The power play roars as Winnipeg takes down the Kraken 6-2 – Winnipeg

Entering their meeting with the Seattle Kraken, the Winnipeg Jets’ power play has not been up to par.

You wouldn’t have known it Monday night when the Jets capitalized on all three of their power-play opportunities in a 6-2 win that kept their slim playoff hopes alive.

The Jets were just 6-for-52 with the man advantage since the Olympic break until going 3-for-3 against the Kraken after promoting Jonathan Toews to the number one power play unit.

“We used a more shots mentality to attack the goal a little more and a little quicker,” Jets head coach Scott Arniel said. “I thought we did a good job at that. And a lot of goals came from that.”

The win temporarily kept the Jets within one point of a playoff spot but with two teams ahead of them in the standings, the Los Angeles Kings and Nashville Predators meeting late starts, the Jets would be back three points behind by morning.

Kyle Connor scored twice in the win, while Toews, Gabriel Vilardi, Brad Lambert and Vladislav Namestnikov were the other markers for Winnipeg. Mark Scheifele recorded three assists, including two on the man advantage.

This is the first time the Jets have scored three power play goals in a game since December 2024.

“Obviously we got a little lucky,” Scheifele said. “There have been other games where we have played well and haven’t scored, so we have been rewarded for continuing to do so.”

The Jets entered the third period with a two-goal lead, but Jared McCann quickly put the Kraken up one goal. But Lambert then flew into the Kraken zone before taking the top corner kick for the biggest goal of his career to restore the two-goal lead.

“I mean, I think every goal feels amazing,” Lambert said. “Obviously to be able to do it at that time, a big goal for us, makes it special.”

With his second point of the game, Scheifele recorded his 900th career point.

“It means a lot,” Scheifele said. “Very humbled and humbled by it. It’s pretty cool to think about. It might take a little time to get into it, but it’s definitely pretty cool in my mind.”

Namestnikov and Nino Niederreiter both returned to the lineup after lengthy absences but Morgan Barron missed the game and is now dealing with a week-to-week lower body injury.

This was the first time the Jets beat the Kraken this season after Seattle won their first two meetings.

Winnipeg came up big to open the scoring when Scheifele counterattacked with four minutes remaining, but his shot was denied on the initial shot and subsequent rebound by Philipp Grubauer.

Seattle broke the ice at the 9:17 mark thanks to their captain. After a poor clearing attempt by Dylan DeMelo, the puck fell back into the hands of Jordan Eberle, who tried to get past Connor Hellebuyck by wrapping it up.

The shot was stopped but the rebound fell onto empty ice, so Eberle collected it, skated to the other side of the crease around a bunch of objects and put a backhand through Hellebuyck for his 25th of the season.

Eberle almost doubled the lead moments later with what looked like a very similar play, but his shot hit the post.

With 8:08 remaining in the first half, Winnipeg got its first power play and took full advantage, thanks in part to personnel changes on the top unit.

Josh Morrissey fired a shot from the point that took a deflection and hit the backboard behind the goal. The puck then sailed back over the net where Toews knocked it down with his body before tipping it into the net for his 10th of the season.

Toews was recently moved to the top unit with Cole Perfetti dropping to the second unit as Winnipeg looks to improve its troubled power game.

Seattle outscored the Jets 13-7 in the first set as the game remained tied 1-1 after 20 minutes.

Seattle almost made it 2-1 just six minutes into the second half when Cale Fleury’s shot from the penalty spot hit the inside of the post before bouncing off the back of Hellebuyck and wide of the other post.

Winnipeg’s power play came around for the second time just short of the midway point of the second with Adam Larsson in the box for a high shot.

Vilardi got the puck in the right spot and passed it to Toews, who fired a sharp angle shot into the net. The rebound went through the legs of two Kraken defenders as Vilardi cut into the front of the net, collected the loose puck and fired it past Grubauer for his 29th goal of the season at the 9:55 mark.

A minute later, the Jets were strong again, and once again they managed to take a 3-1 lead.

The puck spun to Connor at the right point, who fired a shot on goal that deflected off Ryan Lindgren’s stick and sailed over Grubauer’s shoulder.

After the whistle blew with 6:40 left in the second quarter, Grubauer slid to the bench and out of the game, forcing Joey Daccord into action. During a break in the action, it was announced in the arena that Scheifele had reached a plateau of 900 points, and he received a standing ovation from the Jets fans.

The Jets outscored the Kraken 13-4 in the second quarter and carried their two-touchdown lead into the third.

But Seattle cut the lead to one just 2:28 into the period when McCann carried the puck past the Winnipeg blue line and, using the retreating Namestnikov as a screen, fired a wrist shot that squeaked past Hellebuyck.

The two-goal lead was restored 3:31 later thanks to Lambert. The speedy rookie picked up the puck in the middle of the ice and flew from the right wing to Seattle’s end. He saw that Vince Dunn was in the middle, giving him room to slide and hit a wrist shot that beat Daccord’s top shelf for his third of the season.

The Jets extended their lead when Connor scored his second goal of the game at the 15:19 mark. Daccord thought the puck was covered but Connor helped release it to Scheifele in the corner. Connor then dropped back into the slot, got a pass from Scheifele and fired it through Daccord for his 38th goal of the season.

Seattle pulled their goalie with about 2:30 remaining but Namestnikov, playing his first game since being injured on Feb. 27, scored into an empty net for his first goal since Jan. 9.

The Jets will now head to St. Louis. Louis for another big game against the Blues on Thursday night.