Jets Close Out Pre-Season With Impressive 5-3 Win at Calgary

If the Winnipeg Jets needed a confidence booster heading into the 2022-23 National Hockey League season, they got one in Calgary on Friday night. Pierre-Luc Dubois scored twice while Nikolaj Ehlers, Kyle Connor and Mark Scheifele each added singles as the Jets earned a 5-3 road win at the Saddledome. They say you need your stars to produce if you want to win championships and in their final two pre-season games, the stars definitely produced. The goal-scorers scored and the goaltender was terrific as Calgary outshot Winnipeg 38-16 and yet the Jets edged the Flames on the scoreboard. In their final two games of the pre-season, the Jets beat the Flames 5-0 in Winnipeg and 5-3 in Calgary. "Calgary definitely has a playoff team," said Jets President Mark Chipman on the Game On Radio Show on Friday night. "Beating the Flames says a lot about the way our guys have worked in training camp and have bought in to Rick's (head coach Rick Bowness) new system." The Jets opened the scoring at 4:18 of the first period when Pierre-Luc Dubois beat Jakob Markstrom with his first of the pre-season. Cole Perfetti and Dylan DeMelo drew the assists. The Jets made it 2-0 at 8:29 when Nikolaj Ehlers scored his second of the exhibition season from Adam Lowry and Kyle Connor. Calgary made it 2-1 on a goal by Tyler Toffoli at 15:05 but Winnipeg regained its two-goal lead as Dubois scored his second from Mark Scheifele and Josh Morrissey on the power play at 17:17. Calgary cut the Jets lead to 3-2 early in the second period on a goal by Blake Coleman but Winnipeg came back with a goal by Connor -- his fourth of the pre-season -- from DeMelo and Morrissey at 9:27 and then Scheifele scored his second of the exhibition schedule at 16:52 to put the Jets ahead 5-2 after 40 minutes. Nazen Kadri scored a goal late in the third period for the Flames, but the Jets locked down the Flames for the most part in the final 15 minutes of the game. The Flames outshot the Jets 38-16 but Winnipeg's Connor Hellebuyck was much better between the pipes than Calgary's Markstrom. In the final two games of the pre-season, the Jets scored 10 goals -- three by Connor, two by Scheifele, two by Dubois and two by Ehlers. Winnipeg's offensive stars really shined as the regular season drew closer. The victory ended the pre-season portion of the Jets 2022 Training Camp. The regular season will open in Winnipeg next Friday night as the Jets play host to the visiting New York Rangers.