Jets cruise past Red Wings, gain in West wild card race

WINNIPEG -- The Winnipeg Jets gained ground in the Western Conference wild card race with a 6-2 win against the Detroit Red Wings at Canada Life Centre on Friday.

"Tonight is obviously more of an example for how we want to play," Winnipeg coach Rick Bowness said. "We played really well and we scored some goals, that's really the biggest difference. That's how we want to play."
Mark Scheifele set an NHL career high with his 39th goal of the season, and Connor Hellebuyck made 23 saves for the Jets (42-31-3), who had lost two straight.
"We had a good forecheck, I think that was the biggest thing," Scheifele said. "We made some plays, we held onto the puck, made them work in the D-zone. And when we do that, we're a pretty hard team to play against."

Winnipeg moved within three points of the Seattle Kraken, who have two games in hand, for the first wild card.
"We've got six games to go and every single one is a huge one," Jets forward Nikolaj Ehlers said. "So we enjoy this one for tonight and then we move on to the next one."
David Perron and Joe Veleno scored, and Magnus Hellberg made 23 saves for the Red Wings (33-33-9), who defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 3-2 on Thursday.
"I think we had a tough start, but I don't think I showed up to help the team win today," Hellberg said. "I take full responsibility for my performance tonight. It was clearly not good enough. I'm not happy with how I played."
Detroit coach Derek Lalonde did not put all the blame on his goalie.
"As a backup, it's hard. It's a tough position," Lalonde said. "It was just one of those nights he couldn't find the puck and he kept losing his net. I thought he battled through it and it's just tough. There's going to be some of those nights. Obviously we weren't great in front of him, and I just think it kind of piled up on him."
The Jets had been outscored 7-1 in the previous two games and were shut out three times in seven games dating to March 16. Their offense came alive against the Red Wings.
Connor's second goal in 15 games gave the Jets a 1-0 lead when he deflected a Brenden Dillon point shot at 6:56 of the first period.
Blake Wheeler made it 2-0 at 11:57 when Nikolaj Ehlers found him at the edge of the crease for his first goal since Feb. 14, breaking a drought of 21 games.

Scheifele extended it to 3-0 at 13:34 with his first goal in 10 games. Neal Pionk took a point shot that deflected to the side of the net to Scheifele, who had an easy tap-in.
"The puck had to go in for us," Bowness said. "You need some breaks. Look at Mark's goal, all of a sudden he's coming around the net, he knocks it in. It's there. We haven't had those breaks in a long time. Even that first goal, the tip. We haven't had that luck around the net in a long time and it was good to see."
Dylan DeMelo pushed it to 4-0 at 1:20 of the second period from the high slot before Nino Niederreiter made it 5-0 at 13:42 with a backhand off a rebound.
"That was a snipe," Ehlers said of DeMelo's shot. "That was pretty incredible. I think everyone was looking at each other going, 'What the [heck] just happened?' He's such a great guy off the ice and works hard every game on the ice. It couldn't have happened to a better guy. What he does for this team is pretty huge. It's exciting for us."

Ehlers made it 6-0 at 5:07 of the third period off a scramble in the slot.
"We know they played last night and they came in a little tired," Bowness said. "We've also played some pretty good games where we've lost here at home."
Detroit scored twice in a span of 21 seconds. Perron's power-play goal cut it to 6-1 at 10:41, and Veleno made it 6-2 at 11:02.
"I really think it was just one of those games where we needed something to energize us," Lalonde said. "We couldn't build any momentum throughout the night. I do appreciate the fact that we won the third period. We kind of battled and hung in there."
Jets defenseman Josh Morrissey (illness) was a late scratch.
"He's under the weather, so we'll probably keep him off the ice tomorrow." Bowness said. "We expect him to play Sunday [against the New Jersey Devils]."
NOTES: Jets defenseman Karson Kuhlman had two shots in 11:13 in his first game since March 3. … Perron reached 20 goals for the seventh time in the NHL. … Red Wings forward Andrew Copp was minus-2 with two shots on goal in 18:50 in his first game in Winnipeg since he was traded to the New York Rangers on March 21, 2022. Copp scored 184 points (74 goals, 110 assists) in 467 games in eight seasons with the Jets (2014-22). … Veleno ended a 25-game goal drought, last scoring Feb. 7.