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Jets cruise past Stars

Mar 15, 2012 - 5:17 AM Winnipeg, MB (Sports Network) - Andrew Ladd scored two goals, leading the Winnipeg Jets to a comfortable 5-2 win over the Dallas Stars on Wednesday at MTS Centre.

Nik Antropov, Evander Kane and Eric Fehr also scored, while Blake Wheeler added a pair of assists for the Jets, who snapped a two-game skid. Ondrej Pavelec made 28 saves in the victory.

"I think we feed off the crowd here, for sure," Ladd said. "When we get the first goal, it seems like we get energized from that and our home record speaks for itself."

Loui Eriksson scored both goals for the Stars, who had a six-game winning streak snapped. Richard Bachman was tagged for all five tallies on 28 shots in defeat.

Dallas remains four points clear of Phoenix for the top spot in the Pacific Division.

The Jets grabbed the lead just 2:21 into the game after Antti Miettinen out- battled two Stars checkers in the left corner and sent a pass to Antropov, who ripped a quick wrist shot high to the short side past Bachman.

Winnipeg extended its lead to 2-0 1:19 into the second period after Kyle Wellwood sent a pass to Alex Burmistrov on the right wing. Burmistrov gained the zone and fired a wrist shot on goal that was blockered away by Bachman, but the rebound went right to Kane, who ripped it home.

The Jets made it 3-0 at 8:28 of the second period after Fehr blocked a shot in the defensive zone, kicked it out to center ice and was off to the races. He raced to the top of the right circle and fired a wicked wrist shot that hit off the inside of the post and beat Bachman to the short side.

Ladd picked up his first goal of the night at 9:15 of the second period after he rammed home a rebound off the stick of Bryan Little from in front, then scored again on the power play at 16:12 after cashing in on another rebound in front -- this one off a point shot from Dustin Byfuglien to make it 5-0.

Dallas finally got on the board just 17 seconds later when Mike Ribeiro weaved his way to the slot, but the puck slid off his stick and came right to Eriksson, who tapped it in from in close to make it 5-1.

Eriksson slid it past Pavelec from in front off a nice centering feed from Michael Ryder to make it 5-2 with 3:44 to play, but that's as close as the Stars would get.

"We knew they going to come out hard," Stars head coach Glen Gulutzan said. "After being down 1-0, I thought we were fine, but we just didn't show a lot of resolve in the second."

Game Notes

Winnipeg kicked off a three-game homestand on Wednesday...The Jets are 22-10-4 on home ice this season...Wheeler is on a five-game point streak..Jets defenseman Zach Bogosian missed his fourth straight game with a lower-body injury...Winnipeg went 1-for-3 with the man advantage, while the Stars did not have any power-play chances.