Nikolaj Ehlers scored a hat trick and the Winnipeg Jets dominated the Columbus Blue Jackets 6-2 on Friday night.
Mason Appleton, Gabriel Vilardi and Josh Morrissey, on the power play, also hit the target to consolidate this victory for the Canadian team, a 10th in 11 games. The Jets quickly bounced back from their only defeat of the season suffered Monday against the Maple Leafs to get back on track.
Ehlers completed his hat-trick with 1:09 left in the second period. During some confusion in Jackets territory, goaltender Elvis Merzlinkis wanted to sweep the disc in front of his net but at the same time got out of position, so that the Danish forward was able to easily recover the loose puck in order to score.
Ehlers, who has seven goals this season, collected his fifth career hat trick. He ties Kyle Connor for fourth most in organization history, behind Ilya Kovalchuk (11), Mark Scheifele (8) and Patrik Laine (8). Also author of an assist, it was the sixth time that he collected four points in the same game.
In front of the cage, Eric Comrie made 20 saves for his third victory as a reserve. His opposite number, Merzlinkis, was very busy facing 43 shots.
Sean Monahan and Sean Kuraly responded for Columbus.
Patrick Roy’s troop regains victory
Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored what would eventually become the game-winning goal in the third period for the New York Islanders, who defeated the Buffalo Sabers 4-3.
Rookie Maxim Tsyplakov and veteran Bo Horvat each had a goal and an assist for the Islanders, who ended a three-game losing streak.
Kyle Palmieri scored the other goal for the winners, while captain Anders Lee had two assists. Ilya Sorokin stopped 32 shots.
Dylan Cozens, Jason Zucker and Owen Power scored for the Sabres, who lost their second straight game. Bowen Byram contributed two goals in the defeat and Devon Levi made 32 saves.
In the loss, Tage Thompson contributed an assist, setting a personal mark with an eight-game point streak.
Islanders defenseman Mike Reilly left the game after being hit hard by Jordan Greenway in the second period. He remained lying on the ice for several minutes before returning to the locker room with the help of his teammates.
Kaprizov is already in his twenties
Kirill Kaprizov scored two goals and an assist to power the Minnesota Wild to a 5-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Kaprizov (7g, 14a) became the first National Hockey League player to reach 20 points this season.
Joel Eriksson Ek, Brock Faber and Matt Boldy also found the back of the net for the Wild, who won a second straight game.
Mats Zuccarello had two assists and Filip Gutavsson stopped 27 shots.
Brayden Point, Jake Guentzel and Nick Paul responded for the Lightning, who saw their three-game winning streak come to an end.
Victor Hedman was complicit in two Lightning goals and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 17 saves.
Late Flames strike led by Coleman
Blake Coleman scored twice and the Calgary Flames ended a four-game losing streak by shutting out the New Jersey Devils 3-0.
Jonathan Huberdeau scored the Flames’ other goal, just 28 seconds after Coleman’s first goal late in the third period.
The Devils, who had scored no fewer than 12 goals in their two previous meetings, were shut out for the first time this campaign.
Dan Vladar made 22 saves to earn the third shutout of his career. His best save came against Jack Hughes, who appeared alone in front of him in the second period.
Against his old team, Jacob Markstrom rejected 29 shots.
Markstrom and Vladar were teammates for three seasons with the Flames before they traded him to the Devils last summer.
