Paul Statstny scores twice as Jets beat Tampa Bay 7-4

Updated Mar. 8, 2022 11:27 p.m. ET

Associated Press

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — Paul Statstny scored twice to lead the Winnipeg Jets to a 7-4 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night.

Mark Scheifele had a goal and three assists, and Josh Morrissey, Pierre-Luc Dubois and Adam Lowry also scored for Winnipeg, which improved to 25-22-10. Stastny and Kyle Connor scored into empty nets late. Connor Hellebuyck stopped 20 of 24 shots.

Russ Colton, Victor Hedman, Alex Killorn and Ryan McDonagh scored for Tampa Bay. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 28 saves on 33 shots.

Connor gave Winnipeg a two-goal margin with a short-handed goal at 8:12 of the third period. Lightning defenseman Mikhail Sergachev lost the puck when he fell. Connor picked it up and deked Vasilevsky, scoring unassisted and increasing the lead to 5-3.

After the teams had skated to a scoreless second period, Dubois scored a power-play goal at 7:25 to give the Jets a 4-3 lead. Dubois pounced on a Connor rebound. Morrissey also assisted.

The Lightning rebounded from a 3-1 deficit in the first period by scoring goals 1:24 apart. That knotted the score at 3-all heading into the second. Killorn scored at 16:01 after being set up alone in front of Hellebuyck by forward Corey Perry. Steven Stamkos also assisted. Hedman then scored the tying goal at 17:35 with a high wrist shot that beat Hellebuyck. Forwards Nikita Kucherov and Anthony Cirelli assisted.

Stastny had given the Jets a 3-1 lead when he took a nifty pass from defenseman Neal Pionk, and his shot barely got by Vasilevskiy. Scheifele also assisted.

McDonagh pulled the Lightning within 2-1 when he converted a 2-on-1 with Mathieu Joseph at 11:50. Mathieu had intercepted an attempted pass by Dubois to create the 2-on-1.

The Jets jumped out to a 2-0 lead early in the opening period with goals just 1:52 apart. Lowry quickly put a Brenden Dillon rebound past Vasilevskiy at 6:11. Forward Nikolaj Ehlers also assisted.

Scheifele had opened the scoring at 4:19 when he took advantage of a Logan Stanley rebound and backhanded the puck past Vasilevskiy. Nate Schmidt also assisted.

UP NEXT

Tampa Bay: At Calgary Flames on Thursday in the third game of a six-game trip.

Winnipeg: At New Jersey Devils on Thursday in the first of a three-game trip.

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Paul Statstny scores twice as Jets beat Tampa Bay 7-4

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