Connors crush Canucks

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This article was published 14/01/2025 (259 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Game, set, mismatch.

The Winnipeg Jets looked like a team on a mission. The Vancouver Canucks looked like one that had gone missing. The end result was a 6-1 laugher for the home side on Tuesday night at Canada Life Centre that wasn’t nearly as close as the final score indicated.

Star forward Kyle Connor played a big part in that. His 24th, 25th and 26th goals of the year were already in the bank with more than 46 minutes left in the game and must have had Victor Shabatoski of Yorkton, Sask., — the $1 million Save-On-Food Score and Win contestant if any Jets player can score five in a game — seeing dollar signs.

“Just one of those nights,” is how the modest Connor described it.

Alas, while the Jets weren’t nearly done lighting the lamp, the final three tallies came off the sticks of Connor’s teammates Neal Pionk, Nino Niederreiter and Mark Scheifele.

Sorry, Victor.

Winnipeg improves to 30-12-3, including 3-1-2 on this season-long eight-game homestand, and now stand alone on top of the Western Conference in both points and winning percentage. They are also tied for first-overall with Washington at 63 points, although the Capitals have played one less game. Vancouver falls to 19-14-10.

“Pretty impressive,” Jets head coach Scott Arniel said of Connor’s sixth career hat trick.

“Obviously, we had talked a couple of weeks ago about our starts and we’ve been getting a lot better at it — and getting out of the gate. I thought we did that as a group. We got off to playing our game right away and it certainly was the difference.”

TRICK WAS A TREAT

Connor is one of the elite goal scorers in the NHL who can burn you in many ways. Many of those were on display in this one.

Goal No. 1 at 6:59 was an absolute gift. Vancouver goalie Kevin Lankinen went for a skate and tried to play a dump-in but fired the puck right to a waiting Gabe Vilardi, who quickly fed his wide-open linemate for what was essentially an empty-netter.

Goal No. 2 at 13:01 was about going to the net. Vilardi made a nice drop pass to Pionk, whose initial shot was stopped by Lankinen. A hard-charging Connor scooped up the rebound and buried it.

Goal No. 3 at 13:37 was just pure skill on display. Vilardi made a perfect pass to a streaking Connor, who burst through the neutral zone on a breakaway and beat Lankinen with a nifty deke.

Add it all up and it took all of 6:38 for Connor to give the Jets a healthy 3-0 lead and for plenty of the 14,050 fans in attendance to donate their hats to a good cause.

“You’re just seeing a guy that’s super confident in his game. You just see a guy that’s in complete control. He’s not second guessing himself,” said Jets forward Cole Perfetti.

“He obviously has a very high ability to score goals and he’s got that knack for it. When he gets those chances he doesn’t get excited or anything. He’s just calm and collected. His shot is unbelievable. It’s a treat to watch.”

Only Jets forwards Blake Wheeler (a 4:20 span against Pittsburgh in 2017) and Sean Monahan (a 5:17 span against Calgary 2024) have scored three goals in more rapid fashion in franchise history, with Monahan’s being the only natural hatty (three in a row without any other scoring).

Connor had plenty of other good looks on the night to notch at least a couple more. However, the only other time he hit the scoresheet was an assist on a tic-tac-toe power-play goal at 1:31 of the third period to finish off Winnipeg’s scoring.

Connor and Scheifele are now tied for the team lead in goals and tied for third-overall in the NHL behind Edmonton Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl (31) and Florida Panthers forward Sam Reinhart (27).

Connor is now up to 59 points this year through 45 games, which has him tied for sixth in the league.

CENTURY CLUB FOR COLE

Perfetti had been stuck on 98 career points for nine games as he experienced yet another prolonged offensive drought. Now skating on a new-look third line with Niederreiter and Rasmus Kupari, the 23-year-old had the type of performance that might help build momentum.

Perfetti set up Pionk for the 4-0 goal 39 seconds into the second period, then had the secondary helper on Niederreiter’s tally with just under five minutes left in the middle frame that made it 5-0.

“When KC scores his second and third that fast, it’s really deflating for them. We really just took over from there,” Perfetti said of keeping the foot on the gas. “It was a really good boost for the group.”

That’s now 100 points (36G, 64A) in 185 career NHL games for Perfetti, the 10th-overall pick in the 2020 draft. No doubt he hopes the next 100 come a little bit quicker.

“Last year he went through a stretch where he was having a tough time, whether it was scoring or getting points and it felt like he was getting farther and farther away from the net,” Arniel said of what he’s seen different in the young forward. “Now, he’s staying in the fight and he’s winning a lot of his one-on-one confrontations or battles and again, he’s making plays, getting in there and when he does that, that’s when he’s at his best.”

CAREER HIGH FOR VILARDI

While Connor and Scheifele tend to get most of the headlines, don’t discount the role Vilardi has played in making Winnipeg’s top line among the best in the business.

With three assists on Tuesday, Vilardi matched a career high of 41 points. Thing is, he’s done it this year in 45 games, compared to the 63 it took in 2022-23 with the Los Angeles Kings.

The sky would appear to be the limit for the key return of the Pierre-Luc Dubois trade, which also included Kupari, Alex Iafallo and a second-round draft pick that turned into Swedish defenceman Alfons Freij.

KEY PLAY

Connor’s third goal of the game made it feel like the roof might come off the downtown rink and paved the way for a rout.

THREE STARS

1. Jets Kyle Connor: 3G, 1A

2. Jets Gabe Vilardi: 3A

3. Jets Nino Niederreiter: 1G, 1A

EXTRA, EXTRA

Connor Hellebuyck’s bid for a second consecutive shutout and seventh of the season was lost with just over 10 minutes left in the third period as Nils Hoglander took the puck away from Jets defenceman Logan Stanley and wired a wicked wrist shot past the reigning Vezina Trophy winner.

There was a smattering of boos from the home crowd directed towards Stanley on the following shift.

Hellebuyck finished with 23 saves on 24 shots. Lankinen, who was coming off a 3-0 shutout victory last Saturday in Toronto, stopped 27 of 33 pucks he faced.

The Jets had another good night on special teams, going one-for-three on the power play and killing off both minors they took.

Defenceman Dylan Coghlan was the lone healthy scratch for Winnipeg, with Ville Heinola taking his spot on the third pairing beside Stanley. Forward Vlad Namestnikov missed a second straight game with a lower-body injury, while forward Mason Appleton and defencemen Haydn Fleury and Colin Miller also remain sidelined.

Tuesday was the Hockey Talks game for mental health awareness in support of Project 11, which honours former Canucks/Manitoba Moose/Jets player Rick Rypien. Six of Rypien’s cousins were on hand to do a ceremonial puck drop.

The Jets will now prepare to host the Seattle Kraken on Thursday night before finishing the homestand on Saturday against Calgary.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

X and Bluesky: @mikemcintyrewpg