Scheifele has 3 points, Jets defeat Golden Knights to keep pace in wild card

WINNIPEG -- Mark Scheifele had a goal and two assists for the Winnipeg Jets in a 4-1 win against the Vegas Golden Knights at Canada Life Centre on Tuesday.

“We have been pushing since the break, pushing our hardest every day,” Scheifele said. “And all we can do is control what we can control and tonight we played a great game, and it showed throughout the entire game.”

Kyle Connor had a goal and an assist, and Connor Hellebuyck made 26 saves for the Jets (30-29-12), who have points in six of seven (4-1-2).

“I just thought we did a real good job with the guts of the ice tonight,” Winnipeg coach Scott Arniel said. “We didn't give up the quality through the middle. And that was everybody, that wasn't just our checkers or whatever it might be. That was everybody paying attention. When the puck turned over, we worked our tails off to make sure that we got back and helped.”

The Jets remained five points behind the Nashville Predators for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.

“Coming out of the Olympic break we’ve given ourselves a chance here to stay in this race, and the emotion is there,” Arniel said. “Every shift matters. Obviously every point matters, but every shift matters, and you can see that the guys -- whether it’s blocking a shot or getting a stick on a puck or making a great play offensively -- you can hear it on the bench, you can hear it in the room.”

Rasmus Andersson scored, and Adin Hill made 17 saves for the Golden Knights (32-26-14), who have lost four of five (1-4-0), and 10 of their past 14 (4-10-0).

“Tonight wasn't a night about (our) goaltender, it was about our lack of execution offensively,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “Listen, if we're not scoring, he's going to have to help us put out fires for us. … I’m not putting it on him, but that's the hand he's been dealt lately. He hasn’t got a lot of run support.”

The Golden Knights fell one point behind the Edmonton Oilers for second place in the Pacific Division, and six behind the first-place Anaheim Ducks.

“They get one, they get two, they get three (goals) -- I think that's that's been kind of our issue -- we don't stop the bleeding soon enough,” Vegas defenseman Rasmus Andersson said. “And it feels like almost every time we let the first one in, it's a 3-0 game and we got to chase the rest of the game. So, (it’s) frustrating because I think we're the better team in the first period. We just got to stop the bleeding earlier.”

Connor gave the Jets a 1-0 lead at 17:25 of the first period. Josh Morrissey skated up the side boards, and his cross-ice pass set up Connor for a one-timer from just below the right dot.

“I thought it was kind of an even first period, we each had a couple of chances,” Cassidy said. “They buried theirs, made a good play there. Again, their top guys found open ice.”

Alex Iafallo extended it to 2-0 at 2:08 of the second period. After a turnover by Vegas defenseman Shea Theodore, Scheifele found Iafallo with a cross-ice pass for the goal.

“Our ‘D’ was able to keep a good gap,” Scheifele said. “We had good back pressure and the guys were in the right spots, and (Hellebuyck) made some great saves. It was a great team game, and we have to look at that one and understand how important it is to play like that.”

Cole Perfetti pushed it to 3-0 at 4:06 with a tap-in on a 3-on-1 rush, finishing Gabriel Vilardi’s saucer pass over a sliding Theodore.

“Tonight was more of a playoff style, it felt like,” Perfetti said. “A little bit more heavy and tight checking in the neutral zone, and there wasn't much. And then I thought we did a really good job in transition, stopping them, slowing them down and going the other way.”

Andersson cut it to 3-1 on the power play at 10:29 when his shot from the slot slid under Hellebuyck.

Scheifele scored into an empty net at 18:42 of the third period for the 4-1 final.

“Their top guys are all over the score sheet,” Cassidy said. “You can get away with it for a while, but it's a number of games now, so that is going to change for us. It’s going to need to change for us.”

NOTES: Scheifele leads Winnipeg with 86 points (32 goals, 54 assists) in 71 games this season, one shy of matching his career high of 87 points in 2024-25. With at least one goal, one assist, and a fight, Scheifele recorded the fourth Gordie Howe Hat Trick of his career. … Connor (32 goals, 49 assists; 81 points) became the third player in franchise history with at least four career 80-point seasons, alongside Scheifele (four) and Ilya Kovalchuk (four with the Atlanta Thrashers). … Winnipeg can become the second team in NHL history to qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs after suffering an 11-game losing streak earlier in the season (Dec. 15 to Jan. 8), following the 1985-86 Flames (11 games from Dec. 14, 1985, to Jan. 7, 1986).