By Canadian Press

Paul Stastny’s two goals leads Jets to 7-4 win over Lightning

Mar 8, 2022 | 10:05 PM

WINNIPEG — Forward Paul Stastny scored two goals to lead the Jets to a 7-4 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night.

Mark Scheifele also had a goal and three assists as Winnipeg improved to 25-22-10.

Both Stastny and Kyle Connor scored into empty nets late in the game.

Josh Morrissey, Pierre-Luc Dubois and Adam Lowry also added goals for Winnipeg.

Russ Colton, Victor Hedman, Alex Killorn and Ryan McDonagh replied for Tampa Bay.

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Netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy made 28 saves on 33 shots for the Lightning (37-13-6).

Goalie Connor Hellebuyck stopped 20 of 24 shots for the Jets.

Connor gave Winnipeg a two-goal margin with a short-handed marker at 8:12 of the third period. Lightning defenceman Mikhail Sergachev lost the puck when he fell. Connor picked it up and completely deked Vasilevsky and scored an unassisted goal that increased the lead to 5-3.

After the two teams had skated to a scoreless second period, Dubois scored a power-play goal at 7:25 to give the Jets a 4-3 lead. Dubois pounced on a Connor rebound. Morrissey also assisted.

The Lightning rebounded from a 3-1 deficit in the first period by scoring goals 1:24 apart. That knotted the score at 3-3 heading into the second. Killorn scored at 16:01 after being set up alone in front of Hellebuyck by forward Corey Perry, Steven Stamkos also assisted. Hedman then scored the tying marker at 17:35 with a high wrist shot that beat Hellebuyck. Forwards Nikita Kucherov and Anthony Cirelli assisted.

Stastny had given the Jets a 3-1 lead when he took a nifty pass from defenceman Neal Pionk and his shot barely got by Vasilevskiy. Scheifele also assisted.

McDonagh pulled the Lightning to within 2-1 when he converted a two-on-one with Mathieu Joseph at 11:50. Mathieu had intercepted an attempted pass by Dubois to create the two-on-one.

The Jets jumped out to a 2-0 lead early in the opening period with goals just 1:52 apart. Lowry quickly put a Brenden Dillon rebound past Vasilevskiy at 6:11. Forward Nikolaj Ehlers also assisted.

Scheifele had opened the scoring at 4:19 when he took advantage of a Logan Stanley rebound and backhanded the puck past Vasilevskiy. Nate Schmidt also assisted.

It was the final contest of a four-game homestand for the Jets, who will embark on a three-game road trip starting in New Jersey versus the Devils on Thursday.

It was the second of a six-game road trip for the Lightning, who will head to Calgary to face the Flames on Thursday.

Note: The Jets honoured Ste. Anne’s Jocelyne Larocque, who won the Olympic gold medal with the Canadian women’s hockey team in Beijing, before the game. Larocque dropped the puck in a ceremonial faceoff.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 8, 2022.

Jim Bender, The Canadian Press