Jets overpower Canucks again

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This article was published 25/03/2021 (1627 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A career night from Andrew Copp gave the Winnipeg Jets a big victory — and one of their lucky fans a huge windfall.

Copp scored four times to lead the Jets to a 5-1 triumph over the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday night. In the process, Winnipegger Marcela Chartrand won $100,000 in the Save-On-Foods Score and Win promotion.

“Cool. Happy to do that. Especially during this time (the pandemic),” a beaming Copp said in a post-game Zoom interview. He couldn’t recall ever scoring four goals before at any level, saying it’s something he’ll never forget.

“I definitely owe Appy (Mason Appleton) a nice dinner or bottle of wine or something for not passing to him on the empty net. Pretty cool feeling. Obviously the power play was working today, and then just kind of getting those two at the end were the cherries on top.”

It’s no secret the Canucks have had a difficult time solving the Jets this season. Three losses on home ice — including two by shutouts — would leave any club a bit ornery and desperate to find an offensive spark.

But throwing an extra player out there — a move the Canucks actually tried on two different occasions Wednesday night? Yeah, that’s not going to cut it.

A pair of too-many-men on the ice penalties in the second period as a result of egregiously sloppy line changes proved to be the turning point, with Copp finding paydirt on both occasions to break open a scoreless tie.

Copp later added an empty-net goal — the Canucks were legally playing with six skaters for a change — for his first NHL hat trick, then completed his memorable outing by scoring a fourth time a few minutes later.

“Guys on the bench were telling me ‘You gotta shoot, you gotta shoot whenever you get the puck’” Copp said of his mindset once he had two and Demko came out of an extra attacker.

Mark Scheifele had the other tally, while Connor Hellebuyck made 38 saves and just missed out on his second straight goose egg. The only puck to beat him came off the stick of Canucks forward Nils Hoglander with 1:25 left in the game.

“Yeah, it stings a little bit. I love shutouts but at the end of the day we win and that’s all I really care about, continuing to climb the standings and we got to look forward,” said Hellebuyck.

This has been a huge week for Winnipeg, on multiple fronts. First of all, they improve to 20-11-2 and are now in a first-place tie with Toronto and Edmonton in the all-Canadian Division. The Maple Leafs have one game in hand on the Jets, while the Jets have a game in hand on the Oilers.

Secondly, they have now put seven points between themselves and the fifth-place Canucks (16-18-3), and still have four games in hand. In other words, they’ve possibly left the West Coasters in their dust.

Combine that with the fact sixth-place Calgary just lost consecutive games to seventh-place Ottawa, and the Jets are now nine points ahead of the Flames (with a game in hand). And look at that, but Winnipeg now heads to the Stampede City for three games in four nights beginning Friday.

Wednesday’s game didn’t start off too hot for Winnipeg, with captain Blake Wheeler felled on the opening shift by an Alex Edler slapshot. He limped off the ice and missed a couple of shifts but eventually returned. Nikolaj Ehlers was also hobbled by a blocked shot but was able to shake it off.

A scoreless, somewhat tentative first period was punctuated by the first-ever NHL fight involving Jets rookie defenceman Logan Stanley. The big 6-7 blue-liner dropped the gloves with a tough customer in Vancouver’s Zack MacEwen. Not a lot of punches were landed by either party before Stanley lost his balance and fell back.

The Canucks came flying out of the gate to start the second, pumping seven straight shots on Hellebuyck in the first three minutes. But then came the self-destruction in the form of the back-to-back, too-many-men penalties.

Copp opened the scoring at 5:53 when he showed off some terrific hand-eye coordination and got a stick on Neal Pionk’s point shot. The versatile Jets forward then doubled down at 10:50, pouncing on a loose puck in the crease.

Scheifele made it 3-0 at 18:13, shortly after Hellebuyck had made five big saves to help kill off a Stanley high-sticking minor. Winnipeg’s top centre made a nice play to keep the puck in the offensive zone, leading to a Blake Wheeler chance. Scheifele then scooped up the rebound for his 13th of the year. Copp’s empty-netter at 15:50 of the third period sealed the deal. But he wasn’t done yet, beating Demko at 17:34 to put a punctuation point on his performance.

Copp is now up to 10 goals in 33 games. His career-high is 11, set over 69 games in 2018-19. The pending restricted free agent is due for a significant pay hike given his value to the team. The fact he’s skating on the third line, along with Adam Lowry (two goals on Monday) and Mason Appleton, shows Winnipeg’s forward depth.

“I thought he’s been great all year long. He’s a great player and I’m really happy for him, and I’m happy to see he’s succeeding and he does everything right, so I’m really glad that he’s getting rewarded the way he is,” said Hellebuyck.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg