Ducks vs. Jets: Judd Caulfield's First NHL Goal Sparks a Fourth-Line Takeover in Winnipeg

Jeff Malott broke in on a partial breakaway, Clay Stevenson made the first stop, and Judd Caulfield was right there to jam the rebound home. It was 14:41 into the first period, it was Caulfield's fourth NHL game, and it was the first goal of his NHL career. It also turned out to be the only goal Anaheim needed.

The Anaheim Ducks beat the Winnipeg Jets 5-1 on Friday night at Canada Life Centre, handing the Jets their first regulation loss of the season. Caulfield, Tim Washe and Mikael Granlund each had a goal and an assist, and the Ducks' fourth line of Washe, Caulfield and Malott combined for six points against a team that had won three in a row.

The Fourth Line Steals the Show

Winnipeg had its looks early. Ducks coach Joel Quenneville admitted the Jets "had some moments in the first where they could have scored and it could have been a different look." Instead, the bottom of Anaheim's lineup flipped the night.

Caulfield's opener came off a sequence the rookie credited to his linemates. "It feels great to get that first one," Caulfield said, per the NHL's recap. "It was a great play by Washe to get that puck out of the zone."

The period ended with Travis Mitchell and Adam Lowry dropping the gloves at 19:46. Mitchell also picked up an unsportsmanlike conduct minor, which gave the Jets a power play that carried into the second. They did not convert, and that became a theme.

At 5:20 of the second, the same trio struck again. Caulfield pushed the puck through the neutral zone, Washe and Malott broke out on a 2-on-1, and Washe finished it for his first goal of the season and a 2-0 lead. Winnipeg then drew three more power plays in the second period alone, two of them on Ryan Poehling, and came away with nothing.

Kyle Connor was blunt about it. "Our power play could have been a lot better," he said. "We had a lot of chances there in the second to change momentum, and unfortunately we weren't able to get one."

The Turning Point: Colangelo Makes It Three

A two-goal deficit was still manageable for the Jets heading into the third. Then Beckett Sennecke led a rush, slipped a backhand pass to the top of the crease, and Sam Colangelo knocked it in at 4:25 for his first of the season. At 3-0, Winnipeg was chasing a mountain instead of a hill.

Connor at least gave the home crowd a jolt. At 10:36, Mark Scheifele spun and fired a cross-ice pass that sent Connor in alone, and he beat Lukas Dostal blocker side for his sixth goal of the season. It was a milestone night in a losing effort: Connor was playing his 700th NHL game, and per the NHL, the goal was the 329th of his career, moving him past Ilya Kovalchuk into sole possession of third on the Jets/Atlanta Thrashers all-time list.

Granlund slammed the door 3:30 later with a wrist shot from just inside the blue line, and Nikita Nesterenko added an empty-netter at 19:19 to finish the 5-1 final.

Who Showed Up

Caulfield had a goal, an assist and three hits in just 9:34. Washe added a goal, an assist, four hits and two blocked shots, and Malott set up both of the line's goals. The NHL notes it was the first multipoint game of all three players' NHL careers. Quenneville sounded like a proud dad at a science fair. "We couldn't ask for anything more. That was a special night for those guys," he said.

Sennecke had two assists and, per the NHL, now has six points (three goals, three assists) during a season-opening four-game point streak. At 20 years, 254 days old, he is the youngest forward to start a season with a point streak of four or more games since Elias Pettersson in 2018-19.

Granlund scored and assisted, and Jackson LaCombe logged 27:02 with an assist on Granlund's goal.

Dostal made 16 saves on 17 shots, and his defense made life easy by blocking 20 shots in front of him. "I think the guys did a tremendous job defensively, and I'm just overall amazed," Dostal said.

For Winnipeg, Connor played 23:56 and Scheifele 22:18, but Stevenson stopped only 12 of 16 shots. The NHL also notes that only five U.S.-born players in NHL history have had more goals than Connor through 700 games or fewer: Auston Matthews, Pat LaFontaine, Joe Mullen, Keith Tkachuk and Jeremy Roenick.

Stats That Matter

• 0-for-4: Winnipeg's power play, including three straight chances in the second period.
• 17-17: Shots were dead even. Anaheim just picked better spots.
• 20-9: Anaheim's edge in blocked shots.
• 26: Winnipeg giveaways, the kind of number that fuels a transition team.
• 6: Points from Anaheim's fourth line of Washe, Caulfield and Malott.

What It Means

Anaheim improves to 3-1-0 with six points and bounces back from a 5-2 home loss to Edmonton. Per the NHL, the Ducks have won their first two road games of a season for the fourth time in franchise history, following 2018-19, 2012-13 and 2006-07. They visit Calgary on Saturday night on the second half of a back-to-back.

Winnipeg falls to 3-1-1 after a three-game winning streak. Coach Scott Arniel pointed to the schedule, noting this was the Jets' fifth game in eight nights. "Of all the teams I wanted to face in the fifth game in eight nights, it was probably not that team," Arniel said. "They're big and they can move." He also knew exactly who hurt them. "It was the fourth line that scored those," he said. The Jets get a breather before hosting Minnesota on Tuesday night.

Closing Take

Every good heist movie has a crew member nobody notices until the vault is open. On Friday, Anaheim's fourth line was that crew. Winnipeg spent its energy trying to contain the Ducks' top guys and got picked apart by three players who had never had a multipoint NHL game before. Caulfield will remember this one forever. The Jets will want to forget it by Tuesday.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game details from the Associated Press; postgame quotes and game notes as reported by NHL.com.