WINNIPEG, Manitoba -- The Winnipeg Jets, with a 3-2 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers at the MTS Centre on Tuesday night, picked a fine time to post their second three-game winning streak of the season.

Ordinarily such a run would have fans scoreboard-watching but with the Jets' chances of making the playoffs this season being measured by tenths of a percent, the victory was more about potentially seeing the future of their defensive core than anything else.

And who knows? With Michael Hutchinson stopping 24 shots to post his second win in 48 hours, there might have even been a goaltending controversy.

The Jets (33-33-7) received one goal from each member of their top line -- left winger Mathieu Perreault tied the game at 1-1, right winger Blake Wheeler gave them their first lead in the third period and center Mark Scheifele scored the winner -- while the Flyers (33-31-8) replied with singles from center Jordan Weal and right winger Matt Read, the latter with two seconds remaining in regulation.

At the other end of the ice, Steve Mason turned aside 30 shots.

Nelson Nogier became the third defensemen recalled from the AHL Manitoba Moose in the last two weeks -- joining Brian Strait and Julian Melchiori -- and was solid in his NHL debut, registering three hits and one shot on goal in 12 minutes, 16 seconds of ice time playing alongside veteran Mark Stuart.

He admitted to having a few butterflies as the trio filled the void -- admirably, it must be said -- with fellow blueliners Jacob Trouba, Toby Enstrom, Tyler Myers, Ben Chiarot and Paul Postma on the shelf with a variety of injuries. Jets coach Paul Maurice even put the 2014 fourth-round draft pick in the starting lineup.

"That was a moment I'll never forget. That's just one of the things you want to achieve in life. To stand on that blue line in the Winnipeg rink," said Nogier, whose parents made the nine-hour drive from Saskatoon to see their son's NHL debut.

Maurice was pleased with the 20-year-old's game.

"He got a bunch of touches on his first shift, which I think helped him. He skates well, moved the puck well (and made) real good reads. A couple of tough D-zone face-off loss reads that aren't easy to pick up and he had no problem with it," he said.

Maurice also praised his top line and captain Wheeler, in particular, for setting the example for his troops to follow.

Scheifele, who moved into sixth place in league scoring with a three-point night for 74 points, said his line is definitely clicking.

"We all support each other well. We don't play a fancy game. We get it deep and we work the puck behind the net and try to do the same thing over and over. We try to be consistent for each other and that's what's creating good offence," he said.

Captain Wheeler, who had a three-point night of his own to boost his season total to 63, agreed.

"I think we know what our style of play is, keep things simple and grind in the offensive zone. That's what Scheif and I try to do and Matty Perreault works incredibly hard, he's on every puck and creates a ton of turnovers for us.

"We feel if we do that for 60 minutes we're going to generate some pretty good chances."

Despite the win, the Jets remain 10 points out of a playoff spot as St. Louis defeated Colorado 4-2 to move into third place in the Central Division with 83 points, pushing Nashville into the second wild-card spot with the same number of points but fewer wins.

The loss could put a stake in the Flyers' playoff chances as they remain seven points behind the Toronto Maple Leafs for the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference with 10 games to play.

Coach Dave Hakstol said the Flyers need to be better away from home as their road record fell to 12-20-4.

"It's been a difference for us. That's how it is right now," Hakstol said. "This is one we needed here that we didn't get tonight on the road."

The Jets were 1-for-6 on the power play but it was the eight minutes in penalty minutes that the Flyers took -- and killed off -- in the second period that may have been a deciding factor.

"The second period got us back on our heels. We didn't recover in the third period. They made more plays than we did in the third period," Hakstol said.

"We had work ethic, we had effort. I look at the second period, those eight minutes of penalties, the amount we spent killing penalties there. We had the opportunity to push back in the third period but we weren't able to do that."

The Flyers were 0 for 3 on the power play.

NOTES: In the press box for the Jets were D Toby Enstrom, D Tyler Myers, D Paul Postma, D Ben Chiarot, RW Shawn Matthias and G Ondrej Pavelec. ... Joining them from the Flyers are LW Roman Lyubimov, D Brandon Manning and C Nick Cousins. ... Winnipeg's "tragic" number for being officially eliminated from playoff contention is 10. ... Of the 30 game-winning goals scored by the Jets this season, 10 have been scored by rookies with another four by sophomores. ... The Flyers held a record of 29-16-2 against Jets 1.0 from the 1979-80 season to 1995-96. ... The Jets beat the Flyers 9-8 in Philadelphia on Oct. 27, 2011, in their highest-scoring game since returning to Winnipeg.