The Winnipeg Jets dressed most of their regular roster. The Edmonton Oilers did not.
You could tell.
The veteran-heavy Jets had little issue beating the Oilers 6-1 Wednesday night in the third of six preseason contests for Winnipeg.
The Jets had several good early chances and finally made good on one at the 7:49 mark of the first.
Vladislav Namestnikov skated the puck across the Edmonton blue line before dropping it to Nikolaj Ehlers. Ehlers returned it to Namestnikov on the left wing before he then sent it to the slot where Ehlers put it home into an empty net after Stuart Skinner over-committed to Namestnikov to make it 1-0.
Winnipeg held a 12-8 edge in shots after one and the disparity grew as the second went along with the Jets dominating the middle frame.
A little over four minutes into the period, Neal Pionk knocked down an attempted zone entry at his own blue line, sending the puck into the neutral zone. Mark Scheifele picked it up and fed a streaking Kyle Connor, who deftly deked out Skinner on a breakaway to make it 2-0 Jets.
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Later in the period with the Jets on their second power play of the game, Colin Miller beat a partially-screened Skinner with a wrist shot from the point to make it 3-0 Jets at the 11:08 mark.
Another blueliner got in on the fun with 3:30 left in the second. Rasmus Kupari had the puck in the slot and slid it over to a cutting Pionk, who skated in on goal and made a nice move before backhanding it into the net.
Skinner seemed displeased, believing that Parker Ford interfered with his ability to stop the puck as Ford and Max Wanner were tied up in front but there was no challenge on the play.
Winnipeg outshot the Oilers 15-5 in the middle frame and continued to pile on in the third.
Just 14 seconds after Edmonton took a penalty, Brad Lambert ripped a wrist shot under the glove of former Manitoba Moose teammate Collin Delia to make it 5-0 73 seconds into the third.
Adam Lowry made it 6-0 with 8:04 to go, capitalizing on a Delia mistake. With the Oilers on the power play, the puck was cleared down the ice. Delia came out to play it, fired it right into Lowry’s shin pads and the Winnipeg captain collected the puck and scored on a wraparound.
The Oilers broke up Kaapo Kahkonen’s shutout bid with 3:28 to go in the game when Connor Brown redirected a point shot past him.
Pionk finished the contest with a goal and three assists while Kahkonen stopped 26 shots for the win.
Winnipeg will now head to Minnesota Friday for their next preseason contest where it is expected that Connor Hellebuyck will make his preseason debut.