close
close

Winnipeg Jets defeated Utah Hockey Club 3-0 in first-ever meeting – The Hockey Writers – Winnipeg Jets

Posted on by Pranco
Winnipeg Jets defeated Utah Hockey Club 3-0 in first-ever meeting – The Hockey Writers – Winnipeg Jets

The Winnipeg Jets battled to a 3-0 win over the Utah Hockey Club at the Canada Life Center in the first-ever meeting between the two clubs.

The Jets improved to 12-1-0 with the win and remain leading the entire NHL. Utah fell to 5-5-3 with the loss.

The Jets power play breaks a scoreless deadlock in the second period

The Jets entered the match having scored more than six goals in each of their past three games – all wins – but found themselves in a very different kind of matchup on Tuesday night.

The game was scoreless for the first 37 minutes and 57 seconds, with the Jets beating Utah, but neither team generated many chances with 10 bells.

However, after Dylan Guenther was sent to the penalty box for hooking Dylan DeMelo, the Jets’ best power play went to work on their second chance.

It took them almost all of the minor penalty to convert, but they did so when Gabriel Vilardi deflected Josh Morrissey’s point shot past Karel Vejmelka to break the deadlock. It was Vilardi’s seventh point in his last five games.

Goalkeeper Connor Hellebuyck helped preserve the 1-0 lead in the final seconds of the frame by making an excellent save on Clayton Keller during a two-on-one Utah rush.

Niederreiter scores twice in 900th career game

In the third, the Jets’ reliable third line struck for a goal at 7:30 to double the lead. Nino Niederreiter, playing in his 900th career NHL game, took an Adam Lowry pass off the rush and executed a slick backhand-to-forehand deke that badly fooled Vejmelka and allowed Niederreiter to slide the puck into an empty cage. With the count, Niederreiter now has a goal against 33 different NHL teams.

Nino Niederreiter Winnipeg Jets
Nino Niederreiter, Winnipeg Jets (Photo by Jonathan Kozub/NHLI via Getty Images)

Niederreiter then added an empty-netter at 17:01 to round out the scoring.

Kyle Connor was held off the scoresheet and his run of twelve match points to start the season came to an end. The Jets’ top scorer hit the post with just 33 seconds left before he had a glorious chance all alone up front.

Hellebuyck finished with 21 saves for his second shutout of the season and 39th of his career. Vejmelka allowed two goals on 27 shots.

Related: Three keys to Jets success in November 2024

The number of visitors was 12,932.

The Jets welcome the Colorado Avalanche to town on Thursday (November 7) as their four-game homestand continues; it’s the first time they’ve encountered the Avalanche since then being crushed by them in the first round of the 2024 playoffs. Utah travels to St. Louis to take on the Blues the same evening.