Connor scores twice, Jets defeat Stars

WINNIPEG — Kyle Connor scored two goals and had an assist and Mark Scheifele had three assists, and the Winnipeg Jets won 4-1 against the Dallas Stars at Canada Life Centre on Friday.

“I thought we dictated the pace right from the hop,” Connor said. “Played with a lot of pace, played within our structure, defended first. You look at a couple of goals there that we scored, the first one they have possession in our zone for a little bit, we just kept it simple, trusted each other, made the turnover and then resulted off the rush scoring a goal. We stuck to our identity and were able to dictate the play there.”

Dylan Samberg and Morgan Barron also scored for the Jets (46-17-4), who have won four of five (4-1-0). Connor Hellebuyck made 24 saves.

“They’re a really good offensive team and their offensive numbers are real high,” Winnipeg coach Scott Arniel said of the Stars. “Analytically, they’re one of the top teams in the League as well. We shut down a lot of avenues. We did a lot of good things. We created our goals by defending first. Like I’ve talked about often, we played a 200-foot game of defense to make sure that they didn’t get room to work. It turned into offense for us and that’s what we’ve done all year long. We got up and got ahead of them and now, they’ve got to chase the game.”

Mason Marchment scored for the Stars (42-21-2), who had won five of their previous six (5-1-0). Jake Oettinger made 18 saves.

“We weren't competitive enough,” Dallas coach Pete DeBoer said. “I thought we made it too easy on their goaltender. They defended hard — we knew they defended hard, their numbers said that — and we just didn't pay enough of a price to get inside and make it difficult for them. I thought defensively we were OK. We didn't give up a lot. I thought they were opportunistic on the chances they got, but we didn't do nearly enough to create offense out there.”

Samberg made it 1-0 Jets at 8:01 of the first period. Scheifele cut back to delay a zone entry and saucered a backhand pass to Samberg, who entered the zone late and scored with a wrist shot from above the left circle.

“They recognized that we had to be at our best against a really good hockey team that doesn’t give you a whole lot of ice or a whole lot of room to work,” Arniel said. “I thought we had a fantastic first period. It was real solid. We got out, got the lead and didn’t stop from there.”

Connor made it 2-0 at 17:02 when Scheifele took the puck out of the corner and made a quick pass to Connor to score with a one-timer from the face-off dot.

“We're learning about ourselves,” DeBoer said. “We’re learning about the best teams in the conference right now, what we have to do to compete. Some good lessons in the game tonight for us.”

Connor’s second pushed it to 3-0 at 6:43 of the second, scoring with a one-timer from the low slot after a give-and-go with Josh Morrissey on the rush.

“The way [Morrissey] was kind of set up, it would have been tough with back pressure coming on him to get a shot off,” Connor said. “So I was just always ready to shoot if it was coming back, and he puts it between two, three guys there and their legs and it's right on my tape. So it was a heck of a pass.”

Barron scored when he tipped Dylan DeMelo’s point shot to make it 4-0 at 7:26 of the third.

“We talk about playing that defensive structure, staying on top of teams and really stymying their momentum,” Barron said. “When we’re playing our best, that’s exactly what it is — the other teams aren’t necessarily continuing that offensive flow that they get into. We are able to push back and break up those sections of the games and ultimately push that onto ourselves. When we are at our best, I do think that we see that out of the other team at times. That’s just kind of a good indicator that we’re playing a good brand of hockey.”

Marchment cut it to 4-1 at 16:11. Evgenii Dadonov drove the netside, spun and fed it to the slot where Marchment scored with a shot that beat Hellebuyck along the ice.

“They break out really well, they support each other really well and I think that leads to offense,” Marchment said. “I thought we did a pretty good job controlling the neutral zone for the most part… We did a good job limiting their chances. But at the same time [Jake Oettinger] made a couple of huge saves, too. (We’ve) just got to flush that one and get ready for the next one.”

NOTES: Winnipeg recorded its 25th home win of the season and tied the franchise record for fewest games to the mark in a single campaign (also 34 games in 2017-18). They also extended their home point streak to eight games for the first time since a 10-game run from Dec. 2, 2023 to Jan. 11, 2024. … … The Jets are 36-0-1 this season when leading after two periods. … Scheifele and Connor both assisted on the game-opening goal. Winnipeg owns a 189-45-18 record when both Scheifele and Connor record a point in a game. … Scheifele’s two assists in the first period gave him 100 multipoint periods, tying Blake Wheeler for the most in Jets/Thrashers history. … Scheifele recorded his 14th three-assist game to reach 40 for the season. It is his seventh 40-assist season, moving him to within one of tying Wheeler (8) for the most in franchise history. … Connor recorded his 45th career multigoal game and moved within one of tying Ilya Kovalchuk (46) for the second most in franchise history. Scheifele (48) is first.