Jets' Mason Appleton Providing Unlikely Offensive Spark

The Winnipeg Jets can close out their series against the St. Louis Blues with a Game 6 win. Up 3-2 in the series, the Jets have followed the lead of star forward Kyle Connor. He's been an offensive dynamo all series long, and his production has the Jets on the verge of moving on.

Jets forward Mason Appleton is providing an unlikely offensive spark as well. The versatile 29-year-old is known more for his two-way game, but he's the third-leading scorer for Winnipeg in the opening round. Playing mostly on the right wing of the second line at even strength, Appleton has stepped up at the perfect time.

Through five games in the series, he has five assists. He's coming off perhaps the best all-around game of his career, recording three assists. The multi-point effort was impressive enough, but how he achieved those three points made him stand out even more.

His first assist in Game 5 was an incredible play. After taking an inadvertent stick to the face, he stuck with the play in the offensive zone. As the puck came to him, he kicked the puck to teammate Mark Scheifele, who then provided an excellent feed to Connor for the first goal of the game.

He followed that up with a soft touch pass that set up a Vlad Namestnikov goal. His last point came off an aggressive defensive play with the Blues pressing hard. After his play along the wall, he worked the puck up to Nino Neiderreiter, who picked up the primary assist on Adam Lowry's empty-net goal.

Appleton's play is even more important with Scheifele not making the trip to St. Louis for Game 6. The two-way forward's game has been an underrated, but vital piece of the Jets' success in Round 1. Another impactful performance will likely seal the Jets' place in the next round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.