.
It paid off big time tonight, in a 6-1 win over the Colorado Avalanche.

Both Blake Wheeler (two goals, one assist) and Mark Scheifele (three assists) would have three-point nights, while Tyler Myers, Patrik Laine, and Dustin Byfuglien had two-point efforts of their own.
Laine, Nikolaj Ehlers, Andrew Copp, and Kyle Connor would round out the scoring.
"Tonight is a great team win. We did the right things all game, and we didn't get away from it, and it showed," said Scheifele, who now has seven points in four games since his return from injury.
"Every line was firing on all cylinders. We had lots of O-zone time, and it looked like they worked really well."
Wheeler opened the scoring just past the midway point of the first period, when he followed a loose puck - that resulted from a Scheifele shot from the slot - to the corner below the goal line. He quickly sent it in front, and just as Jonathan Bernier was getting over to the short side post, the puck squeezed through for the Jets captain's 15th of the season.
"With the amount of ice time I get, and the guys I play with, the expectation would be you'd score a goal once in a while. Sometimes that doesn't happen," said Wheeler, who snapped a 15-game stretch without a goal. "It's a crazy game. I had 13 shots in the last two games before this one, and then one from behind the goal line goes in.
"I don't lose much sleep over it, the expectation is you have to produce given that opportunity. I think we try to make an impact on the entire game. The goals, the assists, and the plays, they'll come and go as they will."

Wheeler had 12 assists during those 15 games, and Maurice believes the 31-year-old is playing some of the best hockey of his career. But he was happy Wheeler got the reward he deserved.
"He didn't change his game when he wasn't scoring. He played so very well for a long time without putting a goal in the net, and we were winning hockey games," said Maurice.
"It doesn't affect his play. He's not cheating the game, he's not barking at guys to feed him the puck because he's not putting the puck in the net. He's all about winning, all the time. But you want that kind of guy to have a pay off too."
The Jets would make it 2-0 in the second period, when Byfuglien won a puck battle along the half wall against Gabriel Landeskog. After pushing the Avalanche captain off the puck, Byfuglien slid a quick pass to Kyle Connor at the face-off dot, and Connor took two strides toward the slot, and whipped a wrist shot past Bernier's glove.

Then with Joel Armia in the box for slashing, the Jets would increase the lead. Scheifele stole the puck at the Jets blue line from Mikko Rantanen, and turned up the ice 2-on-1 with Copp. Scheifele sent a perfect backhand pass across the ice, and Copp made no mistake, burying his first goal since Dec. 9, in his 200th NHL game.

While they're rarely on the same line, Scheifele knew exactly where Copp would be. That type of chemistry comes from the two working together prior to every practice and morning skate.
"He sees those lanes. He saw where (Tyson) Barrie's stick was and found the right lane," Scheifele said of Copp. "That's a lot of it. That's what people don't understand sometimes. The shooter has to put himself in a good spot so the passer can make the right pass. Copper did that extremely well on that goal."
Laine would increase the lead to 4-0, when the Jets power play made the Avalanche pay for Gabriel Bourque's goaltender interference penalty.
Scheifele won the draw back to Byfuglien, who immediately went cross-ice to Laine, who blasted home his 26th of the season.
At that point, the Jets had goals on the power play, even strength, and shorthanded.
"We kind of re-found ourselves a little bit at the end of the Washington game. We had a good practice yesterday. The emphasis tonight was to play fast," said Wheeler. "Even the mistakes we made were all done doing fast things. Typically when you do that, you tend to be on the right side of the puck, and you tend to make the right play. Things were clicking tonight."

The goals kept coming in the third, as Ehlers tipped home his 22nd of the season 5:24 into the final frame. Then on a 5-on-3 power play, Wheeler sniped his second of the night, over the glove of Semyon Varlamov, who came on in relief of Bernier at the start of the third.
The Avalanche would break up Connor Hellebuyck's shutout bid with 5:54 to go in the third, when Mikko Rantanen tucked one in on a wrap around. But Hellebuyck was stellar all night, making 30 saves, including 10 while the Jets were shorthanded.
The Jets improved 34-15-9 with the win, and snapped Colorado's two-game win streak in the process.
"They're a young group that plays incredibly fast… It was a very evenly matched game. We were able to get some separation in the second period after a couple good bounces," said Wheeler.
"We're not out to make statements every night against our opponents. We're just out to try and get better every single game, and work on our game."