Kyle Connor and Blake Wheeler each had a goal and two assists as the Winnipeg Jets defeated the visiting Vancouver Canucks 5-2 Tuesday night, salvaging a split of their two-game series on back-to-back nights at Bell MTS Place.
Mason Appleton, Mathieu Perreault and Paul Stastny also scored for the Jets, Mark Scheifele had two assists and goaltender Laurent Brossoit made 31 saves. The Jets had a four-game winning streak snapped Monday in a 4-0 loss to Vancouver.
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Elias Pettersson and J.T. Miller scored for the Canucks and Brock Boeser had two assists. Braden Holtby stopped 34 of 38 shots but Vancouver suffered its fifth loss in its past six games.
Connor scored what proved to be the winning goal on the power play at 5:04 of the second period, giving the Jets a 3-1 lead. He took a pass from Wheeler and slid the puck through Holtby’s pads from low in the right faceoff circle.
Stastny provided some insurance with his goal at 9:13 of the third. Stastny’s initial shot went wide of the left post, but Wheeler recovered the puck behind the net and passed back out front to Stastny, who put the puck into a nearly open net.
Wheeler added an empty-netter with 2:10 remaining.
Appleton opened the scoring at 5:19 of the first period on a three-on-two break. Connor made a pass to Adam Lowry, who tipped the puck on net. Holtby made the save, but Appleton was able to push the rebound past the goalie before crashing into him.
Pettersson tied it at 8:34 on a wrist shot from the left faceoff dot.
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The Jets regained the lead with just 2.6 seconds left in the first, as three Vancouver defenders misplayed the puck just inside their own blue line. Perreault took advantage, skating past them before putting a backhander over Holtby.
The Canucks pulled within 3-2 late in the second, as Miller hammered a slap shot past Brossoit on the power play with 4.7 seconds left in the period.
–Field Level Media