After the Jets finally ended their five game road with a 3-2 loss in Montreal Wednesday night, the Jets returned home tonight against Buffalo. Canada Life Centre was the host for tonight’s game, as the Jets looked to get revenge on the Sabres after a rather disappointing 5-1 loss to them in Buffalo on Monday. The now 13-12-1 Jets took on the 11-12-4 Buffalo Sabres, with these two teams separated by just one point in the overall NHL league standings. The Sabres entered tonight’s game on a 3-3 stretch, as they continue to play well some games while getting outplayed in others.

There were no changes to the Jets lineup tonight, as they decided to use the same lineup as the one they used in Montreal on Wednesday night. Cole Perfetti and Vladislav Namestnikov were centered by Jonathan Toews on line 2, Adam Lowry centered Nino Niederreiter and Alex Iafallo on line 3, and the 4th line had Morgan Barron centering Cole Koepke and Tanner Pearson. Neal Pionk is back on the 2nd pairing with Dylan Samberg. Elias Salomonsson remained on the 3rd pairing with Logan Stanley.

Eric Comrie got another start in goal, as Hellebuyck remains out for another 3-4 weeks. Haydn Fleury is the only other injured Jets player at the moment, but this morning the team announced he was out of concussion protocol and has begun skating. Comrie entered tonight’s game with a 5-5-1 record, a 2.99 GAA and an average .897 SV%. Tonight’s game was the Eric Comrie show, and the Jets finally got some depth scoring, leading to a much needed win.

Prior to puck drop, you could tell from how the Jets players looked that they were happy to be back on home ice. Eric Conrie made some solid saves early to keep this game tied, before Kyle Connor opened the scoring at the 4:24 mark.

Connor’s 15th of the season was nicely set up by Dylan Samberg and Gabriel Vilardi, giving Connor time to wrist one past U.P.L to give the Jets an early lead.

About 3 minutes later, Morgan Barron took a tripping penalty, giving the Sabres their 1st powerplay of the night. The Jets penalty killers continued their recent stretch of good play, and with some help from Comrie this game remained 1-0.

Jonathan Toews took a tripping penalty with around 6 minutes to go in the 1st. This time the Sabres were successful on the powerplay. Rasmus Dahlin and Josh Norris set up Jason Zucker in front, and he collected his own rebound to tie this game at 1.

Minutes later, the Jets got their own powerplay, but they were unable to re-gain the lead before the 1st period ended. Shots on goal after 20 minutes were 15-8 for the Sabres, as Comrie stood tall in net to keep this a tie game.

The 2nd period started exactly how Jets fans would’ve wanted. Around 2 minutes after puck drop, Cole Koepke collected the puck after a turnover by the Sabres at the blue line. Koepke sprung Tanner Pearson in on a breakaway and he wasted no time, firing a wrist shot into the back of the net to give the Jets a 2-1 lead.

A few minutes later, Logan Stanley and Jordan Greenway traded roughing calls, as Stanley was looking to keep the energy going at Canada Life Centre. 4 minutes later, Rasmus Dahlin hooked Adam Lowry on a breakaway, resulting in a penalty shot. Adam Lowry came in and was looking five hole, but was stopped and the game remained 2-1 at the halfway mark.

With a little over a minute left in the 2nd, Cole Koepke scored his 1st of the season and 1st as a Jet. Dylan DeMelo made a nice breakout pass, before Morgan Barron sent one across to Koepke and he went to the backhand and buried the puck into the back of the net to give the Jets a 3-1 lead.

The vibes at Canada Life Centre were going after this goal, and the Jets took a 3-1 lead into the 3rd period. The Sabres continued to lead in shots on goal 26-17, but the Jets were battling throughout this game and were making the most of their opportunities, finally getting some depth scoring.

The 3rd period was a fairly even final period, as the Sabres tried to push back in this game. Comrie continued to make all the saves he needed, and the overall defensive structure of the Jets was better tonight.

Usually the 3rd period is when you see more penalties, but tonight there were none. Mark Scheifele scored a goal to make it 4-1 Jets, but it was waived off shortly after. Gabriel Vilardi would eventually make it 4-1 Jets, as he wrapped up this game with an empty netter with 34 seconds remaining. The Jets got good goaltending, better defense, and depth scoring tonight, all of which are part of a recipe for success. Hopefully this win will get the Jets back on track, but it’s a quick turn around as they fly to Edmonton tonight.

The Jets are back on the road tomorrow, as their regular season schedule continues with a game on Hockey Night in Canada against the Oilers in Edmonton. Puck drop for this game will be just after 9:00 pm CT. Stay tuned here at Jets Nation for all of the latest Jets news, plus previews and recaps on each Jets game this season.