Jonsson-Fjallby snaps tie, Jets rally for 6-4 win over Kings
By JOE REEDY
AP Sports Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Axel Jonsson-Fjallby scored the go-ahead goal on a deflection during the third period and the Winnipeg Jets rallied for a 6-4 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday night.
Adam Lowry had a goal and an assist for the Jets, who won consecutive games for the first time this season. Mark Scheifele, Pierre-Luc Dubois, Nate Schmidt and Blake Wheeler also scored for Winnipeg, which had 12 players on the scoresheet.
Connor Hellebuyck stopped 39 shots.
“There’s a lot of mistakes that happened, but there’s a lot of good things also,” Jets assistant coach Scott Arniel said. “We found a way, and you can never criticize a win. We’ll file that one away and move on to Arizona.”
Gabriel Vilardi and Blake Lizotte scored for the second straight game for the Kings, who have dropped three of four. Trevor Moore had a goal and an assist, while Arthur Kaliyev also scored. Jonathan Quick made 13 saves.
Brenden Dillon got a turnover deep in the offensive zone and fired a shot that Jonsson-Fjallby redirected past Quick at 14:23. Wheeler added an empty-net goal in the final minute.
The Kings took a 3-1 lead with three goals in less than five minutes during the first period. The scoring spurt included goals by Kaliyev and Lizotte during a 66-second span midway through the period.
The turning point came with 1:52 remaining in the first when Lowry scored a shorthanded goal on a 2-on-1 rush to pull the Jets within 3-2 after 20 minutes.
That was the first of three straight goals by the Jets, including Schmidt’s snap shot from the point that found its way through traffic with 1:05 remaining in the second to give Winnipeg a 4-3 advantage.
“Obviously, don’t like our start. I think we were getting outshot 15-1 at one point,” Lowry said. “So definitely to kind of escape the first period down by one was huge. It gave us some confidence to find our game at the intermission and come out with a much better effort in the second.”
Moore tied it at 4:45 of the third with a wrist shot that beat Hellebuyck on his blocker side.
“I told the guys between the second and third, `We all own a piece of this. So dig yourselves out,’ and we didn’t do it,” Kings coach Todd McLellan said.
BEHIND THE BENCH
Arniel continues to coach the Jets while Rick Bowness gets more rest following his recent bout with COVID-19.
VILARDI’S HOT START
Vilardi scored at 14:33 of the first to give the Kings a 3-1 lead. He got his sixth goal of the season when he tipped in Kevin Fiala’s shot after it deflected off Schmidt’s stick and Hellebuyck was unable to corral the loose puck.
Vilardi — the Kings’ leading scorer with 10 points — has already surpassed his goal total from last season when he had five in 25 games. His career high is 10 in 54 games during 2020-21.
His eight even-strength points are tied for second in the NHL.
STARTING IT OFF
Scheifele’s breakaway goal 5:03 into the first period was his 46th career game-opening score. The center is just two shy of Ilya Kovalchuk (48) for the most in Jets/Thrashers history.
UP NEXT
Jets: Wrap up their three-game trip against the Arizona Coyotes on Friday.
Kings: Host the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday in the finale of their three-game homestand.
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