Connor, Vilardi each has 2 points, Jets hold off Canadiens

WINNIPEG -- Kyle Connor and Gabriel Vilardi each had a goal and an assist for the Winnipeg Jets, who held on for a 4-2 win against the Montreal Canadiens at Canada Life Centre on Saturday.

“It was a pretty entertaining game,” Winnipeg coach Scott Arniel said. “A lot of special teams ... real proud of both our units there. Our power play and penalty kill really stepped up tonight. I really liked our effort. It was a really good bounce back from what we had done the other night against Vegas (a 3-2 overtime loss on Thursday). It was a real solid win."

Adam Lowry and Vladislav Namestnikov also scored, and Connor Hellebuyck made 26 saves for the Jets (22-9-1), who have earned a point in five of their past six (4-1-1). Josh Morrissey had two assists.

“He’s unbelievable,” Morrissey said of Hellebuyck. “The best goalie in the League, in my view. I get to see it every night and probably take it for granted, when you watch it over and over and over again. I was reminiscing about that the other day. I think when I played my 600th game, I was thinking about how I probably played about 500 at least with him in the net. That’s pretty lucky as a player. He makes it look easy, but I guarantee it’s not. Just a special, special talent, and really a generational goalie in my view.”

Lane Hutson scored his first NHL goal for the Canadiens (11-16-3), who have lost three of four (1-3-0). Sam Montembeault made 23 saves.

“I thought it was a great game on both sides,” Montreal coach Martin St. Louis said. “Both goalies made big saves. I'm proud of our group. We played hard coming off a tough third period at home (on Thursday, when they allowed six goals in a 9-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins). It’s very encouraging.”

Hutson gave the Canadiens a 1-0 lead at 7:48 of the first period with a wrist shot from the left face-off dot that beat Hellebuyck glove side.

“It’s pretty special,” said Hutson, who was playing in his 32nd NHL game. “You never know when it’s going to be your last goal or your first goal. So, it’s cool, for sure, but I would have loved to have scored and won the game. Hopefully we can do that soon.”

Vilardi tied it 1-1 on the power play at 14:34. He finished a backdoor pass from Connor, who was in the right corner, at the left post.

Lowry then put the Jets in front 2-1 at 16:40. As Nino Niederreiter was skating behind the net, he sent a backhand pass out to Lowry, who jammed the puck in with Montembeault looking the other way.

“That was a nice play, and where [Lowry] scored from, those are the hard areas,” Arniel said. “I thought in the first [Namestnikov’s] line had a couple of great looks. They were hacking and whacking in around there. Even [Mark Scheifele] and those guys, [Connor], they threw some in there and we went into those areas. That's what you have to do as the games get harder and teams get tougher.”

Connor made it 3-1 at 6:26 of the second period with a one-timer during a 5-on-3 power play.

The Jets went 2-for-6 with the man-advantage and were 4-for-4 on the penalty kill.

“It's huge. That's how you win in this league,” Hellebuyck said. “Especially at this time when things are getting tighter and teams are figuring out their game and bouncing back from bad games or whatnot. Your big guys have got to bring their A-game on a consistent basis, and I thought they did tonight.”

Josh Anderson cut it to 3-2 at 8:00 of the third period, skating into the rebound of Christian Dvorak’s backhand attempt and scoring five-hole from the slot.

“Sometimes you play good enough to win and sometimes you get on the wrong end of it,” Hutson said. “At the end of the day, we liked what we did in the third and we want to keep building on that.”

Namestnikov shot into an empty net at 19:54 for the 4-2 final.

“We stuck with it,” Morrissey said. “Special teams were great. The power play was awesome, our penalty kill was outstanding. I thought we did a better job of not giving them as much free offense as we have in the last few games. They are a highly-skilled group over there. ... They get paid to play the game, too, so I thought we did a good job overall. It was a huge win.”

NOTES: Morrissey has five points (one goal, four assists) during a four-game point streak. ... Hutson has 20 points (one goal, 19 assists) in 30 games this season. He is the second Canadiens rookie in the past 30 years to reach 20 points in 30 or fewer games, joining Brendan Gallagher (30 games in 2012-13). … Connor has nine points (four goals, five assists) in his past six games. ... Anderson’s goal was his first in 12 games.