WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — Andrew Copp scored twice, and Paul Stastny and Mark Scheifele each had a goal and two assists as the Winnipeg Jets beat the Ottawa Senators 6-3 Saturday night.
Kye Connor and Nikolaj Ehlers also scored to help the Jets beat the Senators for the third straight time. and improve to 4-1-0 on the season. Blake Wheeler had three assists and Connor Hellebuyck finished with 18 saves.
The victory came at the end of a long day for the Jets. Earlier, the Jets traded forwar Patrik Laine and center Jack Roslovic to Columbus for center Pierre-Luc Dubois and a 2022 third-round draft pick.
“We’re professionals. Unfortunately, it’s part of this business,” Wheeler said. “But at the end of the day, it’s what we do for a living. This is bigger than anything else that happened today. I thought it was a good effort for our team and a big win.”
Evgenii Dadonov, Brady Tkachuk and Nick Paul scored for Ottawa, which has lost four of five (1-3-1). Marcus Hogberg had 32 saves.
The Jets trailed 3-2 after two periods before scoring four times in the third — including three in the last five minutes
“They were coming out hard in the third period,” Paul said. “I think we just got to keep making plays to break out and once we hit their blue line, get pucks deep.”
Copp tied it at 2:24 as he redirected a pass from Stastny towards the goal. The puck hit the post, but Copp knocked in the rebound..
The Jets took the lead for good on a power-play goal from Stastny with 4:15 left. Prior to the goal, Senators forward Derek Stepan lifted the puck out of play and was called for a delay of game penalty. Stastny took advantage with his first goal of the season.
Copp got his second of the night 1:10 later as he whacked at the puck several times in front of Hogberg, eventually putting it past the goalie.
Stepan appeared to pull Ottawa back within one, but the goal was reviewed and waved off for offside.
Scheifele’s empty-netter with 2:09 left sealed the win.
“(We) found a way,” Jets coach Paul Maurice said, “We were building in the second (period), we were getting a little bit stronger. Being down 3-2 put a real focus to our game and we were able to push through it.”
Ehlers opened the scoring with 5:57 left to play in the first period with a power-play goal. Ehlers quickly fired a shot past Hogberg after receiving a pass from defenseman Neil Pionk.
The Senators took the lead with a three-goal second period. Dadonov tied it at 4:04 with his first since joining Ottawa.
Connor regained the lead for Winnipeg with his fourth of the season at 8:18.
Tkachuk tied it 2-2 with 8:46 to go in the middle period as he got a backhand pass from Austin Watson with a Winnipeg player on him, spun around and beat Hellebuyck between his legs.
Paul gave the Senators their first lead of the game with 5:37 eft in the period as he fired a shot into the top right corner for his second goal of the season.
Stepan hopes his young teammates learn the importance of keeping up their intensity for a full 60 minutes.
“With a younger group you want to continue to push and teach them that it’s okay to continue just to play the way you did in the first two periods and you don’t need to change anything. You don’t need to sit back.” Stepan said.
MILESTONE
Wheeler’s assist on Connor’s second-period goal was the 500th of his career.
UP NEXT
Senators: At Vancouver on Monday night.
Jets: Host Edmonton on Sunday night.
