After a long 2-4-0 six game road trip that went less than ideal, the Jets returned to Canada Life Centre for three straight home games, starting tonight. The now 11-7-0 Jets took on the 10-7-2 Columbus Blue Jackets, looking to reset and try to start a win streak at home. The Blue Jackets have had an average start to the season, and they’re currently in the middle of a Metropolitan Division that is only separated from first to last in the standings by just 7 points.

Despite some below average games lately, the Jets lineup appeared relatively the same as the team continues to get closer to fully healthy. The 1st line stayed the same, and Cole Perfetti, Jonathan Toews and Vladislav Namestnikov formed the 2nd line. The 3rd line featured Nino Niederreiter, Adam Lowry and Alex Iafallo. Morgan Barron centered line 4 alongside Gustav Nyquist and Tanner Pearson. Prior to the game, Haydn Fleury was the only Jet listed on the injury report, as he remains in concussion protocol.

The Jets defence pairings remained at full strength with everyone healthy, and Eric Comrie got the start in goal. Comrie entered tonight’s game with a 3-1-0 record, a 2.75 GAA and a .908 SV%. Tonight, Comrie did everything needed in order to help the Jets hold their multiple leads. Tonight, the Jets opened the scoring pretty early in the 1st, and after taking a 2-1 lead they played like the team that wasn’t playing on back to back nights, earning a much deserved win with 5 goal different goal scorers.

The 1st period was pretty action packed tonight, with both teams getting 11 shots on goal. Elvis Merzlikins and Eric Comrie each made some good saves to keep this 1st period low scoring. Ivan Provorov took an early penalty at the 1:37 mark for high-sticking, but the Jets couldn’t cash in on this early opportunity.

About 4 minutes after the powerplay expired, Adam Lowry scored his 1st goal of the season. Neal Pionk created some space at the point before finding Nino Niederreiter on the side boards. Niederrieter went towards the goal and found Lowry in front, and a nice wrist shot beat Merzlikins to give the Jets a 1-0 lead.

This game remained 1-0 until there was just over a minute left in the 1st. Elvis Merzlikins got the 2nd assist as he made a pass to Damon Severson behind the net. Severson made a nice pass up to Miles Wood, who pushed the puck ahead and got past Luke Schenn before going in on goal and backhanding past Comrie to make it a 1-1 game.

Both teams entered the 1st intermission pretty happy with their play, and the Jets looked quite energized for the first home game in over 2 weeks.

The 2nd period started off great for the Jets, scoring just 1:12 after the puck drop. Kyle Connor found Mark Scheifele near centre ice, and he carried the puck into the zone. Scheifele waited and made a perfect pass between a Blue Jackets’ defender’s legs, and Josh Morrissey tipped the puck into the back of the net to give the Jets a 2-1 lead.

With 8 minutes left in the 2nd, the Jets were outshooting the Blue Jackets 6-2 (in the 2nd) and 17-13 overall, as they looked like the team that deserved to be in the lead. Luca Del Bel Belluz took a holding penalty with just over 5 minutes left in the 2nd frame, and the Jets got their 2nd powerplay of the night. Not even half way into the powerplay, Nino Niederreiter and Gustav Nyquist set up Neal Pionk at the point, and a booming slap shot went past Merzilikins.

Pionk’s 1st of the season gave the Jets a well deserved 3-1 lead, and after outshooting the Blue Jackets 8-4 in the 2nd period they took a 2 goal lead into the final intermission.

The Jets took their momentum from the 2nd right into the start of the 3rd. Josh Morrissey made a nice interception near centre ice and found Mark Scheifele. A quick drop pass to Kyle Connor led the star forward into the zone, and a perfect wrist shot from a sharp angle found its way past Merzlikins, who couldn’t stay tight enough to the post.

3 minutes into the 3rd the Jets had a commanding 3 goal lead. One minute later the Blue Jackets cut their deficit back to two. A Jets turnover in their own zone was picked up by Charlie Coyle. After a quick pass to Cole Sillinger, Zach Werenski was given the puck in the slot, and his wrister went past Comrie to make this a 4-2 game.

Just two minutes later, the Jets re-gained their 3 goal lead. Luke Schenn gave the puck to Mark Scheifele, who was playing in his franchise record 898th game near centre ice. After entering the zone, Scheifele dropped the puck back to Logan Stanley, who walked in and fired a slap shot from the near the faceoff dot top corner past Merzilkins.

Stanley’s 3rd of the season gave them that commanding 3 goal lead back. 24 seconds after the goal, Morgan Barron took the 1st and only Jets penalty of the night, an interference call. The Blue Jackets had their chances on this powerplay, but Comrie made some nice saves, including a great save just before the powerplay expired.

The rest of the game went without any more goals or penalties, and the Jets held on for the 5-2 win. Final shots on goal were 30-22 for the Jets, and tonight’s complete team performance earned them a much needed win at home. Please note that most (or all) of the goals from tonight’s game in this article could not be embedded correctly/properly due to the outage that has been affecting X/Twitter and other online platforms in the past few days.

The Jets three game home stand continues on Friday night, as the Jets regular season schedule continues against the Carolina Hurricanes. Puck drop for this game will be again just after 7:00 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.