Jets score 5 in 3rd period, rally past Hurricanes

RALEIGH, N.C. -- The Winnipeg Jets scored five goals in the third period to rally for a 5-3 win against the Carolina Hurricanes at PNC Arena on Saturday.

Sean Monahan scored the go-ahead goal with 3:13 left after Hurricanes goalie Pyotr Kochetkov came far out of the net and fanned on a poke check to give Winnipeg a 4-3 lead.

“You want to try to keep it rolling,” Monahan said. “We did a good job of that. It was shift after shift. Once you get the momentum, you want to keep it.”

Nino Niederreiter scored twice, and Josh Morrissey had three assists for the Jets (38-16-5), who have won five of their past six games. Connor Hellebuyck made 32 saves.

“We knew we were playing well,” Winnipeg coach Rick Bowness said. “But we just talked after the second. ‘We’re fine, keep doing what we're doing, we don’t have to make any changes.’

“Give the players full credit. They stayed in the fight.”

Sebastian Aho had a goal and an assist, and Andrei Svechnikov had two assists for the Hurricanes (36-19-6), who were 3-1-1 in their previous five games. Kochetkov made 27 saves.

“[Kochetkov] had a tough night, let’s be honest,” Carolina coach Brind’Amour said. “We love his aggressiveness. That’s part of his routine. But [Monahan’s goal was] maybe was not the time to do that.

“Every goal, there was some silly thing we did. You play good teams, they’re going to capitalize. That’s what happened. We know how we messed this game up, it’s just that [stuff] can’t happen.”

Winnipeg scored three goals in 4:04 early in the third to erase a 3-0 deficit. Kyle Connor scored his 25th of the season with a one-timer from above the left circle at 1:36 to make it 3-1.

Niederreiter cut it to 3-2 at 3:02 when he took a pass from Nate Schmidt and scored on a backhand.

Mark Scheifele tied it 3-3 on a power play at 5:40. Morrissey pushed the puck ahead between the circles to Scheifele, who cut to his backhand for a tap-in.

“Probably your risk profile increases a little bit pinching as a defenseman, trying to keep plays alive,” Morrissey said. “Fortunately, I was able to get it to [Scheifele], and he made an amazing move and kept his composure in a big moment.”

Martin Necas gave the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead at 10:12 of the second period. He backed off Jets defenseman Dylan Samberg and held the puck in the left circle before scoring on a wrist shot inside the right post.

Teuvo Teravainen made it 2-0 at 15:54. Aho won a race to a loose puck and fed Teravainen, who changed his angle in the slot and scored past Hellebuyck’s blocker.

Aho gave Carolina a 3-0 lead at 19:12 on a power play. He pinched to the backside post and took a pass across the goal mouth from Svechnikov for his 24th of the season.

“They got kind of lucky on the first goal and got momentum,” Aho said. “After those goals, you’ve got to do whatever you can to kill their momentum. Obviously, we weren’t able to do that, so it was out of our hands.”

Niederreiter scored an empty-net goal with 11 seconds left in the third for the 5-3 final.

“It’s a very good hockey team over there,” Morrissey said. “I think the big message after the second was we’ve been doing a lot of good things. Obviously you’re down 3-0, and it’s not a good place to be. But we hit a post and had some good looks and just gave them a few things off the rush. Other than that, we liked how we were playing.”

NOTES: It was Winnipeg’s first three-goal, third-period comeback win since Oct. 4, 2019, a 5-4 shootout victory at the New Jersey Devils. It was the first time the Jets scored five goals in the third since Dec. 1, 2017, against the Vegas Golden Knights. … Forward Gabriel Vilardi missed the game and returned to Winnipeg to have an upper-body injury re-evaluated. … Jets forward Cole Perfetti was a healthy scratch after playing their first 58 games. … Winnipeg defenseman Brenden Dillon missed the game with an illness. ... Connor has scored 25 goals in seven straight seasons. … Necas has 17 points (10 goals, seven assists) in 18 games after missing five with an upper-body injury in January. … Hurricanes center Jordan Staal won 16 of 20 face-offs (80 percent) but was minus-3 in 16:19 of ice time.