Howe do you like that?

It turns out Kyle Connor was right: the Winnipeg Jets were due for a rare victory over the Vegas Golden Knights.

When the Jets sniper was informed after the morning skate that the Jets had one win in the past 10 meetings with the Golden Knights, Connor was caught by surprise.

“That is a tough record,” Connor said. “I didn’t know that. It sounds like we are due for (a win).”

He also noted it wasn’t something the Jets were concerning themselves with or putting much stock into.

Connor did his part to ensure the Jets turned the tables, supplying his 32nd goal of the season on a blistering one-timer after a perfect cross-ice feed from Josh Morrissey and adding an assist.

The Jets’ top line of Mark Scheifele (one goal, two assists), Alex Iafallo (one goal) and Connor (one goal, one assist) combined for three goals and six points in the 4-1 win, in a game they had to have to keep their slim playoff hopes alive.

“We’ve been pushing our hardest since the (Olympic) break,” said Scheifele, who secured a Gordie Howe hat trick after dropping the gloves with Oakbank product Brett Howden late in the second period and added an empty-net goal with 78 seconds left. “That was a great team game. We’ve got to look at that one and understand how important it is to play like that.”

Howden caught Connor with a hard hit that Scheifele took exception to.

It was the 10th fight of Scheifele’s career according to hockeyfights.com and his fourth Gordie Howe hat trick.

Jets captain Adam Lowry led the parade of players banging their sticks on the boards in appreciation when Scheifele came out of the penalty box after a stoppage in play.

“Just the thing to do,” said Scheifele, whose three-point outing moved him to 86 points for the season, one shy of his 2024-25 career-high. “Just the game of hockey. That’s my guy. I didn’t like the hit, so it happens.

“It’s kind of the way you get taught coming into the league. That’s the way you take care of each other. It’s a brotherhood in here. I don’t like when (Connor) gets hit. Plain and simple.”

How did Scheifele feel like he fared in the fight?

“I’m a terrible fighter,” he said. “I think I did catch him with a left though. I don’t think anyone was expecting me to throw a left. I don’t know how I have as many Gordie Howe hat tricks as I do.”

The selfless act by Scheifele was recognized by teammates and the coaching staff.

“Obviously, you don’t want a guy like Scheif fighting very often. But when the opportunity presents itself like that, I mean, he’s obviously not afraid to jump in and that shows a lot about him and our team and our culture,” said Jets forward Cole Perfetti. “And we’re all in this together. We’re sticking with it. We’re a team. We’re a family in here. No matter the score, the outcome, where we are in the standings, whatever it is, we’re going to be in this fight together. And I think when one of your best players does that, it really shows that.”

The Jets, who improved to 30-29-12, are back in action Thursday against the league-leading Colorado Avalanche.

Although the Jets were able to leapfrog the San Jose Sharks in the Western Conference standings, they remain five points behind the Nashville Predators in the chase for the second wild card berth with 11 games left in the regular season.

“You don’t ever really want to get off to slow starts. We’ve had a few this year,” said Jets head coach Scott Arniel. “We just kept playing our game. It’s hard to explain why and how. We just got on our toes and got going. All of a sudden, it tilted and we had all of the momentum going our way.”

Let’s take a closer look at what transpired in this one:

The start

After Eric Comrie won his sixth consecutive start on Sunday, Arniel left the door open for the Jets backup to get some additional work during the final 12 games of the regular season.

But he didn’t waver in his decision to go right back to clear-cut No. 1 Connor Hellebuyck on Tuesday night.

“How did I land on Helly? He’s a pretty good goalie,” Arniel said after the morning skate. “We’re going against Vegas, a pretty good team. (Comrie) will have an opportunity down the road here.”

With the Jets preparing for a pair of games against the Colorado Avalanche, the expectation is Hellebuyck will be between the pipes for both of those contests, which would move him to 50 starts for the season — an impressive number when you consider he missed a month after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery.

With 26 saves on Tuesday, Hellebuyck raised his save percentage to .898 and lower his goals-against average to 2.81 through 48 starts.

The dish

The Jets extended their lead to 3-0 by scoring in transition on an odd-man rush.

Gabe Vilardi supplied a slippery saucer pass over a sliding Shea Theodore to Perfetti.

It was Perfetti’s 10th goal of the season, giving him double digits for a third consecutive season.

Although things started slowly for Perfetti, he’s found a way to get things turned around and has been rolling since the start of the calendar year, chipping in seven goals, 13 assists and 20 points in 32 games.

That’s much closer to the expected level of production before he suffered a high ankle sprain late in the exhibition season.

The key play

Scheifele took advantage of a turnover by Shea Theodore and find a seam to hit Iafallo with a pass for the game-winning goal at 2:08 of the second period.

THE THREE STARS

1. Mark Scheifele: One goal, two assists and a fight for the Gordie Howe hat trick.
2. Connor Hellebuyck: 26 saves for his 18th win of the season.
3. Kyle Connor: One goal, one assist.

Extra, extra

The Jets killed off three of four minor penalties, including two late in the third period, to preserve the victory. They were zero-for-four with the man-advantage.

Colton Sissons scored the lone goal for the Golden Knights, who remain in the thick of the chase for top spot in the Pacific Division.

The Jets healthy scratches were defencemen Jacob Bryson and Ville Heinola.

winnipegfreepress.com/kenwiebe