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Scheifele scores twice to help Jets stop Sabres
Mark Scheifele laughed as he described how his Winnipeg Jets teammates tried to help him complete a hat trick Tuesday night.
Instead, the second-year center finished with two goals and an assist as the Jets halted the Buffalo Sabres' four-game winning streak with a 5-1 victory.
"I know (Mathieu Perreault), I think every time he had the puck he was looking around, looking for me, so it was pretty funny," Scheifele said. "But at the end, the boys wouldn't even let me get off (the ice). I'd look over at the bench and they're like, `stay, stay,' so it was pretty cool."
The goals were Scheifele's fifth and sixth of the season. It was also his second career three-point game. He had a goal and two assists in last week's 4-3 overtime loss to Colorado.
Michael Frolik and Evander Kane each had a goal and an assist for Winnipeg, and Chris Thorburn also scored. Frolik's goal was short-handed; Kane scored on the power play.
Jets goalie Ondrej Pavelec made 27 saves in his 300th career start as Winnipeg outshot the Sabres 36-28.
Buffalo, which got a power-play goal from defenseman Nikita Zadorov, was coming off a 5-4 shootout win at home over the Ottawa Senators on Monday night.
Michal Neuvirth stopped 31 shots for the Sabres.
"We just made too many mistakes," Buffalo captain Brian Gionta said. "We hurt ourselves tonight, whether it's odd-man rushes or giveaways that lead to those chances. We hurt ourselves.
"Clearly, that's what you want to limit. You give teams in this league that many chances, they're going to make you pay."
The win was the first for the Jets on their four-game homestand. They lost 4-1 to Anaheim on Saturday and will host Boston on Friday and Philadelphia on Sunday.
The Jets pulled out the victory on the same day coach Paul Maurice announced at the morning skate that second-year defenseman Jacob Trouba is out until February with an undisclosed upper-body injury.
Maurice said it was a "pre-existing condition," but wasn't related to the neck injury Trouba sustained last season.
While Trouba was taken off the roster, defenseman Grant Clitsome went back on after missing five games with an upper-body injury. He assisted on Scheifele's first goal.
Winnipeg is still without defensemen Tobias Enstrom and Zach Bogosian, so forward Dustin Byfuglien has been moved back to the blue line to help out.
Pavelec is impressed with the way the team is responding.
"You have to battle through those injuries and we are able to do it, so you're really happy," Pavelec said.
Sabres coach Ted Nolan was asked if his club looked tired midway through the game.
"Maybe not physically, but mentally," Nolan said. "We just made a couple of crucial mistakes at bad times.
"I liked our first period, and then all of a sudden a couple of big mistakes and we had to play catch-up the rest of the game."
Buffalo scored the only goal in the first period, but Winnipeg responded with three in less than five minutes in the second to take a 3-1 lead heading into the third.
The Sabres didn't manage their first shot on net until 10:32 into the game before getting three power-play opportunities in the first period.
Buffalo made good on a scoring chance with 44 seconds left in the period. With forward Blake Wheeler in the penalty box for slashing, Zadorov's shot from the bottom of the circle got past Pavelec, who had Sabres wing Chris Stewart in front of him.
Scheifele's first goal was scored at 9:31 as Zadorov left the penalty box for delay of game.
Buffalo turned over the puck and 11 seconds later Jets defenseman Jim Slater made a pass across the front of the net to Frolik, who also sent a high shot past Neuvirth for his seventh goal of the season.
Perreault set up Scheifele's second goal when he made a pass through Buffalo defenseman Tyson Strachan's feet, and Scheifele scored at 14:17 for a 3-1 lead. The assist extended Perreault's point streak to five games, with one goal and four assists.
Winnipeg carried a power play into the third period from Andre Benoit's slashing penalty and it led to Kane's fifth goal of the season at 1:11, with Wheeler and Scheifele getting assists.
Thorburn took a rebound from teammate Anthony Peluso's shot and sent a backhand past Neuvirth at 12:39.
NOTES: Sabres center Mikhail Grigorenko made his season debut. The 20-year-old Russian was Buffalo's first pick (12th overall) in the 2012 NHL entry draft.
