Fans have been begging the Winnipeg Jets’ depth players to start contributing on the scoreboard, and Friday night at Canada Life Centre, they finally did.

Yes, the top line stayed hot, but a pair of fourth line goals helped as well as the Jets dumped the Buffalo Sabres 4-1.

As has been customary in recent vintage, the Jets were slow to get going out of the gates, with Eric Comrie being forced to turn aside six shots in the first three minutes before his side could muster a shot.

That proved to be critical because, at the 4:24 mark, Winnipeg’s top line struck again.

A Dylan Samberg point shot was stopped and the rebound wound up in the corner where Mark Scheifele retrieved it. Scheifele sent it back to the point where Samberg passed it down low to Gabriel Vilardi, who one-touched a pass in front to Kyle Connor. His initial shot was stopped but he slid the rebound through the five-hole of Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen for his 15th of the season.

Winnipeg held the lead until the 14:44 mark when Buffalo took advantage of their second power play look of the period.

Josh Norris took the initial shot on net and it did not get all the way through, but the puck sat right in front of the crease for Jason Zucker. He was robbed by Comrie on his first attempt before he whacked the puck into the net to level the score.

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The Jets came up empty on their lone power play look late in the period was they finished the first with eight shots on goal to Buffalo’s 15.

Winnipeg finally got a contribution on the scoreboard from their depth as Tanner Pearson put them ahead early in the second. Alex Tuch turned the puck over at the Jets’ blue line, allowing Cole Koepke to spring Pearson on a long breakaway. He skated in and whipped a shot past Luukkonen for his fourth of the season at the 2:22 mark.

It was just the fourth time in eight games that someone other than Scheifele, Vilardi or Connor scored for Winnipeg.

Logan Stanley nearly extended the Jets’ lead when he jumped up in the rush but he managed to put it off the post with the net open.

Buffalo then had a long sequence in the Winnipeg end where Rasmus Dahlin hit the post.

Moments later, Adam Lowry escaped the Jets’ zone with the puck and was destined for his own breakaway before Dahlin blatantly hooked him in the neutral zone, earning the Jets’ captain a penalty shot.

With the crowd on their feet, Lowry skated in on Luukkonen and fired it right into the goalie’s pads as he attempted to go five-hole.

The close calls continued a short time later when Josh Morrissey rang a shot off the crossbar from fairly close range before Buffalo had a couple decent looks where Comrie was scrambling in his crease but the Sabres couldn’t bury it.

Late in the period, Winnipeg finally converted a chance to make it 3-1, and it came from an unlikely source.

After a stretch of play in the Jets’ end of the ice, Dylan DeMelo sent a long pass up the ice to Morgan Barron as the Sabres went for a line change. Barron took it into the Buffalo zone before sending the puck to a streaking Cole Koepke, who made a move on Luukkonen before depositing a backhand into the net for his first in 18 games as a Jet with 1:18 left in the second.

Very little happened over the first half of the third, with each team managing just one shot on goal.

Winnipeg’s top line appeared to put the game on ice with 6:36 remaining. A point shot from Neal Pionk went well wide and ricocheted off the end boards, right to the stick of Scheifele on the other side of the net. He banked it in off the skate of Luukkonen, but after a challenge by Buffalo, the goal was called back because Scheifele had been offside by a whisker 21 seconds before the goal was scored.

The Sabres were not able to take advantage before Vilardi scored into an empty net with 33.8 seconds remaining.

Comrie was rock solid in net for the second game in a row, stopping 34 shots.

The Jets will now head to Edmonton for a Saturday night showdown with the Oilers. Thomas Milic will get the start when the puck drops just after 9 p.m. with pregame coverage on 680 CJOB beginning at 7 p.m.