TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — Nino Niederreiter scored three goals and Brenden Dillon got his first two of the season, leading the Winnipeg Jets to a 5-3 National Hockey League victory over the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday.
Dillon snapped a 3-3 tie 3:23 into the third period when his slap shot from the left circle hit the far post and ricocheted in. Niederreiter then knocked home a Dillon shot that trickled to the front of the net at 7:16.
It was Niederreiter’s third career hat trick. Each of his three goals were from right in front.
“The last few games we’ve been playing together, we knew we had to play simple,” he said. “Try to work the other team down low. Try to get momentum and try to get shots in traffic on the net. It’s something that we truly believe is the right thing to do, and it’s something we want to be as an identity. It was great to get paid off today.”
The Jets (5-4-2) overcame 2-0 and 3-2 deficits while stopping a three-game losing streak. They have points in six of their last seven games after a pair of overtime losses. They also improved to 23-6 against the Coyotes since 2011.
“For us and our group, understanding it is not going to be Picasso every 60 minutes and there is going to be some adversity in games,” Dillon said. “Arizona is playing well. They have lots of skill. We got to our game there in the second period.”
J.J. Moser, Liam O’Brien and Lawson Crouse scored for the Coyotes, who have lost eight in a row in the series. The Coyotes had won three of their first four at 5,000-seat Mullett Area and were looking for their best home start since winning nine of 10 in 2013-14.
The Jets are 3-1-2 under interim coach Scott Arniel, who is running the team while coach Rick Bowness is on a leave of absence.
“It all about those second and third chances,” Arniel said. “Once you get it to that net, it’s crashing and it’s beating the guy you are going against to that puck, and that’s what we did a good job at.”
Connor Hellebuyck made 22 saves for the Jets, and Karel Vejmelka had 22 stops for the Coyotes.
The Coyotes scored the only goal of the first period when Moser skated in alone and beat Hellebuyck at 5:31. Matias Maccelli picked up an assist, extending his point streak to a career-long eight games.
O’Brien made it 2-0 after a turnover by Mark Scheifele, whose pass from behind his net was intercepted by Jack McBain and put on net. Hellebuyck saved the initial shot but O’Brien poked in the rebound at 5:49 of the second period.
“They played really solid,” Arizona coach Andre Tourigny said. “They are a heavy team. They create possession. They were better than us in their breakout. We were too slow on the breakout.
“The puck was not moving, and from there we had nothing going offensively. They were able to stall us, and we stayed in our zone forever.”
Niederreiter and Dillon scored 2:34 apart in the second, tying it 2-2. Niederreiter tipped in a pass from Mason Appleton at 7:31, and Dillon scored on a wrist shot at 10:05 after a cross-ice pass from Vladislav Namestnikov.
Crouse got his third goal in two games with two seconds remaining on a power play at 14:47, when he put a rebound into an open side of the net. Niederreiter tied it on a power play at 17:01.
UP NEXT
Jets: At St. Louis on Tuesday.
Coyotes: Host Seattle on Tuesday.