Jets pull away from Habs in second period, never look back

Kyle Connor scored twice and Gabriel Vilardi added two assists as the Winnipeg Jets won their fourth straight game by posting a 4-1 victory over the host Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday night.

Mark Scheifele also had a goal, Rasmus Kupari notched an empty-netter and Connor Hellebuyck stopped 24 shots for the Jets, who overcame an early 1-0 deficit to improve to 15-5-3 since Dec. 10. Winnipeg leads the Western Conference with 73 points this season.

Juraj Slafkovsky scored for Montreal, which has yielded 12 goals during an 0-2-1 rut.

The Canadiens, who outshot Winnipeg 15-7 in the opening period, came out as the aggressors, getting scoring chances off Jets turnovers and second-chance opportunities. Montreal was rewarded with 8:57 remaining in the first when Nick Suzuki sent a pass from behind the Jets' net to Slafkovsky to successfully one-time by a late-reacting Hellebuyck.

However, that woke up Winnipeg, which stepped up the intensity. And, with 4:24 left before the first intermission, Connor slipped into the crease to send home a loose puck to make it 1-1.

The Jets continued to dictate play in the second period, where they broke the tie and then added to their lead.

First, Vilardi sent a pass from behind the Canadiens' net into the low slot for Scheifele, who snuck in and scored with 9:16 left in the frame. Then, with five-tenths of a second remaining before the second break, another pass from behind the Montreal net, this time one from David Gustafsson, found a wide-open Connor for a one-timer past Sam Montembeault (20 saves) and a 3-1 edge.

Kupari put the finishing touches on the victory at 18:15 of the third with a backhand shot.

Hellebuyck proved to be stout for most of the evening, making one of his most impressive saves against Suzuki with 12:31 to go in the final period.

--Field Level Media