Kyle Connor scored a natural hat trick in the first period and went on to add an assist as the Winnipeg Jets crushed the visiting Vancouver Canucks 6-1 on Tuesday.
Neal Pionk, Nino Niederreiter and Mark Scheifele each had a goal and an assist for Winnipeg. Gabriel Vilardi had three helpers, while Cole Perfetti had two assists. Nikolaj Ehlers and Rasmus Kupari also set up goals. Connor Hellebuyck made 23 stops.
Nils Hoglander scored Vancouver’s only goal, unassisted. Kevin Lankinen made 27 stops for the Canucks.
The Jets struck first at 6:59 of the initial period when Lankinen turned the puck over along the boards to Vilardi, who quickly set Connor up in the slot for an easy goal into the open net.
Connor added another at 13:01, finishing off a rebound with his backhand to give the Jets a 2-0 lead.
Winnipeg extended its advantage just 36 seconds later. Connor completed his natural hat trick, taking a pass from Vilardi and skating in alone to make it 3-0.
Connor’s three goals came in just 6:38 of ice time.
The second period did not improve for Vancouver. Winnipeg extended the lead to 4-0 just 39 seconds in as Pionk’s slap shot from above the circle beat Lankinen.
The Jets made it 5-0 with 4:54 remaining in the middle frame when Kupari sent the puck to the front of the net, where it took an odd bounce and was swatted in by Niederreiter.
Winnipeg picked up right where it left off 1:31 into the third period on the power play, with Scheifele finishing off a quick passing sequence in front of the net to push the Jets ahead 6-0.
The Canucks managed to break the shutout at the 9:16 mark of the third, as Hoglander fired a quick snapshot past the goalie.
–Field Level Media
