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Many hats hit the ice in the first period at Canada Life Centre after Kyle Connor scored his first career NHL natural hat trick, helping the Winnipeg Jets tear apart the Vancouver Canucks 6-1.
1st Period
Connor’s first goal came at 6:59 after Canucks goaltender Kevin Lankinen tried to rim the puck around the boards. Gabriel Vilardi intercepted it and centered a pass to Connor, who had an open net. Vilardi earned his 20th assist on the play.
Goal number two for the Michigan native came off the rush. Neal Pionk fired a shot that created a huge rebound right to Connor who maneuvered around Lankinen to bury his second of the night. Pionk and Vilardi collected the assists on the goal.
Connor’s 26th goal of the season came at 13:37. Mark Scheifele made a perfect pass to Connor, who broke through the Canucks’ defence and got on a breakaway. He deked around Lankinen and finished the play on his forehand. Connor was in a different mode tonight.
20 minutes of play concluded with the Jets ahead 3-0 while outshooting the opposition 8-6.
2nd Period
Less than a minute into the second period, Pionk blasted a slap shot past Lankinen’s blocker to make it 4-0. Pionk’s 6th goal of the season was also his first in ten games.
Mr. Switzerland, Nino Niederreiter, scored his 12th of the season at 15:06 to make it 5-0. Rasmus Kupari fired a shot that hit Lankinen’s pad, and Niederreiter was in the right place to pounce on the rebound, which deflected off Lankinen and into the net. It was an already rough night for the Canucks, and it just got worse.
After 40 minutes of play, the Jets lead 5-0 and were outshooting the opposition 28-16.
3rd Period
The Jets added another power play goal to the record book. Mark Scheifele tied Connor in scoring after Connor passed down low to Nikolaj Ehlers, and Ehlers set up Scheifele in the slot to make it 6-0. Ehlers recorded his 23rd assist and Connor posted his 33rd.
Connor Hellebuyck’s shutout streak ended at 9:16. Logan Stanley… turned the puck over to Nils Hoglander and he sniped it top corner on Hellebuyck to cut the deficit to five. Hoglander posted his 3rd of the season and his first goal since Oct. 19th 2024.
The Canucks’ disastrous game finally came to an end with the Jets securing a 6-1 victory. Winnipeg outshot Vancouver 33-24.
Hellebuyck earned his 27th win of the season, stopping 23 of 24 shots for a .958 save percentage.
Final Thoughts
Well, that was certainly unexpected. Both teams were coming off dominant 3-0 shutout wins and likely feeling confident, but none of that mattered. The Jets dominated the entire game, while the Canucks were still trying to wake up in the final minute.
I want to know what Connor ate before tonight’s game because, wow—he was lights out. His three first period goals came in about four minutes. Taking that into perspective, that’s more goals in four minutes than some guys score in an entire season. That’s how good he is.
Although he didn’t record a shutout, Hellebuyck recorded more stats that prove why he’s the best in the league. Truly another amazing performance from the reigning Vezina winner. It was just another day at the office.
Up Next:
The Jets will stay put and play the Seattle Kraken at home on Thursday, Jan. 16th. puck drop for that game is at 7:00 p.m. and you can watch on TSN3.
Make sure to stop by to read the pre-game article before the game, and the post-game article after the game.