Scheifele becomes franchise points leader for Jets in win against Predators

WINNIPEG -- Mark Scheifele became the franchise’s all-time points leader for the Winnipeg Jets in a 4-1 win against the Nashville Predators at Canada Life Centre on Saturday.

“That was really special, the fans here are incredible,” Scheifele said. “They give us so much extra motivation. We really do have amazing fans. I am lucky to be a part of such a tremendous organization and tremendous community, and I’m very honored to be here.”

Scheifele scored his sixth goal of the season for his 813th career point (342 goals, 471 assists) in 884 games, surpassing Blake Wheeler (812) for sole possession of first on the Jets/Atlanta Thrashers all-time list.

“Obviously, I’m tremendously honored,” Scheifele said. “I wouldn’t be here without the guys, especially the guy I went ahead of (Wheeler). He helped me throughout my career and he also gave me a lot of tap-ins, so I’m very lucky about the guys I play with currently and that I played with in the past, and I owe it all to them.”

Nino Niederreiter and Vladislav Namestnikov each had a goal and an assist, and Connor Hellebuyck made 30 saves for the Jets (4-1-0), who won their fourth straight. Jonathan Toews had two assists.

Michael Bunting scored for the Predators (2-2-2), who have lost three straight (0-2-1). Juuse Saros made 20 saves.

“I think we need to start on time,” Nashville coach Andrew Brunette said. “Bad penalty right away against a really good power play and fell behind the eight ball, and then made another mental mistake on the second goal…. After that, loved the response. I think when we played to our identity, to the way we want to play, I thought we had a lot of success.”

Scheifele gave Winnipeg a 1-0 lead on the power play 2:39 into the first period when he scored with a one-timer.

“It’s obviously great to see him get it at home here, in front of the hometown crowd is awesome,” Winnipeg coach Scott Arniel said. “He’s been such a consistent player. He has such great offensive skills and instincts. That was a great play, a real highlight-reel goal that he did score. A great pass from [Kyle Connor]. Nice to see him get it over and done with real quick.”

Niederreiter made it 2-0 at 10:25, scoring on a deke to the backhand after Namestnikov’s stretch pass sent him in on a breakaway.

“Not a good first period by us, kind of came out sleepy,” Predators defenseman Roman Josi said. “They were definitely the better team, kind of deserved to be up 2-0. I thought we played better after that and got going and created some chances, obviously had some power-play chances, but you just got to score some goals in this league to win games.”

Logan Stanley pushed it to 3-0 at 5:26 of the third period after his point shot redirected slightly off Predators forward Fedor Svechkov and past Saros.

“That was a great play by [Gustav Nyquist],” Stanley said. “It's kind of weird when you have that much time, so just head down and hammer it.”

Bunting scored on his own rebound at 18:56 for the 4-1 final.

“We didn't score (enough),” Brunette said. “I thought we had the puck a lot, we did a lot of good things. We didn't get rewarded. Their goalie made some heck of some saves.”

NOTES: Scheifele was the franchise's first draft pick after moving to Winnipeg from Atlanta, when he was selected with the No. 7 pick in the 2011 NHL Draft. … Scheifele has nine points (six goals, three assists) during a season-opening five-game point streak. … Connor has eight points (three goals, five assists) during a five-game point streak. … Nashville forward Jonathan Marchessault was a late scratch and is day to day with a lower-body injury. Brunette had no update postgame.