01/27/26 08:51:00
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01/27 20:49 CST Mark Scheifele scores his 26th goal as the Jets hold on to beat
the Devils 4-3
Mark Scheifele scores his 26th goal as the Jets hold on to beat the Devils 4-3
By STEPHEN WHYNO
AP Hockey Writer
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) --- Mark Scheifele scored his 26th goal of the season,
reigning MVP Connor Hellebuyck stopped 26 of the 29 shots he faced and the
Winnipeg Jets ended their two-game skid by beating the New Jersey Devils 4-3 on
Tuesday night.
The Devils have lost back-to-back games after winning three in a row at the
start of their Western Conference road trip. They traded veteran winger Ondrej
Palat to the New York Islanders in a deal that was consummated before he left
the arena prior to warmups and finalized during the first period.
Winnipeg, which entered the night eight points back of the second and final
wild-card spot in the West, won for just the second time in five games.
Scheifele got the Jets on the board 1:33 in, then Gabriel Vilardi, Cole Koepke
and Nino Niederreiter scored in the second.
Hellebuyck, who is in line to be the U.S. starter at the upcoming Olympics, was
sharp in bouncing back from allowing four goals in a 5-1 home loss to Detroit
on Saturday.
New Jersey got goals from rookie Lenni Hameenaho and Swedish Olympian Jesper
Bratt, and captain Nico Hischier scored with 1:46 left to make things
interesting, but the offense couldn't quite make up for a series of mistakes.
Hours after coach Sheldon Keefe credited defensive commitment and "giving up
way less on the rush" for his team's recent success, all four goals against
came on odd-man rushes.
That made life much more difficult for goaltender Jake Allen, who made some big
saves among his 22 to keep the deficit from getting out of hand. There was
little he could do when his teammates were repeatedly outnumbered skating back
down the ice into their defensive zone by the opportunistic Jets.
Devils forward Cody Glass left with an undisclosed injury early in the second.
Up next
Jets: Visit Tampa Bay on Thursday night.
Devils: Host Nashville on Thursday night.
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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
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