Kyle Connor’s Goal and Two Assists Helps Jets Hand Stars Their 4th Straight Loss

WINNIPEG — Kyle Connor had a goal and two assists as the Winnipeg Jets handed the Dallas Stars their fourth straight loss with a 5-1 victory on Tuesday.

Winnipeg Jets Kyle Connor Mark Scheifele
Winnipeg Jets left wing Kyle Connor celebrates with Jets center Mark Scheifele (James Carey Lauder-USA TODAY Sports)

Nikolaj Ehlers, Josh Morrissey, Patrik Laine and Mark Scheifele each had a goal and assist for Winnipeg, which is 4-1-0 in its past five games.

Defenceman Miro Heiskanen scored for the Stars, who are now 0-3-1 since their seven-game win streak ended.

Connor Hellebuyck made 27 saves for Winnipeg (17-10-1), which went 10-3-1 in November.

Anton Khudobin stopped 25 shots for Dallas (15-11-3).

Winnipeg led 1-0 after the first period and 4-1 after two.

It looked like Laine got the Jets a goal 13 seconds into the game, but Dallas successfully challenged for offside and it was wiped away.

Ehlers made it 1-0 at 7:45 when he got the puck in the slot, spun around and beat Khudobin.

Winnipeg Jets Nikolaj Ehlers
Winnipeg Jets left wing Nikolaj Ehlers (Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports)

Winnipeg had an 8-3 advantage in shots on goal after the first period. The three shots allowed was a season-low for the Jets.

Khudobin started the second period by making a pair of pad saves on breakaways by Scheifele and Ehlers, but then the bounces went against him.

Connor notched his 11th goal of the season off a deflection at 7:56. Morrissey got his goal courtesy of Stars forward Mattias Janmark, who had the rebound go off his skate and into the net to make it 3-0 at 11:12.

Heiskanen broke his team’s goose egg at 17:59 when he went in alone on Hellebuyck, but Laine scored his eighth of the season just a minute and a half later to restore the Jets’ three-goal lead.

Patrik Laine Winnipeg Jets
Winnipeg Jets right wing Patrik Laine (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

The shots on goal after the second were 21-14 for Winnipeg, which was another season-low allowed through two periods.

Scheifele made it 5-1 with a wrap-around goal at 13:59 of the third. Laine picked up an assist, giving him the team lead in points with 27. Scheifele has 26.

Winnipeg heads out for a one-game road trip to Dallas. The Thursday rematch marks the first of a four-game homestand for the Stars.

NOTES

Winnipeg Blue Bombers Nic Demski, Andrew Harris and Chris Streveler did the game’s ceremonial puck drop, part of honouring the CFL team for winning last month’s Grey Cup… The Jets announced earlier in the day that veteran defenceman Dmitry Kulikov will be out until late January with an upper-body injury.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 3, 2019.

Judy Owen, The Canadian Press