Devils 3, Jets 1
WINNIPEG -- Former Winnipeg Jet Lee Stempniak came back to haunt his former team Saturday, scoring a pair of goals in a 3-1 victory for the New Jersey Devils.
The right winger played a crucial role in the Jets' playoff drive last year, but was not offered a contract by the team in the off-season.
Stempniak opened the scoring at 11:41 of the first period. He tapped in his 13th of the season after Mike Cammalleri was the beneficiary of Jets defenseman Toby Enstrom blowing a tire and taking out his right winger, Blake Wheeler in the Jets zone, giving the Devils a two-man break on Connor Hellebuyck.
That put the Jets in immediate trouble, even with nearly 50 minutes left to play as the Devils were 16-0-3 when scoring the game's first goal.
Already hurting in the scoring department, the Jets' prospects got a little bleaker when center Mathieu Perreault left the game after the first period following a collision with Devils right winger Tuomo Ruutu.
The Devils doubled their lead to 2-0 on the power play when center Jacob Josefson scored his second of the season at 15:49 of the second period. Defenseman David Schlemko and center Joseph Blandisi drew the assists.
Stempniak scored his second of the game when he tipped in a shot from defenseman Eric Gelinas at 8:42 of the third period.
The Jets made it mildly interesting when defenseman Dustin Byfuglien tipped home a backhand in his new role as power forward on the power play. It was his 12th of the season, breaking the shutout bid of Cory Schneider.
The Jets outshot the Devils 23-16.
NOTES: The Jets got good news from sick bay as C Alex Burmistrov and RW Drew Stafford returned to the lineup after missing the last week. ... The Devils came to town after two home wins, 4-2 over Calgary on Tuesday and 6-3 over Ottawa on Thursday. ... If the Jets could carry over their success against the Eastern Conference to the rest of the league, they'd be in a playoff spot. Winnipeg is 11-5-2 against teams from the East, including 7-3-0 against the Metropolitan Division. ... In the press box for the Jets as scratches were D Adam Postma, D Adam Pardy and C Patrice Cormier. Joining them from the Devils are C Stefan Matteau, C Tyler Kennedy and C Sergey Kalinin.