There’s nothing like some Friday night Winnipeg Jets hockey. The Jets took on the Columbus Blue Jackets in Ohio tonight, looking for their 10th win of the season in just their 11th game. The upcoming schedule for the Jets looks pretty tricky, so the boys were looking to take care of business against a non-playoff team from last season.

Eric Comrie got the start in goal for the Jets, his 3rd appearance of the season. No other lineup changes were made for the Jets, and they were looking to build off a strong performance against the Red Wings in Detroit on Wednesday night.

The game began with the Jets getting a couple solid chances to score. Shots on goal were 12-8 in the 1st for the Jets, so it was clear that they wanted to get pucks on net early in this game. It’s also important to note that there were no penalties at all in the 1st period, which is a pretty rare thing to happen, especially in the NHL.

Nikolaj Ehlers opened the scoring for the Jets 5 minutes into the game. After Colin Miller circled back into the Jets own zone, he sent Ehlers the puck near centre ice. Ehlers walked in with speed, and absolutely fired a slap shot from behind the faceoff dot past Elvis Merzlikins to give the Jets a 1-0 lead.

The Jets taking the lead seemed to spark the Blue Jackets. Sean Kuraly scored his 1st goal of the season 6 minutes after Ehlers’ goal, tying the game at 1. There was a bit of a scramble behind the net, and the Jets couldn’t ever get control of it. After a bounce off the back of the net, James Van Riemsdyk found Kuraly in front and he snapped it past Comrie.

A common theme that I’ve mentioned for Jets goals against have been turnovers. On the flip side, a common theme that I’ve used to describe Jets goals have been “snipes”, meaning great shots from just the right spot. Ehlers had another “snipe” in his books tonight, as this time a wrister from the faceoff dot went past Merzlikins to give the Jets a 2-1 lead.

Fast forward to the 2nd period, and the Jets would take a 3-1 lead just 2 minutes into the period. Adam Lowry and Neal Pionk set up Mason Appleton for his 4th goal of the season. Pionk looked like he was going to circle behind the net, but instead sent it right in front in the slot for Appleton, who got one by a screened Merzlikins.

5 minutes after making it 3-1, the Jets got their 1st powerplay opportunity. Dmitri Voronkov slashed Rasmus Kupari and the Jets went on the man advantage. Despite some solid puck movement, the Jets weren’t able to capitalize, and the game remained 3-1 halfway into the 2nd period.

Mark Scheifele took the 1st Jets penalty of the game with around 4 minutes left in the 2nd. It was an unfortunate trip against Jake Christiansen. Just 7 seconds into the powerplay, the Blue Jackets made it a 3-2 game. Right off the faceoff the Jackets worked it around and back to the point, and Werenski fired one on net that looked like it was tipped in, but either way it found its way past Comrie.

The Jets picked up the pace right after that goal. After a few quality chances, Nikolaj Ehlers gave the Jets a 4-2 lead with just over a minute left in the 2nd period. The puck was thrown on net, and after a bit of a “broken play” and a scramble, Ehlers found the puck and backhanded it into a wide open net. This goal gave Ehlers his 5th career hat trick, and his 1st hat trick since the 2018-19 season where he got 2 hat tricks in that season.

Morgan Barron took a tripping call at the end of the 2nd period with 48 seconds left to play. The Jets held the Blue Jackets without a goal and went into the 2nd intermission up 4-2. Shots on goal in the 2nd were a dominating 19-8 for the Jets.

The Jets carried the momentum they picked up in the 2nd right into the 3rd. The first 10 minutes were pretty uneventful, but the Jets continued to control the majority of the play. Mathieu Olivier cross-checked Vladislav Namestnikov and the Jets went on their 2nd powerplay of the game.

This time the Jets would take advantage of the 5 on 4. Ehlers moved it to Scheifele, who sent it back to the point for Morrissey, who fired a shot past Merzlikins to make it 5-2 for the Jets.

The Jets would add one more goal 3 minutes later, this time from Gabriel Vilardi. Morrissey found Connor down low, who dangled around not one, but two defenders, before passing it in front to an unmarked Vilardi. Connor’s point streak got extended to 11 games with that goal, and it gave the Jets a 6-2 lead with 5 minutes left to play.

The final 5 minutes of play the Jets cruised this one away for the 6-2 victory. Shots on goal in the 3rd were 13-6 for Winnipeg, and the Jets ended up doubling the Blue Jackets in shots this game, 44 to 22. Eric Comrie picked up his 3rd win of the season, and Nikolaj Ehlers led the way with 3 goals and 1 assist. The Jets pick up win number 10 in game number 11. What an amazing start to the season!

This of course makes the Jets the 1st team in the league to reach the 10 win mark, and now the Jets will head home for 4 straight games. Tomorrow will be a travel and rest day, and then Sunday afternoon the Jets will have a tough matchup against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Puck drop is at 2 pm CT. The 3 other games after that will be against the Utah Hockey Club, the Avalanche and the Stars, all tough opponents.

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