Ehlers scores OT winner as Winnipeg Jets edge Kraken to improve to 7-0

Posted on October 25, 2024 by Peggy

The Winnipeg Jets keep finding ways to win.

After blowing a two-goal lead in the third period, Nikolaj Ehlers scored in overtime to lift the Jets to a 4-3 win in Seattle Thursday night, their seventh straight win to start the 2024-25 season.

After a stretch of almost six minutes without a whistle, Matty Beniers opened the scoring with his first of the season, ripping a shot high past Connor Hellebuyck in transition at the 11:27 mark.

Seattle pushed to get another goal on the board, earning the game’s first power play but the Jets killed it off and kept it a one-goal game after 20 minutes. Seattle outshot the Jets 12-7 in the first.

Winnipeg got on the board just 3:56 into the second period when a Mason Appleton shot was stopped by Joey Daccord but the rebound ricocheted off the chest of Nino Niederreiter and trickled over the goal line.

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Seattle thought they had regained the lead just over seven minutes into the period but a Jets challenge overturned the goal because of goalie interference.

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With just under five minutes to go in the second, the Jets took their first lead of the night. Kyle Connor made a great play to keep the puck in at the Seattle blue line and Mark Scheifele came and collected it before firing it down low to Gabriel Vilardi. He drove the puck in front of the net and tucked it past Daccord for his first of the season, extending Connor’s season-opening points streak to seven games.

Winnipeg took that 2-1 lead into the third period and extended it to 3-1 at the 4:21 mark when Niederreiter potted his second of the night moments after the Kraken killed off a Winnipeg power play.

The Jets seemed set to cruise to the win but the Kraken had other ideas. With just under nine minutes left, a broken play in the Winnipeg end led to three Jets flocking to Jared McCann, but that left Jordan Eberle alone in front of the net. McCann fed the Kraken captain who then buried it through Hellebuyck to make it 3-2.

Beniers tied it with 3:22 to go when he tipped a Brandon Montour point shot past Hellebuyck, sending the game to overtime.

With a delayed penalty pending in OT, Ehlers came off the bench, skated into the Seattle end and got a pass from Scheifele that he fired on goal. Daccord got most of it but the puck squeaked through his body and trickled just over the goal line to give the Jets the win.

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With the win, the Jets become the 17th team in NHL history to start a season with seven consecutive wins. It’s also their 15th straight regular season victory dating back to last season, two shy of the league record.

The Jets will look to make it eight wins in a row Saturday night when they visit the Calgary Flames.