Five-goal second period propels Jets to blowout win over Stars

Mark Scheifele and Dawson Mercer each scored twice in the second period, leading the visiting Winnipeg Jets to an 8-3 victory over the Dallas Stars on Thursday.

Dylan Samberg also tallied in the second period for the Jets, who won their fifth consecutive game following a nine-game losing streak (0-7-2).

Winnipeg's Gabriel Vilardi and Kyle Connor each added a goal and two assists while Scheifele also had three points. Cole Koepke scored, Cole Perfetti recorded two assists and Stuart Skinner registered 30 saves.

Roope Hintz logged a goal and an assist and Arttu Hyry and David Perron also tallied for the Stars. Thomas Harley and Nils Lundkvist each produced two assists as Dallas had their four-game point streak (3-0-1) end.

Dallas opened the scoring when Harley entered the zone with speed and sent a pass wide to Hintz, who quickly backhanded the puck to Hyry for a shot from the slot that found the net at 4:19 of the first period.

At 18:32 of the first, Hintz doubled the Stars' advantage when he feigned a backhand before knifing a shot through Skinner's five-hole.

Early in the second period, Samberg's slap shot off a bouncing puck trimmed the Jets' deficit to 2-1. About six minutes later, Scheifele's blast tied the game at 2-2.

Just past the game's midway point, Harley fired a floater just inside the offensive zone that struck Perron in the back and ricocheted off Skinner's shoulder before finding the back of the net, giving Dallas a 3-2 lead.

Just over two minutes later, as Perfetti was falling, he snuck a cross-ice pass to Mercer, whose snap shot tied the game at 3-all.

Scheifele's laser from the faceoff dot on the power play put Winnipeg up 4-3 at 18:12 of the middle frame.

With 8.4 seconds left in the second period, Mercer faked a forehand shot before quickly shoveling in a backhand for a 5-3 edge.

Connor extended Winnipeg's lead to 6-3 one minute into the third period, prompting Dallas to replace goaltender Jake Oettinger with Casey DeSmith. Oettinger stopped 21 of 27 shots.

Winnipeg poured it on, taking an 8-3 lead when Vilardi and Koepke scored 14 seconds apart with less than five minutes remaining.

DeSmith turned away just one of the three shots he faced.