Jets edge Flyers for third straight win

WINNIPEG, MANITOBA >> Blake Wheeler and Mark Scheifele each had a goal and two assists and the Winnipeg Jets earned their third straight victory with a 3-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night.

Linemate Mathieu Perreault picked up a goal and one assist in the Jets’ second three-game win streak of the season.

The teams were tied 1-1 until Wheeler put a high shot on Steve Mason’s glove side into the net at 7:02 of the third period.

After a Flyers’ turnover in their end, Scheifele scored his 29th goal of the season with another high shot over Mason’s glove at 13:51.

Matt Read scored with two seconds left as the Flyers pulled Mason for the extra attacker.

Making his 16th start of the season, and his first since Jan. 16, Michael Hutchinson had 24 saves for the Jets.

The previous time Hutchin-

son chalked up a win as a starter was Dec. 22 in Vancouver, although he recorded the win after he came in for Connor Hellebuyck when the Jets beat Minnesota 5-4 last Sunday.

Forward Jordan Weal also scored and Claude Giroux had a pair of assists for the Flyers. Mason stopped 30 shots for Philadelphia, which was playing its first game of a four-game road trip.

The Jets had lost six consecutive games to the Flyers heading into the matchup.

It took 6:20 for the first shot on goal, by the Flyers. Winnipeg even had a power play during that span after Giroux was called for tripping at 3:54, but the Jets could not get the puck on the net.

The scoreless first period ended with the Jets having an 8-7 edge on shots on goal.

Philadelphia had a power play heading into the second after Jets defenseman Josh Morrissey

went to the penalty box for holding with six seconds left in the first.

After Morrissey’s penalty expired, Wayne Simmonds took advantage of an off-balance Hutchinson and sent the puck out front to Weal for his fourth goal of the season at 4:28.

Winnipeg tied it on the power play minutes later when Wheeler’s blast from the point through traffic hit Perreault’s stick and went past Mason at 7:02. It was the eighth powerplay goal Philadelphia has allowed in its past nine games.

Wheeler scored his 22nd goal of the season 7:02 into the third period, then had the only assist on Scheifele’s goal.

••• The Flyers made official Tuesday the signing of defenseman Mark Friedman to an entrylevel contract that will kick in next season. Temporarily, he’ll play out the regular season string with the Phantoms under terms of a professional tryout (PTO) agreement.

Friedman, 21, a native

of Toronto and thirdround Flyers draft pick in 2014, impressed this year while playing his third season at Bowling Green University. The two-way defender scored eight goals and added 18 assists in 40 games, with a plus-6 rating.

He helped the Falcons go 21-18-2 and win a berth in the WCHA’s championship game, losing in double overtime to Michigan Tech.

“He’s a very wellrounded player,” general manager Ron Hextall said of the 5-10, 196-pound Friedman. “He’s a thick kid, not really tall but a thick kid. He’s got a nice skill level, he’s got a big compete level, he understands the game. He’s a good young player, a good defender. We’re excited about him.”

In addition to Friedman, the Flyers have another drafted collegiate prospect out there right now in 6-foot-5 goaltender Merrick Madsen, who had a superior junior season at Harvard. But Hextall said he was unsure if he would tender a professional contract to him just yet.