Vilardi gets 4 points, Jets defeat Flames for 3rd win in row

WINNIPEG -- Gabriel Vilardi had two goals and two assists for the Winnipeg Jets in a 5-2 win against the Calgary Flames at Canada Life Centre on Sunday.

“He's got great vision,” Winnipeg coach Scott Arniel said. “He's a good passer, whether that's coming through the neutral zone, he makes good plays, but then once he gets down around that goal, he's obviously so dangerous. I really liked that shot coming off the wing. He’s a goal-scorer.”

Kyle Connor had a goal and two assists, and Mark Scheifele had a goal and an assist for the Jets (34-14-3), who have won three straight. Eric Comrie made 20 saves.

“To be honest, the whole line (Connor, Vilardi, and Scheifele) is pretty good,” Comrie said. “They score a lot of goals. ... They know how to score and they know how to play the game, and it’s a pleasure to watch them play and it’s a lot of fun.”

MacKenzie Weegar and Nazem Kadri scored for the Flames (24-17-7), who had won three straight, including 5-4 at the Minnesota Wild on Saturday. Dan Vladar made 22 saves.

“Five-on-five I thought we played a patient game,” Weegar said. “It’s a good team and a good building coming from Minnesota. We played patient, we had some opportunities, but obviously we didn't get the job done. It's two points that we needed for the standings, for sure. It was a good opportunity for us.”

Connor gave the Jets a 1-0 lead at 5:28 of the first period. Connor skated into the Calgary zone, split the defense with a lateral move and lifted a backhand under the crossbar.

“Pretty nasty,” Vilardi said of the highlight-reel goal. “That's what he does. It was cool to see.”

Mason Appleton made it 2-0 at 10:17 of the second period when he intercepted a clearing attempt from Flames forward Mikael Backlund and shot into an open net.

“When we made a few mistakes they were able to capitalize,” Calgary coach Ryan Huska said. “That’s kind of the difference in the game. But for our team, I thought our effort was where it needed to be, and there were stretches of the game where I thought we did a lot of good things. We just weren't able to keep them out of our net when we needed to tonight.”

Weegar cut it to 2-1 with a one-timer from the point on the power play at 15:08.

“Our team, it's got a lot of character, and we've had that identity all year where we work hard, we work hard for each other no matter what the score is,” Weegar said. “We competed but it just wasn't enough tonight, unfortunately.”

Vilardi made it 3-1 at 19:09, taking a drop pass from Dylan Samberg near the blue line and scoring with a wrist shot from below the right face-off circle that went in off the far post.

Vilardi then pushed it to 4-1 with a power-play goal from in close at 3:07 of the third period.

“I think we just have so many threats, you've got to worry about different options,” Vilardi said of the power play. “You've got to worry about [Connor] on the half wall taking that one-timer.

Kadri scored off a setup from Jake Bean at the edge of the crease to cut it to 4-2 at 4:27.

“[Scoring chances were] a little limited tonight, but I definitely feel like we had some opportunities and we were definitely in the game for a great portion of it,” Kadri said. “I thought it could have went either way, but they got a couple of power-play goals that ended up being the difference. We’ve got to find a way to try to tie it up.”

Scheifele responded at 7:08, scoring with a one-timer on the power play for the 5-2 final.

“We're doing a good job of interchanging,” Vilardi said. “You saw Scheifele's goal, we're attacking off the rush as well. It's not like we're just looking to get into a set and then go from there. We take what they give us, and I think that's the key to a good power play.”

Winnipeg’s NHL-leading power play (33.3 percent) went 2-for-2.

“They’ve got some threats, obviously,” Weegar said. “They’ve got a lot of good shooters on that power play, but I thought we kind of kicked ourselves a little bit with those two, one off the rush and just a little bit harder in front of the net on that other one.”

The Jets are 19-0-2 this season when leading after the first, and 25-0-1 leading into the third.

“Very tough. I mean, even if they don't have a lead they're tough to play against,” Kadri said. “Obviously, their power play is deadly and you’ve got to be able to stay out of the box in those certain situations. But like I mentioned, I don't think we gave up a ton. They made some nice plays and scored some nice goals."

NOTES: The Jets are a League-best 20-5-3 at home. … Comrie won for the first time in nine starts. The Jets scored a combined 12 goals in his eight previous starts, with Comrie going 0-7-1. ... Flames forward Martin Pospisil had nine hits in 14:56 of ice time.