Jets score 8, ease past Sharks to remain undefeated

WINNIPEG -- Cole Perfetti, Neal Pionk and Vladislav Namestnikov each had four points, and the Winnipeg Jets remained undefeated with an 8-3 win against the San Jose Sharks at Canada Life Centre on Friday.

Perfetti had two goals and two assists, and Pionk and Namestnikov each had a goal and three assists. Each recorded his first four-point game in the NHL.

“Whenever you score, it gives you a boost of confidence,” Namestnikov said. “But in this league, you can’t get too high and you can’t get too low. We kind of enjoy the night tonight, but then move on to [the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday].”

The Jets (4-0-0) are among three NHL teams yet to lose this season, along with the Calgary Flames (4-0-0) and Tampa Bay Lightning (3-0-0).

“I thought the first three games weren’t the greatest for us,” Namestnikov said. “We really couldn’t get anything going. But tonight, we are all using our speed and our skill, getting those pucks on net, and it worked out today.”

Nikolaj Ehlers had two goals and an assist for Winnipeg, which scored four goals in the first period. Connor Hellebuyck made 19 saves in his 500th NHL start.

“We were due to help [Hellebuyck] out and score for him,” Perfetti said. “He’s bailed us out multiple times, so it was nice to do that for him in tonight’s game.”

Tyler Toffoli, Luke Kunin, and Fabian Zetterlund scored for the Sharks (0-3-2), who were coming off a 4-2 loss at the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday. Mackenzie Blackwood was pulled at 1:46 of the second period after allowing five goals on 18 shots. Vitek Vanecek made 15 saves in relief.

“[Winnipeg] did a lot of things well,” San Jose coach Ryan Warsofsky said. “They were faster than us. They skated with the puck more through the neutral zone. They were probably more connected in their own end, and in the offensive zone they gave us some trouble with some motion.”

Josh Morrissey gave the Jets a 1-0 lead at 1:59 of the first period with a wrist shot through traffic.

Ehlers’ three points came in the first period. With two Sharks in the penalty box and the Jets holding a 5-on-3 advantage, Ehlers’ one-timer from below the face-off dot made it 2-0 at 9:25.

Following a turnover by Mikael Granlund in the neutral zone, Perfetti set Ehlers up for a shot from the high slot on the rush that made it 3-1 at 13:31.

“I thought tonight [linemates Namestnikov, Ehlers and Perfetti] were very cohesive,” Winnipeg coach Scott Arniel said. “They worked together. Real good close support. They didn't have to try high-risk things; they just kept it simple and obviously got rewarded for it.

"All three of those guys have real good skill. They complement each other. … There's been games where -- maybe it's a period -- one of them is going, two of them are going. It was never all three. And tonight, it was all three right from the start."

Winnipeg went 4-for-7 on the power play on Friday and is 7-for-14 on the season.

“We took a lot of penalties in Chicago and we took a lot of penalties here,” said Vanecek, whose team was 5-for-7 on the penalty kill against the Blackhawks. “This is the best league in the world. They’re good on the power play. [It’s] not good.”

Toffoli cut it to 2-1 on the power play at 11:43 of the first, scored in his first game against his former team.

After Ehlers made it 3-1, Pionk increased the lead to 4-1 at 18:48, scoring on the power play after Ehlers’ second goal.

Kyle Connor extended it to 5-1 at 1:46 of the second, scoring with a shot from the high slot on the rush. Blackwood was then replaced by Vanecek.

Kunin cut it to 5-2 at 10:28 on a wrist shot in the slot that beat Hellebuyck five-hole.

“We’ve got to stay out of the box,” Kunin said. “Our team has done a good job sometimes on the kill and getting momentum for our team. But I think we’re a team when we’re rolling four lines, on the power play, when we’re not in the box playing short, we attack and play our game, and that needs to be addressed as well. Just play that consistent hockey that we’ve been talking about.”

Perfetti’s first power-play goal of the third period at 9:50 pushed it to 6-2.

Zetterlund scored 19 seconds later to make it 6-3.

“We need to just put these two games behind [us],” Vanecek said. “Now we’re coming back home. One game at home and then [we need] to step up and -- new game.”

Perfetti scored his second power-play goal at 12:55, extending it to 7-3, before Namestnikov scored at 19:27 for the 8-3 final.

“[Penalties are] part of the problem, for sure,” Warsofsky said. “That’s too many two nights in a row. You chase games that way, and obviously [they have] a good power play, so that’s one thing we need to correct.”

NOTES: Toffoli (four goals, one assist) became the first player to score at least four goals in his first five games with the Sharks since Tomas Hertl had seven goals in 2013-14. Toffoli signed a four-year, $24 million contract ($6 million average annual value) with San Jose on July 1 after finishing last season with Winnipeg following a trade from the New Jersey Devils on March 8. … Pionk tied the Jets/Atlanta Thrashers record for points in a game by a defenseman and became the fifth player at the position to hit the mark. … Ehlers recorded the fifth three-point period of his NHL career. Only two other players have as many since the franchise relocated to Winnipeg for the 2011-12 season: Blake Wheeler (six) and Mark Scheifele (five).