Winnipeg Jets' Dylan DeMelo (2) vies for the puck against Vancouver Canucks' Ilya Mikheyev (65) and Teddy Blueger (53) as Winnipeg's Mark Scheifele, back centre, watches during the first period of an NHL hockey game in Vancouver, on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
VANCOUVER – Winnipeg Jets forward Mark Scheifele had a hand in allfour of his team’s goals in a 4-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday at Rogers Arena.
Scheifele had a goal and three assists, Gabriel Vilardi had two goals and an assist, Kyler Connor had two assists, and Sean Monahan scored his first goal for Winnipeg (33-14-5).
Tyler Myers and Noah Juulsen scored for the Canucks (37-13-6), while Conor Garland and Ilya Mikheyev earned assists.
The winning goal came as Juulsen went to lay out Scheifele, creating a three-on-one with Connor sliding a pass to an open Vilardi at 7:47 of the third period.
Scheifele doubled the lead two minutes later, breaking away from Juulsen to tuck home a pass from Connor for the insurance goal.
Thatcher Demko stopped 24 of 28 shots for Vancouver while Connor Hellebuyck stopped 35 of 37 for Winnipeg.
The drama and action started in the second after a quiet opening frame.
The Jets took the lead at 9:25 of the second period through Monahan, immediately after Canucks forward Phil Di Giuseppe was given a game misconduct, and an instigator penalty, for fighting with Adam Lowry.
Scheifele wristed a pass to Vilardi at the side of the net who fed it to an open Monahan.
Myers evened it up at 14:19, dancing his way to the net to score a backhand goal past Hellebuyck.
Juulsen opened the scoring for the Canucks 19 seconds into the second period, driving to the net and finding a loose pass from Garland which he roofed past a stranded Hellebuyck. It was his first goal as a Canucks and first in 72 games.
But the Jets tied the game midway through the period, on the power play, with Scheifele finding an open Vilardi alone in front of Demko who had no trouble slipping his shot past the Canucks netminder.
The first period started slowly, before Scheifele thought he opened the scoring seven minutes into the game, only for the referees to wave the goal off and determining he pushed Demko into the net.
The Canucks best chance in the opening frame also came on the power play, with Elias Lindholm open at the far post but couldn’t beat Hellebuyck with six minutes left.
NOTES
Arshdeep Bains of Surrey, B.C., was called up to the Canucks on Friday but did not play against the Jets. “¦ The win over the Canucks was Kevin Cheveldayoff’s 500th win as general manager of the Jets. “¦ Entering the game, the Jets had won the last three straight against the Canucks. “¦ Juulsen’s goal was his first since Nov. 5, 2018. “¦ Monahan’s goal was his 14th of the season and first since joining the Jets from the Montreal Canadiens.
UP NEXT
Canucks: Visit the Minnesota Wild on Monday.
Jets: Travel to Calgary to play the Flames on Monday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 17, 2024.
