Wheeler scores four goals in Jets victory against Blue Jackets

COLUMBUS --Blake Wheeler scored three of his four goals in the third period for the Winnipeg Jets in a 5-2 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena on Sunday.

Wheeler gave Winnipeg a 3-2 lead at 7:44 of the third period with a deflection of Nathan Beaulieu's wrist shot from the left point and made it 4-2 at 17:44 when he tapped in a cross-ice backhand pass from Patrik Laine on the rush. He scored into an empty net at 19:26 for the 5-2 final.
"You want to contribute, that's the biggest thing. That's the goal of our line (Laine-Mark Scheifele-Wheeler) every night, to contribute in some fashion," Wheeler said. "The score sheet is part of our job, but we kind of pride ourselves on the little details of the game. That's the rewarding part, trying to make an impact, try to get the good feeling in our room, continue it on our road trip."
WATCH: [All Jets vs. Blue Jackets highlights]
It was the first four-goal game in the NHL for the Jets captain, who had not scored a hat trick since Oct. 29, 2017.

Connor Hellebuyck made 16 of his 40 saves in the third period, and Scheifele had three assists for Winnipeg (39-22-4), which has won two games in a row and leads the Nashville Predators by one point for first place in the Central Division.
Nick Foligno and Seth Jones scored, Artemi Panarin had two assists, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 21 saves for the Blue Jackets (36-26-3), who were coming off a 4-0 loss to the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday and have lost three of their past four. Columbus is two points behind the Montreal Canadiens for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.

"It's hard to pick our game apart, because we did a lot of good things," Foligno said. "That's a good team over there. The way we played, we dictated play for a lot of the game."
Sami Niku scored from the point at 2:21 of the first period to give the Jets a 1-0 lead. It was the defenseman's first goal in 18 games this season.

Foligno tied it 1-1 at 11:22 when he scored on the rebound of a Panarin shot on the power play.
Wheeler gave the Jets a 2-1 lead 35 seconds into the second period when he tipped Dmitry Kulikov's shot from the left point.
Jones tied it 2-2 at 17:31 with his second goal in the past three games on a cross-ice pass from Panarin.
The Blue Jackets controlled the puck for two shifts leading to the goal, forcing Niku and Jets defenseman Jacob Trouba to stay on the ice for 3:11. Winnipeg forwards Bryan Little and Brandon Tanev each had a shift of 2:27. There was an icing call.
"We probably could have used two or three timeouts on that one," Jets coach Paul Maurice said. "We won the draw too, it's a little painful we couldn't control it on the way out, but that happens."
But then Wheeler took over in the third, beginning with the second of his two goals off deflections.

"First and foremost, it was a great job by those guys getting the pucks to net," he said. "That's the majority of the battle right there. You get a good shot to the net, even if you don't get a tip on it, we've got bodies going there and we've got a chance for a second-chance opportunity.
"It's typically how I'm going to score most of my goals, around the net."

They said it

"We had guys paying the price. We had guys scoring, and we stuck to our game and we pulled it out late. That's the way we want to play." -- Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck
"We don't have a choice. We've got step up our game even more. It's playoff time. We can't wait another 15 games to get going." -- Blue Jackets defenseman Seth Jones

Need to know

Wheeler is the first player to score more than three goals against the Blue Jackets. ... Hellebuyck got his 111th NHL win to tie Ondrej Pavelec for the most by a Jets goalie since the franchise relocated from Atlanta in 2011. ... The Jets lead the NHL with seven hat tricks (Laine, three; Nikolaj Ehlers, two; Jack Roslovic, one). ... Winnipeg is 9-1-0 this season and 19-1-0 the past two seasons in Sunday games. ... Scheifele has seven points (two goals, five assists) in the past four games. ... Jets forward Adam Lowry served the first of a two-game suspension for high-sticking Filip Forsberg of the Nashville Predators on Friday. ... Forward Par Lindholm had two shots on goal in 9:57 in his first game for Winnipeg since being acquired in a trade from the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday. ... Foligno has 14 goals at home, second on the Blue Jackets behind Cam Atkinson's 18. ... Columbus has allowed the first goal in four straight games. ... Blue Jackets defenseman Adam McQuaid was scratched after playing three games since being acquired in a trade from the New York Rangers on Monday.

What's next

Jets:At the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday (7:30 p.m. ET; SUN, TSN3, NHL.TV)
Blue Jackets: At the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; MSG+ 2, FS-O, NHL.TV)