Patrik Laine's hat trick lifts Jets past Stars

WINNIPEG -- Rookie forward Patrik Laine scored his third NHL hat trick, including the game-winning goal with 5:07 left, to help the Winnipeg Jets to a 5-2 victory against the Dallas Stars at MTS Centre on Tuesday.
Laine scored his first goal in six games at 15:04 of the first period. His second gave the Jets a 3-2 lead at 14:53 of the third period and he completed the hat trick with an empty-net goal at 18:58.

"It's always nice to score," Laine said. "It was a huge game for me and my linemates and the whole team. These four last games haven't been that good, so it was just nice to have a game like this."
WATCH: All Stars vs. Jets highlights
Laine has 26 goals this season, one behind Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews for the rookie goal scoring lead. Eight of Laine's goals have come against the Stars.
"I just want to play more simple," Laine said. "Just put pucks on the net and hope for the best. We had some good scoring chances and we were able to score. That's a good thing."

Joel Armia and Blake Wheeler also scored for Winnipeg (26-29-4). Mark Scheifele had three assists, surpassing 200 points in his NHL career. Connor Hellebuyck made 34 saves to avoid a third straight loss.
The Jets ended a four-game losing streak overall and a five-game skid at home.
Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin scored for Dallas (22-26-10). Antti Niemi made 21 saves. The Stars are 1-6-0 this month.
"I thought we had crossbars, posts ... there's nothing that really got away from us except the fact that the puck didn't go in the net," Stars coach Lindy Ruff said. "We gave up ... the only chance they got in the first period was the one that went in. We had about 10 minutes in the second that we were on our heels, but I thought we got out of that and tied the game up. A couple plays to start the third, but after that I thought we had the puck most of the night."
Armia gave the Jets a 2-0 lead at 7:37 of the second period.
Benn scored his 19th to make it 2-1 at 8:43 after Jason Spezza, who returned after missing five games because of an upper-body injury, made a nice play at the Jets blue line to keep the puck in the zone. It was Benn's 500th NHL career point.

Seguin tied it 2-2 at 13:35 on the power play, his wrist shot from the point getting through a screen and past Hellebuyck.
Laine put Winnipeg back in front when he got the puck after Scheifele won a faceoff in the offensive zone and quickly sent a wrist shot past Niemi to make it 3-2.
Wheeler scored an empty-net goal with 1:48 remaining.

Winnipeg trails the Los Angeles Kings by four points for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. Dallas is two points behind the Jets.
"It's two teams fighting for their [playoff] lives," Wheeler said. "These guys were a playoff team last year and have a really talented squad over there. It's a really good hockey team. You could feel they were pushing for the same thing we were pushing for. It made it a playoff feel game, a 2-2 game going into the third with those implications, there was a lot of intensity, a lot of chances. It's fun hockey."

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Goal of the game

Scheifele won a faceoff to Niemi's right back to Laine, who used a quick release to put the puck high and over Niemi's glove hand for the game-winner.

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Save of the game

Stars defenseman Dan Hamhuis got his stick on a shot from Nikolaj Ehlers, saving a sure goal on a wide open net with the game tied 2-2 in the third period.

Highlight of the game

Laine scored from inside the Jets blue line to complete his hat trick.

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Unsung performance of the game

Jets defenseman Josh Morrissey had an assist, two shots, three hits and four blocked shots in 19:41.

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They said it

"We had a serious meeting with the team after [a 4-1 loss against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday]. We just figured we have to work harder and just try to be simple on the ice. I think we managed to do that." -- Jets forward Patrik Laine
"That's been extremely frustrating. I thought we did some things today that deserve a better result. We had lots of looks at the end and really tried to limit their zone time. They get the one rush goal, but it's still not good enough." -- Stars forward Jason Spezza

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Need to know

The Stars end their season series with the Jets with a 1-4-0 record. ... Benn has nine goals and nine assists in his past 13 games. ... Laine is the first rookie to have two hat tricks against the same team since former New York Rangers forward Tony Granato against the Pittsburgh Penguins during the 1988-89 season. ... Scheifele has seven goals and 10 assists in an eight-game point streak against the Stars.

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What's next

Stars: At the Minnesota Wild on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; FS-N, FS-WI, FS-SW,
NHL.TV
)
Jets: At the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; ROOT, TSN3,
NHL.TV
)