WINNIPEG — Patrik Laine took his teammates’ advice and it paid off with an end to his six-game goal drought.
The Jets rookie scored his 13th goal of the season, a blast off a high wrist shot past New Jersey Devils netminder Cory Schneider, in a 3-2 Winnipeg victory on Tuesday night.
“People told me in the second intermission that I should try blocker (side),” Laine said. “It was the first shot, blocker and it goes in.
“I was obviously relieved. It was a good goal. I had some pretty good scoring chances in the second period and I just couldn’t score. It was an amazing feeling to get that goal and help my team to win.”
The game-winning goal was scored at 4:47 of the third period.
Mark Scheifele scored his 13th of the season to give Winnipeg a 1-0 lead at 11:20 of the second period. Captain Blake Wheeler quickly made it 2-0 at 13:21.
Rookie Miles Wood, with his first NHL goal, and Nick Lappin supplied the offence for New Jersey.
Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck made 23 saves in his fifth straight start for Winnipeg (11-12-2).
Schneider stopped 26 shots for the Devils (10-7-5), who had come into the game with points in their previous three games (1-0-2).
“He has a heck of a shot,” Schneider said of Laine. “It might have ramped off my defenceman’s stick there. It’s just kind of how it has been going lately. I felt I had a beat on it, and it just changed direction slightly.
“That’s all it takes for me right now. It’s just something that I have to work through and keep working hard.”
Winnipeg has won five straight at home and closes a three-game homestand Thursday against Edmonton.
Scheifele, who added an assist to give him a team-leading 26 points, enjoyed his view of Laine’s “great shot.”
“I was pretty much right behind him and you pretty much can’t see it so it’s a pretty special shot,” Scheifele said.
New Jersey outshot Winnipeg 7-6 in the scoreless first period, which featured shots from both teams that rang off the post and others fired just wide of the net.
Jets forward Marko Dano left the game in the first period and didn’t return after taking a stick in the face from Devils Kyle Quincey. Head coach Paul Maurice said the stick caught Dano near his eye and they would know more after he sees a doctor.
Devils head coach John Hynes called his players a “resilient group.”
“The thing is you don’t want to be down in games, chasing games, but I think the belief in how we play and that we can come back is important,” Hynes said.
Wood had a penalty shot after being taken down by Dustin Byfuglien on the way to the net in the second, but he whiffed on his opportunity.
“It was cool to hear the crowd boo me all the way down,” Wood said. “It’s something I’ll never forget.”
Wood made up for his botched attempt with a shot fired through Hellebuyck’s pads at 2:52 of the third to make it 2-1.
Laine’s goal was followed by Lappin’s off a rebound at 7:58 for the 3-2 score.
Jets centre Bryan Little returned to the lineup after missing 23 games with a lower-body injury he suffered a few shifts into the team’s season-opener on Oct. 13. He also missed the final 25 games of last season because of a fractured vertebrae.
“I thought he was excellent. Better than I expected,” Wheeler said of Little.
“That first shift, I kicked one to him in the (defensive zone) and he took off like a bat out of hell. He was flying tonight. It’s pretty exciting to have him back in the lineup.”
New Jersey travels to Chicago for the third game of its four-game road trip on Thursday.
