EDMONTON — It didn’t take long for the Winnipeg Jets to prove that Tuesday’s 6-2 loss in Vancouver was an aberration.
Playing another top Western Conference squad, Kyle Connor scored the overtime winner as the Jets came away with a narrow 4-3 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday.
The Oilers were without the league’s leading goal-scorer Leon Draisaitl for the game and then lost fellow star Connor McDavid to an upper-body injury in the third period and goalie Stuart Skinner late in the final frame after a collision in the crease. There was no post-game update on McDavid.
“Obviously, they were missing Leon, and Connor went down, and their goalie at the end,” Connor said. “Just sticking with it, obviously this is the last game of our road trip, sticking with it, staying tight together.
"For the most part, we did a good job defending and coming back and playing as five, supporting each other in the D-zone.”
The Jets reached the 100-point milestone for the third time and it is the fastest in franchise history they have done so. It took Winnipeg 70 games this season — four games faster than its previous mark of 74 in 2017-18.
After Edmonton’s Zach Hyman tied the game 3-3 with 5:34 to play in the third, Winnipeg was able to get the extra point in overtime following a big save by Connor Hellebuyck on Hyman. The Jets did a solid job cycling in the Edmonton zone before dropping it back to Connor who wired home his 37th goal of the season on replacement goalie Calvin Pickard just 1:13 into extra time.
“It was the result we wanted, two points is big coming into a good team, playing in their building, but some things we need to get better at,” said Jets forward Brandon Tanev.
“At the end of the day, good teams find a way to win, so we gutted that one out. ‘Helley’ made a 10-bell save for us in overtime to keep us in that, and ‘K.C.’ goes down and puts one in for us. So, it’s the little things in the game that matter and we’ll keep harping on those.”
Cole Perfetti, Josh Morrissey and Tanev also scored for the Jets (48-18-4) who have won four of their last five.
“At the end of the day, it’s the last game of a road trip and we did what we had to do,” said Jets head coach Scott Arniel. “We got the lead and I would have really liked to see us lock that down, but obviously a good goal in overtime.”
Connor said it was important that his team showed the ability to quickly bounce back from a poor outing.
“You can definitely fall into that trap of getting complacent, but that’s been a focal point every single day for us; leave the game behind and focus on the next one, and the task at hand,” he said.
“And we have to match the desperation. The other night, we were facing a team in Vancouver who was on the line fighting for a playoff spot and we weren’t able to match it.”
Hellebuyck made 20 stops to collect the win in net for the Jets, giving him a 40-10-3 record on the season, five wins shy of setting a new career high.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 20, 2025.
Shane Jones, The Canadian Press
