Nino Niederreiter and Morgan Barron each scored in the second period to lift the visiting Winnipeg Jets to a 3-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday night.
Winnipeg’s Nate Schmidt also scored a goal and fellow blueliner Brenden Dillon notched an assist in his 800th career game. Connor Hellebuyck made 33 saves for the Jets, who have won two in a row after losing seven of their previous eight games (1-5-2).
Winnipeg also completed a season sweep of Tampa Bay. The Jets posted a 4-2 victory over the Lightning in Winnipeg on Jan. 6.
Tampa Bay’s Anthony Cirelli collected a goal and an assist, Alex Killorn also tallied and Brandon Hagel notched two assists. Andrei Vasilevskiy turned aside 19 shots for the slumping Lightning, who have lost 10 of their last 14 games (4-6-4).
Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov was held off the scoresheet to see his 24-game home point streak come to a halt. Lightning captain Steven Stamkos also was kept in check and had two shots on goal after exiting Saturday’s 3-1 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks due to a left leg injury.
Niederreiter cleaned up a rebound in front to give Winnipeg a 2-1 lead at 1:01 of the second period. Niederreiter’s goal was his 21st of the season and third in his last four games.
Barron doubled the advantage at 9:04 of the second period when he deposited a loose puck in front past Vasilevskiy. Barron’s goal was his seventh of the season and second in his last five games.
Cirelli halved the deficit just 57 seconds later after reeling in Hagel’s lead pass and converting a breakaway for a short-handed goal. The goal was Cirelli’s 10th goal of the season and first since Feb. 26.
Killorn’s shot trickled over the goal line to open the scoring at 1:19 of the first period before Schmidt’s bid from the point slipped past Vasilevskiy nearly nine minutes later.
–Field Level Media
