Johnson helps Blue Jackets extend win streak to four

The Columbus Blue Jackets kept it simple according to their coach John Tortorella. They checked well and were rewarded with their fourth straight win of the young NHL season.

"You could tell we had really good energy when the game started," Tortorella said after the Blue Jackets downed the Winnipeg Jets 5-2 on Tuesday night. "I thought it was the best checking we've done all year long and I think that helped us create offense. I thought we were quick I thought we were simple. But to me it comes from our legs. I thought we checked with our legs. We always had people above the puck. That caused a lot of problems in the neutral zone for them and we were able to counter."

The Jets struggled early but escaped serious harm until the second period, when Columbus scored four of its five goals.

Winnipeg coach Paul Maurice dissected the game in much the same terms as Tortorella, but from a different vantage point, as the Jets (3-3-0) had their three-game winning streak get snuffed.

"The game is really simple but it's really hard," he said. "And if you're not going to play it simply, then you really gotta play hard. And if you don't do either, then you're going to have a night that looks just like that.'

Cam Atkinson broke open a scoreless game just 36 seconds into the second period for the Blue Jackets (5-1-0), powering ahead of Winnipeg defenseman Jacob Trouba and muscling the puck past Winnipeg goalie Steve Mason. Nick Foligno, Jack Johnson, Lukas Sedlak and Zach Werenski had the other goals for Columbus, while Jonas Korpisalo made 24 saves for the win.

"It felt good to get the first one out of the way," Foligno said of his first goal this season goal and added the win, early though it may be, is still important.

"Any game you have a chance to get points you've got to find a way to do it."

Johnson agreed.

"You can't make the playoffs early in the season but you can dig yourself right out of them," he said.

"From my experience, at Thanksgiving, teams that are at the top are usually in the playoffs at the end of the year."

Steve Mason returned to Winnipeg's net, after watching the kid who was supposed to back him up this season, Connor Hellebuyck, earn those three wins.

"Anytime you give up four in one period, it's usually not a good sign," said a dejected Mason after the loss. "It wasn't good."

Maurice sympathized with his goalie.

"I feel for the guy because I think he kept it right for as long as he could," said Maurice. "We didn't have enough going for us in this game, just too darn slow to give him a chance to win us a game."

Forward Kyle Connor, called up just this week from the American Hockey League's Manitoba Moose to replace an injured Mathieu Perreault, scored first for Winnipeg. It looked like it might be their only goal until Joel Armiaadded a second goal, shorthanded, in the final minutes.

After Atkinson opened the scoring, the goals came quickly. Foligno swept past the left side of the net to poke his first of the season in past Mason's stick arm at 10:50 to make it 2-0.

Jets fans finally had something to cheer about at 12:30 when Mark Scheifele fed Connor a pass from behind the net and he slammed it past Korpisalo.

But just over a minute later Johnson scored his first of the season on a wrister to the top of the Winnipeg net. Sedlak scored unassisted at 18:11 to make it 4-1 by the end of the second.

Werenski flicked his wristshot past Mason at 12:15 of the third period to finish the rout for Columbus.

NOTES: One bright spot for the Jets was their ability to avoid some of the penalties which have cost them dearly this season already. They gave up one power play early and managed to kill it. ... Nikolaj Ehlers, an NHL first star this week for his seven points and five goals so far this season, took another late in the third that killed Winnipeg's only chance for a power play since it matched another taken by Columbus forward Pierre-Luc Dubois.

UP NEXT:

Blue Jackets: hosts Tampa Bay on Thursday.

Jets: hosts Minnesota on Friday.

Ehlers scores hat trick, adds assist as Jets beat Oilers

Nikolaj Ehlers hit the scoresheet for the first time this season in dramatic fashion on Monday night.

Ehlers had a hat trick and an assist and the Winnipeg Jets captured their first win of the season by beating the Edmonton Oilers 5-2.

"We all knew what we needed to do and are capable of," Ehlers said. "We didn't do that the first two games, but we showed it tonight. We played good tonight, simple and fast. We were able to find the holes. We just have to be able to find a way to keep that going."

Mark Scheifele and Dmitry Kulikov also scored for the Jets.

Leon Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had a goal each for the Oilers, who have lost two straight.

"We were giving up breakaways and odd-man rushes. When you do that you're going to end up on the losing side more often than not," said Oilers forward Milan Lucic. "We get a couple of days to regroup and go over what we need to do better, because the last two games, the chances that we've given up, is definitely unacceptable."

Connor Hellebuyck picked up the win in net by making 37 saves. Cam Talbot turned away 38-of-43 shots in defeat.

Edmonton outshot Winnipeg 12-3 in the first nine minutes of the game, but it was the Jets who struck first as Scheifele corralled a shot in front of the net and then sent it past Talbot for his third of the season.

The Jets made it 2-0 before the first was over as Kulikov was given far too much space and was able to beat Talbot with a hard wrist shot.

The Oilers finally got on the board 13 minutes into the second period as Connor McDavid fought for the puck behind the net and then fed it in front to Draisaitl, who sent it past Hellebuyck.

Edmonton tied the game just 40 seconds later as Nugent-Hopkins split the defense to make it 2-2.

Winnipeg surged back in front three minutes later with a pair of goals by Ehlers, who picked the top corner on a 3-on-2 break and then made it 4-2 just over a minute after that by converting a perfect feed from Blake Wheelerinto a wide-open net.

Scheifele worked hard to get Ehlers the natural hat trick, and did so with a perfect power-play pass with 1:14 remaining in the third period.

NOTES: This is the first of three meetings this season between the Oilers and Jets. Last season, the Oilers swept the three-game set. ... Oilers winger Anton Slepyshev made his debut after suffering an ankle injury that kept him out of training camp.

UP NEXT

Jets: Play at Vancouver on Thursday.

Oilers: Host Ottawa on Saturday.

Brodie has 2 goals, 2 assists in Flames' 6-3 win over Jets

 Defenseman T.J. Brodie had two goals and two assists and the Calgary Flames scored the final five goals to beat the Winnipeg Jets 6-3 on Saturday night in their home opener.

Johnny Gaudreau scored the go-ahead goal and had three assists for Calgary, down 3-1 after the first period. Brodie and Gaudreau each tied career highs with four-point games.

Micheal Ferland, Kris Versteeg and Mikael Backlund also scored, and Mike Smith made 25 saves for his first victory with Calgary.

Brandon Tanev, Mark Scheifele and Patrik Laine scored for the Jets. Steve Mason, pulled after giving up five goals in a 7-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday night, stopped 39 shots.

Flames newcomer Jaromir Jagr wasn't in the lineup because he wanted more time to recover his game legs.

Notes: Calgary improved to 17-17-12 in home openers . . . Winnipeg defenseman Dustin Byfuglien played his 500th game for the Jets franchise.

UP NEXT:

Jets: At Edmonton on Monday night.

Flames: At Anaheim on Monday night.

Marleau scores twice in Toronto debut, Leafs rout Jets 7-2

Denis and Jeannette Marleau drove 10 hours from Aneroid, Saskatchewan, to watch son Patrick's first game with the Toronto Maple Leafs. It was worth it.

Marleau scored twice and Toronto beat the Winnipeg Jets 7-2 on Wednesday night in the season opener for both teams.

The 38-year-old Marleau signed with Toronto as a free agent after 19 seasons with the San Jose Sharks. He has 510 career goals.

His first goal began with youngster Mitch Marner passing up to sophomore Auston Matthews, who passed it across to Marleau in the high slot. The veteran kicked the puck up to his skate and went in alone on Steve Mason, dekeing before scoring to make it 4-0.

"That was awesome," Matthews said. "Unbelievable pickup by him and the move was even better. Pretty special play by him. I'm sure it feels good for him to get the ball rolling on that so we're all happy for him."

Marleau was energized by the youngsters.

"You can see how hungry they are out there, not only in games but in practice," Marleau said about Matthews and Marner. "They're striving to get better each and every day and you want to be part of that and you can feed off that for sure."

Nazem Kadri, James van Riemsdyk and William Nylander scored in a three-minute span in the first period. Matthews and Marner also scored, and Frederik Andersen made 35 saves.

Mark Scheifele ended Andersen's shutout bid midway through the third period, and Mathieu Perreault also scored for Winnipeg.

New Jets goalie Steve Mason was pulled after Marleau's second goal 36 seconds into the third period, having allowed five goals on 20 shots. Connor Hellebuyck stopped nine of 11 shots in relief.

"Five was enough," Winnipeg coach Paul Maurice said about pulling Mason. "He's going to have a couple he'd like to have back, but there wasn't anything you're looking at saying, `My god, how did he miss that?' "

Winnipeg was dominating the opening period, getting three early power plays and testing Andersen with at least eight shots with the man advantage, but Toronto opened the scoring on its only power play of the period.

With Jets defenseman Jacob Trouba in the penalty box for hooking, Kadri went in front of Mason and took a shot, got his own rebound and then jammed the puck into the net with 4:15 to go.

The Leafs made it 2-0 with 2:20 left when Tyler Bozak went up against Scheifele in a faceoff, got his stick on the loose puck and sent a backhand pass to Van Riemsdyk for his quick, low shot.

Nylander used Toronto's 10th shot to make it 3-0 with 1:37 to go in the period.

Marleau scored his first of the night at 8:32 of the second, and added his second goal after Kadri went down the ice into the corner and fed a pass back to the newcomer 36 seconds into the third.

Marner took advantage of his team's fourth power play to stretch the lead 6-0 at 8:07.

Scheifele broke the goose egg when he took Patrik Laine's pass across the front of the net and beat Andersen to make it 6-1.

NOTES: Matthews had two assists for a three-point game. ... The seven goals tied Toronto's highest output from last season, a 7-1 home victory over the New York Islanders on Feb. 14.

UP NEXT:

Maple Leafs: Host New York Rangers on Saturday night.

Jets: At Calgary on Saturday night.

Malone scores in shootout to send Wild past Jets

Ryan Malone scored the only goal in the shootout to lift the Minnesota Wild past the Winnipeg Jets, 3-2, at Bell MTS Place.

It was the first preseason game for each team.

Charlie Coyle and Zack Mitchell scored, and Niklas Svedberg stopped all 17 shots he faced through two periods for the Wild.

Steve Michalek made 13 saves in the third period, six in overtime and three straight in the shootout.

Mathieu Perreault and Patrik Laine scored for the Jets. Connor Hellebuyck played the entire game and made 34 saves.

Iginla powers Avalanche past Jets 5-2

Jarome Iginla had a goal and an assist, and the reeling Colorado Avalanche beat the Winnipeg Jets 5-2 on Saturday.

Matt Nieto scored twice and Matt Duchene added three assists, helping Colorado stop a nine-game losing streak. Nathan MacKinnon and Carl Soderberg also scored, and Calvin Pickard had 23 saves.

Colorado improved to 5-24-2 in its last 31 games. It also snapped a five-game skid at Pepsi Center, where it is 6-18-1 overall.

Adam Lowry scored each of Winnipeg's goals, stopping a 21-game drought. The Jets had won three in a row.

Nieto broke a 2-2 tie midway through the second period, and Soderberg made it 4-2 2:04 into the third with his fifth of the season.

The game got heated midway through the third when Colorado defenseman Nikita Zadorov delivered an open-ice check on Mark Scheifele. It was the second hard check Zadorov had on the Winnipeg center, and Jets defenseman Jacob Trouba went after Zadorov. Both received fighting majors and Trouba a game misconduct.

The Jets pulled Ondrej Pavelec for an extra skater with 2:20 left and Nieto scored into the empty net in the final minute.

Pavelec finished with 23 saves.

Iginla, who has talked openly about wanting to finish the season with a contender, assisted on Soderberg's goal and scored on the power play 5:27 into the game. He has seven goals and seven assists in 49 games this season.

NOTES: Jets C Bryan Little was helped off the ice off midway through the third period after taking a shot off his left skate. ... D Mark Barberio made his Avalanche debut. He was picked up off waivers from Montreal on Thursday. ... Jets RW Drew Stafford missed his sixth straight game with a lower-body injury. He practiced Friday and could return when the Jets start a four-game homestand on Tuesday.

UP NEXT

Jets: Host Minnesota on Tuesday night.

Avalanche: Host Montreal on Tuesday night.

Matthias, Hutchinson lead Jets to 1-0 win over Avalanche

Michael Hutchinson was all warmed up by the time the Colorado Avalanche finally shook off the rust from a long layoff.

At that point, nothing was getting by him.

Hutchinson stopped 37 shots for his third career NHL shutout, Shawn Matthias scored in the second period against his former team and the Winnipeg Jets beat the Avalanche 1-0 on Friday night.

Early on, the Jets were more energetic despite playing their third game in four days, including a 4-1 win over Dallas the night before.

Meanwhile, Colorado looked a bit out of sync after a week break. The Avalanche got their offense working in the third period, outshooting the Jets 20-4. But they couldn't solve Hutchinson as he recorded his first shutout since Jan. 15, 2015, against Columbus.

"We knew with them having those days off, there's a chance they could come out with a little bit of a slower start," Hutchinson said. "With us playing last night, we knew it was important to get a jump on them early. We did exactly what we had to do."

The Avalanche pulled Semyon Varlamov with around 1:22 remaining, but couldn't capitalize.

Varlamov stopped 20 shots, his only mistake not sliding over in time to stop Matthias' wrist shot.

Colorado went on the power play late in the final period and had a golden chance with Hutchinson down on the ice. But Rene Bourque's shot from out front appeared to hit forward Brandon Tanev and sail wide of the net.

Hutchinson also came up big midway through the third period by stopping Joe Colborne, who coasted in all alone and tried to thread the puck between Hutchinson's legs.

"This one stinks," Colorado captain Gabriel Landeskog said. "We really wanted this one. Especially after coming off an extended break."

Simply ran into a hot goaltender.

"Their goalie stole one for them," forward Nathan MacKinnon succinctly said.

Colorado's alternate blue sweater hasn't exactly been lucky. The team is 5-9-1 since the jersey's debut last season.

Jarome Iginla remains in a goal-scoring funk. He had a point-blank shot moments into the third period and was thwarted by Hutchinson. Iginla has just one goal so far this season. He's 16th on the league's all-time goal-scoring list.

Matthias gave the Jets 1-0 lead at 8:29 of the second period when he guided in a perfect cross-ice pass fromJoel Armia. Matthias played for the Avalanche last season after being acquired in a February deal with Toronto. He had six goals in 20 games for Colorado.

"Nice to score against your former team," Matthias said. "There's no animosity toward any old team. Just playing hard for the Jets."

Winnipeg nearly had a power-play goal midway through the first period when Mark Scheifele poked in a shot between the pads of Varlamov. But the officials blew the whistle just before the puck rolled into the net.

Scheifele pleaded to no avail.

Patrik Laine, the No. 2 overall pick in June who already has six goals, unleashed a few quality shots only to be turned back by Varlamov. Laine is good friends with Avalanche forward Mikko Rantanen, who was making his season debut after being called up from San Antonio of the American Hockey League.

They pair helped Team Finland to the 2016 world junior hockey championship. They also practiced together this summer.

"It will be fun," Rantanen said of the friendly rival.

Rantanen was the 10th overall pick in 2015. His locker once belonged to Avalanche standout Milan Hejduk.

"Maybe Mikko will take the great energy that was in that stall," Landeskog cracked.

NOTES: Jets D Dustin Byfuglien recorded the 800th penalty minute of his career with a tripping call in the second period. He also was called for another penalty in the closing seconds. ... F Drew Stafford missed a second straight game with an upper-body injury. ... D Fedor Tyutin (groin) sat out a second straight game. ... FJohn Mitchell (hip) made his season debut.

UP NEXT

Jets: Host Buffalo on Sunday.

Avalanche: At Arizona on Saturday in their second back-to-back set this season.

Laine scores 2 on power play, Jets beat Stars 4-1

When Patrik Laine was drafted by the Winnipeg Jets this summer, he knew the team's power play had finished at the bottom of the NHL last season.

The 18-year-old forward wanted to help - and he has in a big way.

Laine scored twice on the power play to help the Jets beat the Dallas Stars 4-1 on Thursday night.

"When I came here, they had the worst power play last year so I thought that I could bring something to the power play," Laine said. "And now I've got a couple goals on the power play. Those are important goals for these games. I'm just trying to help my team to win."

Laine has four of Winnipeg's five power-play goals through seven games. He has six goals overall - tying him for the league lead with a number of players, including fellow rookieAuston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

"We've played only seven games, but it's nice that I've got those goals and helped my team to win with those games," Laine said.

Jets coach Paul Maurice said Laine doesn't show much emotion when he scores because the sniper is used to it.

"He's a spectacular shooter," Maurice said. "He's a really humble person. It's important to him that he portrays himself like that. ... He's probably not going to be throwing a parade for himself after he scores a couple of goals. He has that expectation."

Defenseman Tyler Myers got the Jets on the scoreboard 15 seconds into the game and rookie Kyle Connorgot his first NHL goal. Connor Hellebuyck had 38 saves.

Winnipeg, which lost at Dallas in the opener of the home-and-home on Tuesday, has scored five power-play goals this season, with the 18-year-old Laine getting four.

With Dallas trailing 3-0, Tyler Seguin scored his fourth of the season 33 seconds into in the third period.

"I'm not going to sit here and say they were completely outskating us or completely out-battling us," Seguin said. "I thought we could have made some smarter choices. But we lost. We're going to move on and get ready for Saturday night (against Minnesota)."

Antti Niemi stopped 32 shots for the Stars.

Winnipeg was 2 for 7 on the power play and Dallas went 1 for 6.

Stars head coach Lindy Ruff said special teams was the difference.

"Five-on-five, we probably had the edge in the chances, but special teams, they generated a lot of energy and a couple goals," Ruff said. "We got off to a tough start with that shot going in, but I thought our work ethic inside the game was good."

Winnipeg got off to a fast start and outshot Dallas 22-13 in the opening period. In the opening minute, Myers took advantage of a loose puck bouncing off the boards in the Dallas end to fire a one-timer from the point past Niemi.

Both teams then took turns on the power play, but neither capitalized.

Dallas had a two-man advantage for 1:16, then the Jets got on the power play and fired eight shots on Niemi in just over 1 1/2 minutes.

Nikolaj Ehlers and Connor then went down the ice on a 2-on-1 at even strength, with Ehlers passing the puck across the ice for Connor's high shot to double the lead with 3:48 left in the first.

"Nicky made a great pass over and I just tried to get it upstairs," Connor said. "It's definitely a special feeling. You work so hard to get to this point and to get rewarded like that feels good."

Connor, who was a healthy scratch in Tuesday's loss, was playing his sixth game of the season.

Laine's fifth of the season at 4:30 of the second made it 3-0 just 8 seconds after Stars defenseman John Klingberg was sent off for hooking.

Seconds after Seguin's goal, Jets defenseman Dustin Byfuglien crashed into the boards after getting tangled up with Stars forward Antoine Roussel, but only went to the dressing room for a few minutes.

Laine scored his second of the game with 6 seconds left in a two-man advantage on a shot into the left side of the net that made it 4-1 at 10:17.

NOTES: The Jets had gone into the game only holding a lead for a total 17:02 in their first six games. ... Laine's second-period goal marked the first time this season Winnipeg held a three-goal lead, and the first time the Jets hadn't trailed going into the third.

UP NEXT

Stars: At Minnesota on Saturday night in the middle game of a three-game trip.

Jets: At Colorado on Friday night in the back end of their first of 14 back-to-backs this season.

Niemi makes 28 saves, Stars beat Jets 3-2

 Antti Niemi made 28 saves, but more important than how many he made was when he made them in the Dallas Stars' 3-2 victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday night.

"It wasn't that he was tested in bunches," Stars coach Lindy Ruff said, "but he had to make some huge saves for us. Breakaway saves, there was a couple game-changers."

The most important might have been two saves by Niemi in the latter half of the first period while the game was still 0-0.

He stopped a breakaway by Alexander Burmistrov and a shot by Mark Scheifele on a 2-on-1.

Seconds later, the Stars had a 2-on-1. Curtis McKenziepassed back into the slot to Brett Ritchie, who sent a wrist shot past Michael Hutchinson at 14:37 and Dallas never trailed again.

The win salvaged the last game of Dallas' 1-1-1 home stand. Winnipeg lost its second straight and fourth in five games.

Patrick Eaves and Tyler Seguin also scored for the Stars while Hutchinson had 23 saves.

Stars rookie center Devin Shore had two assists.

The goals against Niemi came in the closing seconds of the second and third periods. Joel Armia beat him to the puck to score with 5 seconds left in the second, and Scheifele put in a rebound on the power play with 9 seconds to play in the third.

Dallas spent most of the first 5 minutes of the second period killing two penalties.

The teams skated 4-on-4 for 35 seconds before Eaves scored his 100th career goal from high in the slot at 5:02.

"It's pretty cool," he said. "I've been fortunate to play with a lot of good players. More importantly, it helped towards a divisional win."

Eaves had returned after missing a game with a lower-body injury. He added experience to an injury-riddled Dallas front line weakened even more because Jason Spezza sat out with a lower-body injury.

Shore passed from behind the net to set up Eaves' goal. Another assist went to center Justin Dowling, in his NHL debut after playing 324 games in the minor leagues. He was recalled from Texas of the AHL to fill in for Spezza.

"I thought we had a great night out of (Dowling's) line," Ruff said. "We got a good night out of the Shore line."

Armia brought Winnipeg within 2-1 by taking the puck away from Niemi behind the net to score his first goal on a wraparound. Niemi had stopped two other good chances by Armia earlier in the second.

"Joel was moving his feet with the puck and when he does that, boy, he creates some things," Winnipeg coach Paul Maurice said.

Seguin scored at 7:27 of the third period with a wrist shot from the right faceoff circle.

NOTES: Dallas had been 1 for 13 on the power play during the 10 previous periods before Eaves' goal. Winnipeg's challenge that the Stars had interfered with Hutchinson was denied. "They push our defenseman right on top of me and it's a bang-bang play," Hutchinson said. "I don't know why it wasn't goalie interference." ... Winnipeg's power play had been 1 for 18 in the last five games before Scheifele's goal. ... After being outscored 11-1 in the second period of their first five games, the Jets dominated the middle period. They outshot Dallas 13-7 and won 12 of 17 faceoffs. ... Armia had scored two goals in Winnipeg's last visit to Dallas, a 6-3 win on Feb. 25. ... The Jets have pulled their goalie in the closing minutes in all six games this season.

UP NEXT

Jets: They will host Dallas on Thursday in the back end of two home-and-home games.

Stars: Dallas will travel to Winnipeg to face the Jets on Thursday.

After sun delay, Oilers beat Jets 3-0 in Heritage Classic

 Cam Talbot has watched two outdoor NHL games from the bench in his career. He made the most of his first chance to play in one Sunday.

Talbot made 31 saves and Mark Letestu scored the first of three second-period goals, lifting the Edmonton Oilers over the Winnipeg Jets in an outdoor game delayed almost two hours by sunlight melting the ice.

The Heritage Classic victory extended Edmonton's winning streak to three in front of 33,240 at Investors Group Field. Fans wore both Jets and Oilers jerseys to the league's 19th outdoor game.

Talbot got his 12th career shutout and first this season.

"I was really excited for this one, obviously, to get a chance to play in my first game," said Talbot, who was a backup when his former New York Rangers played in two Stadium Series games.

"The atmosphere was great out there, the ice was in pretty good condition. It was just one heck of a weekend."

Zack Kassian had a goal and an assist and Darnell Nursealso scored for Edmonton.

Connor Hellebuyck, who had a tuque attached to his helmet, stopped 29 shots for Winnipeg.

"Certainly would have liked to give the fans one reason to get out of their seats today (but) we couldn't do that for them," Jets coach Paul Maurice said.

The NHL said the start of the Heritage Classic game was delayed "due to intermittent sunlight on the playing surface" and "in the interest of player safety."

"The boys wanted to get out there right away, but the delay put a damper on things," Kassian said. "But once things got underway, walking out there was pretty special."

His goal was a bonus.

"That's just icing on the cake," Kassian said. "I think going into it, you want to enjoy the experience as much as you can, but most importantly, you want to get two points."

The Jets committed a series of errors that allowed Edmonton to break the game open in the second period.

Winnipeg was on a power play midway through the period when defenseman Dustin Byfuglien failed to get his stick on a loose puck in the Oilers end. Letestu picked it up and went in alone on Hellebuyck, beating him with a low shot for a shorthanded goal at 9:24.

Nurse emerged from the penalty box a couple minutes later and broke for a 2-on-1 with Connor McDavid. Nurse took a pass from McDavid, then sent a shot over Hellebuyck's glove with 8:50 left.

McDavid has four goals and five assists in six games.

Edmonton coach Todd McLellan said his team's penalty kill "came up big."

"Not only with the shorthanded goal, but almost in the same kill," McLellan said. "We go down and Darnell steps out of the box and we score another one, so that's deflating (for the Jets). That happened to us earlier in the year."

Kassian gave the Oilers a three-goal advantage with 2:44 left after Jets rookie Patrik Laine turned over the puck.

"I just tried something stupid and they got the puck and scored," Laine said. "It was my mistake and my man. I just want to learn from that mistake and move on."

Edmonton had a two-man advantage for 55 seconds midway through the third period but couldn't stretch its lead.

NOTES: Jets veteran defenseman Mark Stuart and forward Chris Thorburn were healthy scratches. The Oilers sat forward Anton Slepyshev and defenseman Matthew Benning.

UP NEXT

Oilers: Host the Capitals on Wednesday night.

Jets: Play at Dallas on Tuesday night.

Laine gets 3rd goal in OT to lift Jets over Maple Leafs

Rookie Patrik Laine got the last laugh in his anticipated showdown with Auston Matthews, then cracked a joke or two after.

Laine completed a hat trick 2:40 into overtime, helping the Winnipeg Jets overcome a four-goal deficit to beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-4 on Wednesday night.

Laine got the better of his first head-to-head matchup against fellow rookie Matthews, tying the game with 55 seconds left in the third before winning it in overtime. The confident Finn went second overall in the 2016 draft behind Matthews, despite Laine's public insistence he should have gone first.

"I think it was just a normal regular season game," Laine said with a chuckle.

Laine got his third goal with a wrist shot on a 2-on-1 rush. He swooped behind the net with his arms raised after scoring, and his teammates hopped on the ice to celebrate while hats poured down from the stands.

Laine has four goals on the season, tying Matthews and three others for the NHL lead.

Fans chanted "Laine better" during the game, music to the rookie's young ears.

"Yeah, I heard something and that sounds pretty good," Laine said. "That's their opinion and I'm not going to say anything about that."

Matthews heard the chants, too.

"It's a great atmosphere," Matthews said. "Obviously, Winnipeg is a great hockey city so that's what you get when you play these types of teams. You got to block it out and just have fun with it."

Laine scored in overtime right after Matthews was stopped by goaltender Michael Hutchinson at the other end.

"Two great young players that are going to give their fans reasons to have nights like this over the course of the year, over the course of their careers, starting now," Jets coach Paul Maurice said. "We've just seen brilliance from both of them in the first four games of the season. Lucky for Winnipeg fans and lucky for Toronto fans we get to watch two great young players."

Winnipeg was down 4-0 early in the second before getting goals from Tyler Myers, Laine and Mark Scheifele, who made it 4-3 at 6:05 of the third.

Laine tied it on the power play with Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly in the box for cross-checking Scheifele, who also had a pair of assists.

"That was a big play for them and I'll take blame for that one," Rielly said.

In their season opener against Carolina, the Jets were down 4-1 early in the third and came back to win 5-4 in overtime.

Nazem Kadri scored twice for Toronto and Connor Carrick and William Nylander also had goals. Nylander added an assist.

Hutchinson made 36 saves for Winnipeg and Frederik Andersen stopped 29 shots for Toronto.

Carrick opened the scoring at 6:46 of the first off a rebound, and Kadri made it 2-0 with a low shot from the slot at 16:12.

Toronto then used a pair of power-play goals to make it 4-0 early in the second.

Nylander scored with 2 seconds left on a five-on-three power play 6:47 into the second. Kadri followed with his second goal of the game 8 seconds later.

Winnipeg got its own power play in the middle period, but Andersen made three great saves within a few seconds.

A minute after the Leafs' penalty expired, Myers and Scheifele got on a 2-on-1, with Scheifele passing the puck to Myers across the ice in front Carrick for Myers' goal at 13:04 and the 4-1 score.

Laine scored a minute into the third when he took a pass from Byfuglien at the point, turned and fired a wrist shot by Andersen.

Five minutes later, Scheifele blasted a shot past Andersen on the stick side for his third goal of the season.

NOTES: Laine also has one assist for five points in four games this season. Matthews got his first NHL assist Wednesday and has five points in three games.

UP NEXT:

Jets: Play in Sunday's outdoor Heritage Classic against Edmonton.

Maple Leafs: Travel to Minnesota for a game Thursday.