Kyle Connor tallies twice as rising Jets handle Kraken
Kyle Connor scored two goals and Mark Scheifele had three assists in the Winnipeg Jets' 6-2 win over the visiting Seattle Kraken on Monday.
The Jets improved to 6-2-0 in their past eight games. This hot streak has put Winnipeg (34-31-12, 80 points) three points back of the final Western Conference wild-card berth.
Gabriel Vilardi and Jonathan Toews each had a goal and an assist for Winnipeg, and Josh Morrissey recorded two assists. Vladislav Namestnikov and Brad Lambert scored the Jets' other goals.
Winnipeg goalie Connor Hellebuyck stopped 22 of 24 shots.
The Jets went 3-for-3 on the power play, winning the battle of struggling special-teams units. Winnipeg entered Monday with the fifth-worst power-play percentage (17.22%) in the NHL, while Seattle's 72.77% penalty-kill percentage ranked second worst in the league.
Seattle is 1-7-2 in its past 10 games and winless in the past five games (0-4-1). The late collapse has all but officially ended the Kraken's playoff hopes, as Seattle (32-33-11, 75 points) is eight points back of the final West wild card spot.
Jordan Eberle and Jared McCann scored for the Kraken.
Philipp Grubauer stopped 15 of 18 shots before leaving the game with a lower-body injury 13:20 into the second period. Joey Daccord turned aside 10 of 12 shots the rest of the way.
Eberle converted his own rebound on a backhander to open the scoring 9:17 into the first period. A fortunate bounce led to Toews' power-play equalizer at 12:39 of the opening frame, as Vilardi's tip-in attempt ricocheted off the glass and bounced in front to Toews for the close-range conversion.
The breaks continued to go Winnipeg's way on two more power-play goals, beginning with Vilardi's tally 9:55 into the second period. Toews' pass deflected off two Kraken players before Vilardi deposited the loose puck. Just over two minutes later, Connor's shot deflected into the net off of Seattle defenseman Ryan Lindgren.
McCann narrowed Seattle's deficit with a well-placed wrist shot 2:28 into the third period, but Lambert responded with a wrister of his own at the 5:59 mark. The Jets then pulled away on Connor's one-timer at 15:19 of the final frame, and Namestnikov added an empty-netter at 17:56.