Morrissey's 3-point night leads Jets past Oilers in high-scoring affair
Draisaitl's hat trick not enough as Edmonton suffers 7-5 loss in Winnipeg
Defenceman Josh Morrissey knew the Jets needed to rebound from a deflating loss to the Oilers in Edmonton the night before.
Morrissey scored two goals and an assist to lead Winnipeg to a 7-5 victory over the Oilers before a sold-out crowd of 15,324 at Canada Life Centre on Saturday.
The Oilers had scored an early power-play goal en route to a 6-3 triumph over Winnipeg on Friday. But the Jets stuck with it in a back-and-forth battle.
"I think that shows that we were ready to play tonight, and even some adversity early wasn't going to affect our ability to keep playing and play the rest of the 50 minutes, or whatever it was," Morrissey said.
WATCH | Morrissey powers Jets past Oilers:
Mark Scheifele, Adam Lowry, Kyle Copabianco, Morgan Barron and Dylan DeMelo, into an empty net, also scored for the Jets, who snapped a five-game winless streak and a three-game losing skid at home.
Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl scored three goals, while Mattias Janmark and Nick Bjugstad added singles.
Connor Hellebuyck stopped 30-of-35 shots for Winnipeg (36-25-2), which improved its home record to 21-10-1.
Netminder Jack Campbell made 31 saves on 37 shots for Edmonton (34-22-8).
Lowry snaps longest goalless drought of career
Lowry snapped a 35-game goalless drought — the longest of his career — when he tipped a pass from Barron into the net to tie the game 3-3 early in the second period.
"Honestly, it was huge," admitted a relieved Lowry. "The longer that thing goes on, the more you think about it and the more ways it just starts affecting other parts of your game.
"It's nice to get that out of the way. [Barron] snapped his slump as well. Nice to get a little secondary scoring and get back into the win column."
Barron had a 20-game drought.
"They've got a couple of guys that are among the best in the world, the best player in the world [Connor McDavid], and Leon, who is in the conversation as well," Lowry said.
Draisaitl, who extended his scoring streak to 12 games, scored his 25th and 26th power-play goals of the season, which is now a franchise record. But he was in no mood to celebrate.
"They played a good game, but we obviously gave them way too many chances," said Draisaitl, who was asked if he enjoyed a game where 12 goals were scored. "No, not necessarily. You know, we play to win and win the race to make the playoffs here first. So, I'd rather take a 1-0 win."
After Bjugstad scored to pull within 6-5 early in the third period, the Oilers came close to tying the game.
"Yeah, we had a bunch of looks," Draisaitl said. "Their goalie made the right saves at the right time. We had our chances but obviously, we don't want to chase the sixth, or the seventh goal. So, it's something to clean up."
McDavid breaks Gretzky's franchise record
McDavid also recorded his 58th power-play point, breaking Wayne Gretzky's franchise record.
"I thought it was a sloppily-played game in many regards both ways," said Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft, who denied that the Jets had baited Edmonton into a track meet.
Newly acquired Jets forward Vladislav Namestnikov suited up for the first time since being obtained from the San Jose Sharks at Friday's trade deadline.
Winnipeg centre Pierre-Luc Dubois missed his second straight game with an upper-body injury, while forward Mason Appleton was placed on injured reserve due to an upper-body injury
The Jets host the San Jose Sharks on Monday.
The Oilers next play in Buffalo against the Sabres on Monday.
