The shape of it was simple. Winnipeg scored 2 in the 1st, New Jersey answered with 2 in the 2nd, and the Jets took the 3rd 2-0. Jesper Bratt and Cody Glass scored for the Devils. Bratt had 2 assists in the Toronto shutout and stayed productive here. The rest of the top 6 the preview talked up didn't touch the scoresheet. Timo Meier, Nico Hischier and Jack Hughes all came in hot and none of them scored. The board had New Jersey as the road favorite, and the hotter team lost outright.
Special teams decided it. Winnipeg scored 2 power-play goals and New Jersey scored none, which covers the margin all by itself. At even strength this was basically a 2-2 game. The Devils lost the night in the penalty box, and against a Jets blue line the preview called thin, that's the part New Jersey will be angriest about.
Shots were close, 25 for Winnipeg and 21 for New Jersey, so the Jets didn't run anyone out of the building. They were more opportunistic, and Connor was the other half of it. His 2 goals paired with Mercer's meant Winnipeg's 4 came from 2 players. For a team that had been scoring in bunches over its winning streak, it's a more top-heavy version of the same offense. It still worked. 21 shots weren't enough to bail out a Devils team that gave up 2 on the man advantage.
This is also where the preview's worry about New Jersey showed up. The win streak had a lot of 1-goal games and 4 goals allowed in 2 of them, and without Hellebuyck behind them, the Devils gave up 4 again. This time the offense didn't get them out of it. The box score search didn't settle whether Josh Morrissey made it back on Winnipeg's blue line, and it doesn't tell us how Jake Allen's night went beyond the 4 goals against. The scoreboard didn't need either answer.
Winnipeg has now won 5 straight since getting shut out 7-0 in Carolina, and the Jets are back to 8-8-3. New Jersey drops to 13-6-0 and is still among the best teams in the East. They still have the goalie everyone in Winnipeg came to see. Next time the Jets might have to score on him.
