This won’t go down as the prettiest win in the short history of the Winnipeg Jets but they’ll take the victories any which way they can. After nearly blowing an early 3-0 lead, the Jets defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets 6-4 at the MTS Centre.

The way the game started, it looked like it would be all rainbows and unicorns for the Jets. Goals from Mark Scheifele, Adam Lowry (his first) and Dustin Byfuglien in the first ten minutes has the home crowd thinking blowout. But a late goal by Boone Jenner gave the Jackets life at the intermission.

The Jets had chances to bury Columbus in the second but failed to capitalize. That gave Columbus more life and the Jackets made the Jets pay with a Scott Hartnell power play marker, to close the gap to one.

The Jets looked to pull away in the third as Drew Stafford and Mathieu Perrault restored the Jets three-goal lead. But a combination of hard work by Columbus and some sloppy defending by the Jets made it a game late in the third. Cam Atkinson score twice within a five-minute span to make things interesting until Blake Wheeler’s empty netter sealed the deal.

Three Keys:

1. The Scheifele-Stafford-Perrault line continued to light up the scoreboard. The trio combined for nine points with Perrault’s four-point night leading the way. At this rate, this line will need a nickname if their production continues.

2. Head coach Paul Maurice will have some coachable moments following an ugly third period. Defensive lapses late in this game aided the Columbus comeback effort. This needs to be addressed before tomorrow’s game in Chicago.

3. Conner Hellebuyck was steady between the pipes, despite giving up four goals on 29 shots. Hellebuyck made some big saves in the third period, thus bailing out his defence. With each passing moment, the 22-year-old netminder is becoming Maurice’s first choice to man the blue crease.