Copp scores twice in third, Jets top Senators to finish three-game sweep

WINNIPEG -- Andrew Copp scored twice in a four-goal third period and the Winnipeg Jets completed a three-game sweep of the Ottawa Senators with a 6-3 win at Bell MTS Place on Saturday.

The Jets played after trading forwards Patrik Laine and Jack Roslovic to the Columbus Blue Jackets earlier Saturday for forward Pierre-Luc Dubois and a third-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft. Laine and Dubois were selected with the No. 2 and No. 3 picks, respectively, in the 2016 NHL Draft.
Paul Stastny and Mark Scheifele each had a goal and two assists, and Blake Wheeler had three assists, including his 500th in the NHL, for the Jets (4-1-0). Connor Hellebuyck made 18 saves.
"(He) has played so well, he's worked so hard, it's good to see him get three [points] tonight and really get going because he's such a great player," Copp said of Stastny, who assisted on both of his goals. "He's played really well. He just hasn't been able to get on the scoresheet, so I was really happy I was able to put that [first goal] in for him. The second one was just going to the net and banging one in. I think I hit that out of mid-air three times."
Evgenii Dadonov, Brady Tkachuk and Nicholas Paul scored, and Marcus Hogberg made 32 saves in his first start of the season for the Senators (1-3-1).
Copp tied the game 3-3 at 2:24 of the third period, and Stastny, acquired in a trade with the Vegas Golden Knights on Oct. 9, made it 4-3 on the power play at 15:45. All three of Stastny's points came in the period.
"Different guys are stepping up every night so that's kind of helped out a little bit, taking pressure off certain guys when other guys are scoring," Stastny said. "It's always tough playing the same team three times in a row, any team, even playing teams two times in a row, but that's what it's going to be like all year. They came out hungry early on."

Senators forward Derek Stepan was disappointed the game got away in the third period after Ottawa scored three times in the second to take a 3-2 lead.
"I thought we did some really good things in 40 minutes of hockey, and then the start of the third we kind of sat back on our heels," Stepan said. "Obviously I'm a veteran guy, brought in here to be a leader. You can't take a penalty like that, especially when their power play is as good as it is. That lands on me."
Stepan's penalty for delay of game at 14:11 led to Stastny's game-winning, power-play goal.
"I feel like I let the group down, especially with how hard the guys battled tonight," Stepan said. "Obviously I'd like to see us be on our toes a bit more in the third period, but this one stings for me right now."
Copp extended the lead to 5-3 at 16:55 before Scheifele scored into an empty net at 17:51 for the 6-3 final.
Nikolaj Ehlers scored for a third straight game to give the Jets a 1-0 lead on the power play at 14:03 of the first period.

Dadonov tied it 1-1 at 4:04 of the second, the first of three Senators goals in the period.
Kyle Connor gave the Jets a 2-1 lead at 8:18 before Tkachuk tied the game 2-2 at 11:14. Paul gave Ottawa its first lead at 3-2 at 14:23.
"I think this whole series, it started with us playing so well Game 1, and just couldn't close it out," Tkachuk said. "And Game 2, we didn't play our game. And tonight, we played a good 40 minutes and then we let off the gas a little bit. All these games are so important, and so important for us to learn from the things we did well, but especially the mistakes we made. It's early on but it's a short year."
NOTES: Senators forward Cedric Paquette sustained a lower-body injury in the second period. There was no update. … Senators forward Micheal Haley, who signed a one-year contract Nov. 13, had three hits in 7:39 in his debut. … Wheeler has scored 766 points (266 goals, 500 assists) in 936 games in 13 NHL seasons. He is the third active United States-born player with 500 assists (Patrick Kane, 635; Ryan Suter, 501). … Connor has scored eight points (four goals, four assists) in five games. Only Wheeler (eight games in 2015-16) and Donald Audette (seven games in 2000-01) have longer streaks to begin a season in Jets/Atlanta Thrashers history.