The Jets finally ended their long 11 game losing streak on Friday night, winning 5-1 against the Los Angeles Kings. The Jets were in control for most of the 60 minutes, and each forward line contributed a goal in the win. This afternoon, the Jets played their fourth of five straight home games. Canada Life Centre was the host for this afternoon’s game, as the Jets looked to turn their win on Friday into a win streak after today. The now 16-22-5 Jets took on the 22-20-2 Devils, with both teams looking to end their weekend with a win.

There were a few small changes to the Jets lineup tonight, as they mostly stuck with what worked on Friday. Gabriel Vilardi stayed on line 2, Alex Iafallo remained on line 1, and Vladislav Namestnikov stayed on line 3. Danny Zhilkin played in his 3rd career NHL game, and Neal Pionk returned to his usual place on the 2nd defense pairing. The Jets 3rd pairing tonight was Logan Stanley and Colin Miller, but Miller got injured late in the 1st period and would not return for the rest of the game with a lower body injury.

Connor Hellebuyck got the start in goal after the night off on Friday, as Hellebuyck looked to get his first win in quite a long time. The Jets lineup continues to be almost healthy and injury free except for Haydn Fleury. Morgan Barron remains out, still listed as “day-to-day”. Hellebuyck entered tonight’s game with a 9-12-4 record, a 2.69 GAA and a decent .901 SV%. This afternoon’s game was a little chaotic at times, but in the end it was the Jets that ended up victorious, their 2nd straight win.

This afternoon’s game started off like you might expect a Sunday afternoon game to start. Both teams traded chances, but Connor Hellebuyck and Jake Allen were sharp and ready to go for most of the 1st. Arseny Gritsyuk took the 1st penalty of the game, an interference call on Colin Miller. The Jets 1st powerplay of the game was unsuccessful, but 9 seconds after the powerplay expired, the Jets opened the scoring.

Dylan Samberg took a shot from the point that was partially blocked, and Nino Niederreiter picked up the puck near the faceoff dot. Niederreiter found Alex Iafallo in the slot, and Iafallo’s first shot was fluttered on net, before Iafallo quickly grabbed the rebound and wristed it past Allen.

Alex Iafallo’s 8th goal of the season gave the Jets the lead only momentarily, as the Devils tied this game at 1 just 37 seconds later. Shortly after a faceoff win, Jesper Bratt found Luke Hughes along the boards, who went down towards the net and fired a pass to Nico Hischier in front. Hischier didn’t have much space, but he quickly slid the puck past Hellebuyck to tie the game.

Both teams managed 8 shots on goal in the 1st, and after a rather quiet start to the game, each team picked up a goal before the intermission.

The 2nd opened with 2 goals in less than 3 minutes. Jack Hughes entered the Jets zone and found his brother Luke, who made a nice pass down low to Cody Glass. A quick tip-in from in close from Glass resulted in his 8th goal of the season.

Only a minute and a half later, Jonathan Toews tied this game at two with his 5th goal of the season. Toews found Perfetti on the rush, and Perfetti was in on a partial breakaway but his chance hit the post. The puck went down into the crease, and Toews was there to backhand the puck across the line.

A few minutes later, Jonas Siegenthaler was called for holding, giving the Jets their 2nd powerplay of the afternoon. The Jets were unsuccessful, and less than a minute after the powerplay ended, Cody Glass scored his 2nd goal of the night to give the Devils a 3-2 lead. After a dump in from Johnathan Kovacevic, Jack Hughes fired the puck on goal, and a big rebound was wristed home by Glass.

5 minutes after the Devils re-gained the lead, Josh Morrissey took a holding penalty. The Devils were unsuccessful on their 1st powerplay of the night, and a few minutes later, Gabriel Vilardi tied this game at 3. Josh Morrissey found Cole Perfetti, who took the puck to the net. Perfetti’s shot was stopped, but Vilardi was there to “bat” the loose puck into the net.

The Devils ended up outshooting the Jets 13-5 in the 2nd, but this game was tied at 3. Despite the shots on goal, this game looked like it was anyone’s game to win with 20 minutes remaining.

The 3rd period opened with both teams battling to try to get the next go-ahead goal. That go-ahead goal would come from the Jets, with around 14 minutes remaining. Cole Koepke found Josh Morrisey back at the point after entering the zone. Morrissey drove towards the net, and similar to other Jets goals tonight, Pearson was right in close to the crease and tapped the pass from Morrissey into the net.

Both teams stayed out of the penalty box in the 3rd, and the Jets were outshooting the Devils in the 3rd 8-2 with 6 minutes to play. The Devils pushed back with some chances, before pulling the goalie with just under 2 minutes left. The Jets were looking for their 8th empty net goal of the season, but they were unable to do so. Luckily that didn’t matter though, as the Jets held on to win 4-3, their first streak of 2 wins in a row since mid-November. Final shots on goal were 27-22 for the Devils, and it was another solid team effort where the Jets found a way to win a close game.

The Jets will now get another well earned rest day tomorrow, before playing their final home game on this 5 game home stand. Their regular season schedule continues with a game against the New York Islanders on Tuesday night. Puck drop for this game will be 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.