Jets hand Canucks third straight setback
WINNIPEG, Manitoba -- Mathieu Perreault scored two goals, including what proved to be the game-winner, and assisted on an insurance goal to help the Winnipeg Jets beat the Vancouver Canucks 5-1 Monday night at Bell MTS Place.
The Jets improved to 18-8-5 on the season and temporarily moved into third place in the Western Conference in the process.
Vancouver (14-13-4) lost its third straight.
Perreault’s decisive goal came moments after a Winnipeg power play ended 4:55 into the second period. Perreault started the process in which all five Jets on the ice touched the puck, and he finished it, too, capping off the crafty bit of teamwork by firing a shot from the slot past Canucks goalie Jacob Markstrom to put the Jets up 2-1.
Perreault later drew an assist on Nikolaj Ehlers’ power-play goal at 14:09 of the second that made it 3-1.
After his goal, Ehlers flopped to the ice, looked up to the rafters and raised his hands in the air to celebrate as the Jets won their seventh straight game at home. The Jets, now 11-2-1 in their friendly confines, have not lost in regulation at home since a 5-2 defeat against Columbus on Oct. 17, a span of 11 games.
Winnipeg went ahead 4-1 when Adam Lowry led a 3-on-1 and feathered a pass to a charging Josh Morrissey who redirected it past Markstrom at 11:38 of the third.
They rubbed salt in the wound with 43.7 seconds left in the game when Markstrom’s ill-conceived clearing attempt went up the middle of the ice straight, which led to Perreault’s ninth goal of the season to make it 5-1.
Dmitry Kulikov got the home side on the board first when his wrist shot from the point dribbled through the legs of Markstrom 1:28 into the first period.
Rookie Brock Boeser, with his team-leading 16th of the season, had the lone goal for Vancouver.
Boeser’s goal matched Tony Granato’s 1988-89 mark as the most by a U.S.-born rookie through his first 30 games.
NOTES: The Canucks were without two of their top scorers. C Bo Horvat (28 GP-10 G-20 P) is out after suffering a broken foot Dec. 5 and LW Sven Baertschi (30-8-18) is out for 4-to-6 weeks with a fractured jaw. ... The Jets played without D Dustin Byfuglien, who was pronounced by head coach Paul Maurice as “week-to-week” with a lower-body injury. He was replaced in the lineup by rookie Tucker Poolman. ... Linesman Vaughan Rody, a Winnipeg native, was honored in an on-ice pregame ceremony for officiating in his 1000th NHL game. ... Jets C Bryan Little appeared in his 700th NHL game. ... Vancouver RW Brock Boeser’s goal was his 12th in the past 13 games and he now has 14 points in that span.