Jets score 3 in 2nd period, beat Oilers 5-2

WINNIPEG, Manitoba -- — Nikolaj Ehlers, Pierre-Luc Dubois and Mark Scheifele scored in the second period, and the Winnipeg Jets beat the Western Conference-leading Edmonton Oilers 5-2 Tuesday night.

Adam Lowry and Kyle Connor also scored for the Jets, and Josh Morrissey had two assists. Connor Hellebuyck stopped 32 shots as Winnipeg finished 5-1-1 on a seven-game homestand.

“We needed some good defense, some physical play, good sticks, 1-on-1s, good offense,” Dubois said. “We needed a lot out there tonight and we did a good job of that.”

NHL-leading scorer Leon Draisaitl had a pair of power-play goals early in the third period for Edmonton, giving him 17 goals and 33 points on the season. Connor McDavid, second in league scoring, assisted on both goals to up his point total to 29 and give him at least a point in every one of the Oilers' 15 games this season.

“I don’t think we were as bad as maybe it looked on the score sheet, but if you go down 4-0 you’re probably not going to win,” Draisaitl said.

Mikko Koskinen stopped 22 of the 26 shots he faced before being replaced by Stuart Skinner to start the third period. Skinner had eight saves.

The Oilers lost three of five on its road trip.

“I didn’t like our game as much in St. Louis (but) we got a win there,” Edmonton coach Dave Tippett said. “And we came in here and you could tell we were low on energy to finish the trip. To get down early like that and chase the game, we just didn’t have the oomph to come back.”

It was the first meeting between the clubs since the Jets swept the Oilers in the first round of last season’s playoffs. They have a rematch in Edmonton on Thursday.

Lowry got the Jets on the scoreboard at 2:09 of the first period with a blooper goal Koskinen should have stopped. The Jets' forward got the puck near his blue line and headed toward the goalie. He took a shot from the top of the circle and the puck hit Koskinen, went under him and started dribbling toward the goal line. He tried to swipe it away with his stick but missed.

Both goalies made some tough saves in the second.

After Koskinen stopped Morrissey on a close shot during a power play, Ehlers scored at even strength with a slap shot from the top of the circle to make it 2-0 at 6:59.

Sixteen seconds later, Draisaitl was given a four-minute minor for high sticking and Winnipeg took advantage when Dubois redirected Morrissey's shot for his ninth of the season at 10:01.

Koskinen was screened for Scheifele’s goal with 38 seconds remaining in the period to make it 4-0.

Andrew Copp was called for tripping at 1:19 of the third, and Logan Stanley took a boarding penalty at 2:26 to give the Oilers a 5-on-3.

Draisaitl scored his first goal 6 seconds into the two-man advantage at 2:32. His second goal at 3:38 was initially waved off for goalie interference, but Edmonton coach Dave Tippett challenged and it was determined the Oilers' player had been pushed into Hellebuyck.

Hellebuyck made a key save with 5:05 left when Jesse Puljujarvi took a shot just outside the crease.

Connor scored his team-leading 12 goal of the season into an empty net with 1:37 remaining.

UP NEXT

The teams meet again in Edmonton on Thursday night.