Cole Perfetti broke a third-period tie just nine seconds after Pittsburgh had pulled even, lifting the Winnipeg Jets to a 3-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena on Monday night.
After a scoreless opening period, Pittsburgh opened the scoring midway through the second. Ben Kindel tipped in a shot at 9:27 off assists from Declan Carlile and Erik Karlsson to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead. Winnipeg evened the score early in the third period when Alex Iafallo scored his first goal of the season unassisted on a wrist shot at 4:43.
The Jets moved ahead at 7:08 of the third period when Adam Lowry recorded his first goal of the season on a backhand shot, assisted by Iafallo and Dylan DeMelo. Carlile countered for the Penguins at 8:53 with a wrist shot set up by Kindel and Ville Koivunen to knot the score 2-2. Just nine seconds later at 9:02, Josh Morrissey set up Perfetti for a snap shot that put Winnipeg back in front to stay.
Clay Stevenson stopped 29 of 31 shots to earn the victory in net for Winnipeg, while Pittsburgh goaltender Sergei Murashov turned aside 32 of 35 shots in the loss. Winnipeg finished with a 35-31 edge in shots on goal. Neither team produced on the power play, as the Jets went 0 for 1 and the Penguins went 0 for 2.
The victory pushed Winnipeg to a 2-0-1 record on the season and extended the team winning streak to two games. Pittsburgh moved to 2-1-0 with the defeat.
Pittsburgh next plays on the road against the Utah Mammoth on Monday, October 19. Winnipeg visits the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday, October 20.
