Canucks, Jets

Connor, Jets, Smack Down Canucks 6-1

Jets 6, Canucks 1

Kyle Connor scored his 24th, 25th, and 26th goals of the season all in the 1st period as part of a natural hat trick that helped bury visiting Vancouver 6-1.

“Pretty impressive,” Jets head coach Scott Arniel said postgame. “We’ve been getting better at it, getting out of the gate and I thought that tonight as a group. They (Vancouver) turned the puck over and it was a bang-bang play, back of the net. I just like a lot of what we did in that first period.”

Canucks goalie Kevin Lankinen went behind his net and fired the puck directly to Winnipeg forward Gabe Vilardi in the right wing corner. He found Connor alone in front at 6:59.

6:02 later, Connor backhanded home a rebound to give the Jets the 2-0 lead. Just 36-seconds later he scored on a breakaway, deking to his forehand.

Game over.

Outside of Dakota Joshua, out of the line-up and on injured reserve for the 2nd time this season, the Canucks featured a full healthy line-up. The game marked the return of right-shot defenceman Filip Hronek, injured since November 27th. The top pair partner of captain Quinn Hughes played 20:50, blocked two shots and delivered three hits.

His successful re-acclamation wasn’t going to be instantaneous. He’ll get a chance to get his legs under him during the Canucks upcoming three game homestand.

Nils Höglander scored the lone goal for Vancouver late in the game after the club fell behind 6-0.

The Jets are the first NHL team to 30 wins this season while Vancouver slipped out of the 2nd wild card spot in the Western Conference after finishing their roadie 1-2-and-2.

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Rob Simpson

Rob Simpson has covered the NHL in five different decades. He’s authored 4 books on hockey and is a veteran TV and radio play-by-play man and reporter.
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