Connor breaks tie in 3rd, Jets defeat Sabres

BUFFALO -- Kyle Connor broke a tie in the third period and the Winnipeg Jets defeated the Buffalo Sabres 4-2 at KeyBank Center on Thursday.

Connor, who also had an assist, scored on a breakaway at 7:19 to put the Jets ahead 3-2 and extend his point streak to eight games (six goals, eight assists).
"[Sabres goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen] was out pretty far. I just gave him kind of a little fake shot and he froze pretty good," Connor said. "Backhand, forehand, lost an edge, but I had him, so it worked out."

Connor Hellebuyck made 39 saves, and Nikolaj Ehlers had two assists for the Jets (27-14-1), who have won six of seven and play at the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday.
"He was outstanding tonight," Winnipeg coach Rick Bowness said of Hellebuyck. "He was the difference-maker tonight. Their guy made some pretty good saves too; not as many as Connor, but he made some timely saves tonight. The other night was one of those nights where we didn't give up a lot, but every one went in. It was just one of those games. Tonight, we found a way to get that goal in the third, but we have to find a way to play smarter than that. There's no sugarcoating it."

Victor Olofsson had a goal and an assist, and Luukkonen made 23 saves for the Sabres (20-18-2), who finished their four-game homestand with three straight losses.
"A really important factor for us tonight was to get back to our game, play a higher tempo, higher paced game," Buffalo coach Don Granato said. "I thought [the Jets] played with a lot of intent to try to deny that. … They were aggressive defensively. They clogged the neutral zone up very well. We had to work hard to get our ice and create our ice. I thought our guys did a nice job to do that and got some volume of opportunity.
"[Hellebuyck] was their best player tonight. On the flip side, 'Upie' didn't have as much work as that, but Upie was also very good, and his body language was good. He looked with it. He read things well and I was happy to see that from him as well."

Dylan Samberg's shot from outside the left face-off circle near the wall beat a screened Luukkonen short side to give Winnipeg a 1-0 lead at 6:35 of the first period.
Olofsson tied it 1-1 at 12:02 of the second period when Casey Mittelstadt sent a pass from behind the net to him in the high slot.
"We've been talking a lot too, to just create scoring chances as soon as we win the puck, and I think we've been way better in the last couple games of doing that," Olofsson said.

Josh Morrissey's point shot made it 2-1 Jets at 14:11, with Pierre-Luc Dubois providing a screen in front. Morrissey is tied with Buffalo's Rasmus Dahlin for second in scoring among NHL defensemen with 47 points.
"Been outstanding all year," Bowness said. "We get used to it. But he's been a dynamic force in our offense all year. We want him to shoot, keep shooting like he did tonight. But he's doing things defensively as well. He's up against the best players and he's still putting points on the board, he still feeds that transition for us. He's been outstanding."
Tyson Jost took a pass from Olofsson in the slot to tie it 2-2 at 2:50 of the third period.
Jost had a chance to put the Sabres ahead seconds before Connor scored the go-ahead goal but was stopped at the side of the net by Hellebuyck's toe and Samberg's stick.
Karson Kuhlman scored into an empty net at 19:17 for the 4-2 final.
"It stings, but I think you've got to look at some of the positives that we did," Jost said. "We did get rolling there and we had a lot of opportunities and a lot of chances. We've just got to bear down and capitalize."
NOTES: Connor's point streak is his second-longest of the season. He's the first Jets player with multiple point streaks of at least eight games in a season since Blake Wheeler had two in 2018-19. … Jets forward Saku Maenalanen played 12:43 in his first game back after missing 16 games with an upper-body injury. … The Jets placed forward David Gustafsson (upper body) on injured reserve. … Winnipeg forward Morgan Barron did not play due to illness. … Luukkonen had his six-game winning streak end. … Olofsson has seven multipoint games this season. … Mittelstadt has five points, all assists, in his past five games.