Werenski hits 400 points but Jackets lose at Winnipeg

WINNIPEG -- Mark Scheifele had the primary assist on three Winnipeg Jets goals in a 5-2 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Canada Life Centre on Tuesday.

Scheifele also became the franchise’s all-time leader in games played, skating in his 898th career game, all with Winnipeg. He passed Blake Wheeler for the most in Jets/Atlanta Thrashers history.

“That's special,” Winnipeg coach Scott Arniel said. “To be able to stay healthy -- the other side is that he's an elite athlete. He takes a lot of pride in his body so that he can play close to 82 games every year. Just the consistency."

Kyle Connor, Josh Morrissey, and Neal Pionk each had a goal and an assist, and Eric Comrie made 20 saves for the Jets (12-7-0), who have won three of their past four. Nino Niederreiter had two assists.

“I thought the first period we played really well,” Scheifele said. “In the second period we kind of got a little bit away from it. … But then in the third we tried to have speed, tried to have support. They didn’t have a lot of plays through the neutral zone. We were able to turn pucks over and reattack.”

Miles Wood and Zach Werenski scored for the Blue Jackets (10-8-2), who had a five-game point streak end (3-0-2). Elvis Merzlikins made 25 saves.

Columbus was coming off a 4-3 shootout victory against the Montreal Canadiens on Monday.

“It just seemed like every time we had a little push, then it sagged again on us a little bit,” Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason said. “We’ll have a look at the tape and figure that out. But again, we're in the hockey game for the most part early. Like I said, it just got away from us at the end of it.”

Adam Lowry gave Winnipeg a 1-0 lead at 7:35 of the first period with his first goal of the season when Niederreiter set him up to score from the low slot.

“I like the fact we went after them in the first five minutes,” Arniel said. “We did a really good job of not letting them get themselves warmed up and into the game. We knew that they had a late night last night with playing [the Canadiens]. You have to do that. When you get those opportunities, you have to pounce on teams. [For Lowry], that’s a big goal to get it started.”

Wood tied it 1-1 at 18:27. Damon Severson sprung Wood on a breakaway with a pass from deep in the Columbus zone, and he raced past Winnipeg defenseman Dylan DeMelo before beating Comrie five-hole with a deke to the backhand.

"To be honest, as you're skating up the ice that fast you're not thinking about a move -- it's just instinctual," Wood said. "My brain just kind of took over there, but it was a great play by [Severson]."

Morrissey put the Jets in front 2-1 at 1:12 of the second period. He tapped in Scheifele’s backdoor pass near the left post.

“I was just waiting for lanes to open up and kind of saw Josh start to go towards the back door,” Scheifele said. “I just saw the positioning of the D-man and tried to make a good pass and put it on his tape, and a great finish by him.”

Scheifele has six points (two goals, four assists) during a three-game point streak.

“[Scheifele’s] showing, obviously, his ability to score throughout the year,” Connor said. “But we all know he's a great passer, and he seems to, whatever it is, kind of pull a guy to him, [and] put it through the triangle. He's got great hands in tight, and so a couple great passes tonight to show off.”

Pionk pushed it to 3-1 at 15:30, scoring on the power play with a one-timer from the top of the left face-off circle.

Connor then made it 4-1 at 2:45 of the third period. He drove down the left side and banked a shot off Merzlikins’ right shoulder from a sharp angle.

“It was a pretty wide angle,” Connor said. “Just as it got down there, the pass was kind of taken (away). And I was able to look and saw a little bit of room, and, yeah, I just put it upstairs.”

Werenski cut it to 4-2 at 4:04 with a wrist shot from the slot before Logan Stanley scored with a slap shot from high in the left circle at 6:23 for the 5-2 final.

“I've seen it the last few years, they've been a really good team in this league,” Werenski said of the Jets. “And I felt like we had some jump tonight -- I felt like it wasn't for lack of effort. It was tough to create. They didn't really give us much. A couple breakdowns here and there, and it's in the back of our net. So I didn't hate the way we worked or played, but we can eliminate some of those breakdowns and we're probably [in] a closer game tonight.”

NOTES: Werenski became the first defenseman in Blue Jackets history with 400 career points and is two from tying Cam Atkinson (402) for second on the team’s all-time list, behind Rick Nash (547). Werenski has 119 goals and 281 assists in 587 games, all with Columbus. … Blue Jackets forward Kirill Marchenko had a 12-game point streak end (15 points; three goals, 12 assists). … Lowry was playing his seventh game of the season after missing the first 12 while recovering from offseason hip surgery.