Connor scores twice, lifts Jets past Canadiens for 4th straight win

MONTREAL -- Kyle Connor scored twice, and the Winnipeg Jets extended their winning streak to four games with a 4-1 victory against the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre on Tuesday.

Mark Scheifele also scored, and Gabriel Vilardi had two assists for the Jets (35-14-3), who are 8-2-1 in their past 11 games. Connor Hellebuyck made 24 saves.

“We’ve just played simple, we haven’t tried to overcomplicate the game,” Scheifele said. “We get pucks deep, we’re a tough team when we play in the O-zone. We hold onto pucks, we make the other team defend, and tonight was a prime example of that.”

Juraj Slafkovsky scored, and Sam Montembeault made 20 saves for the Canadiens (24-21-5), who have lost three straight (0-2-1) for the first time since going 0-5-1 from Oct. 29 - Nov. 9.

“We were very engaged,” Montreal coach Martin St. Louis said. “We just didn’t win.”

Slafkovsky gave the Canadiens a 1-0 lead at 11:03 of the first period. He snapped a one-timer past Hellebuyck’s glove from the left face-off circle on Nick Suzuki’s pass from behind the net.

Connor tied it 1-1 at 15:36 when he got to a rebound of Dylan DeMelo’s initial shot from the left point and scored on a wrist shot past Montembeault stick side.

“I kind of just roam around the slot there and try to catch them when they’re shooting the puck going towards the net and lose coverage a bit,” Connor said. “And I was able to do that and find a loose puck and able to put it upstairs.”

Outshot 15-7 in the first, Winnipeg had a 13-3 shooting advantage in the second period.

“The first 10 minutes Montreal came out really hard and had us on our heels,” Jets coach Scott Arniel said. “We spent a lot of time in our end of the rink, but we finally got back and got playing our game. We did a better job of getting through the neutral zone and got our forecheck going. And at the end of the day, that was pretty much what turned that second period around.”

Scheifele put the Jets up 2-1 at 10:44 of the second. He drove to the net from the left corner to put Vilardi’s return pass from behind the net between Montembeault’s legs.

Connor’s second goal of the game extended it to 3-1 with two seconds remaining in the period. He snapped a one-timer over Montembeault’s left shoulder on a centering pass from David Gustafsson, who won a puck battle with Kaiden Guhle behind the net to retrieve Connor’s dump-in.

“That was amazing, unbelievable play by ‘Gussy,’” Scheifele said. “Just poise and vision in a chaotic situation, so that was an unbelievable play by him.”

Rasmus Kupari scored into an empty net with 1:45 left in the third period for the 4-1 final.

“They’re a really deep team, strong offensively,” Suzuki said. “We just didn’t have a great second period and the game got away from us. And we just missed on some good scoring chances in the third. We had a pretty good start and bad second, and I thought we had a good third. So, we’ve got to clean up the second period.”

Guhle left the game 5:38 into the third and had to be helped to the dressing room after an awkward fall into the boards. The Montreal defenseman sustained a lower-body injury that will require further evaluation.

“We’ll have to see the extent of it,” St. Louis said. “But even when you lose Guhle for one game, he’s a guy who plays a lot of minutes and has big responsibilities, he’s not an easy player to replace.”

NOTES: Connor and Scheifele have each scored 29 goals and are tied for the Jets lead. … Connor is one goal short of his seventh 30-goal season, which would tie Ilya Kovalchuk for the most in Jets/Atlanta Thrashers franchise history. … Scheifele, who is one goal short of his fourth 30-goal season, has 326 goals, two behind Kovalchuk (328) for the all-time franchise lead. … Montreal forward Brendan Gallagher played his 802nd NHL game to move ahead of Jean-Guy Talbot for 20th all-time in Canadiens history.