Scheifele gets 4 points, Jets pull away from Canucks in 3rd

VANCOUVER -- Mark Scheifele had a goal and three assists, and Gabriel Vilardi had two goals and an assist for the Winnipeg Jets in 4-2 win against the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena on Saturday.

Sean Monahan also scored, Kyle Connor had two assists, and Connor Hellebuyck made 35 saves for the Jets (33-14-5), who have won three in a row after going 0-4-1 in their previous five.

“Obviously, that's just a big, big win against a really good team,” Scheifele said. “It was awesome. That's what you want when you got two Canadian teams going at it. That's what everyone wants to see, and it was an absolute blast.”

Winnipeg, which is 26th in the NHL on the power play, went 2-for-4 with the man-advantage after going 0-for-21 in its previous eight games. Vancouver, which is 11th in the NHL on the power play, was 0-for-4.

“Our specialty teams came through for us tonight finally and they won a big game for us,” Jets coach Rick Bowness said. “It's nice to see the power play get a couple because we all know we've been in a bit of a drought there, and the penalty killers were outstanding, and [Hellebuyck] made the big saves and we got the timely goals.”

Defensemen Noah Juulsen and Tyler Myers scored, and Thatcher Demko made 24 saves for the Canucks (37-13-6), who had their three-game winning streak end and lost in regulation for just the second time in 18 games (13-2-3).

“I thought 5-on-5 were really good,” Vancouver coach Rick Tocchet said. “They won especially in the special teams battle, but I thought we were better 5-on-5. There's a lot of care in that room, so I'm actually happy with the effort.”

Juulsen scored 19 seconds into the second period to give Vancouver a 1-0 lead. Conor Garland's backdoor pass deflected off the skate of Jets forward Adam Lowry in the crease, where Juulsen chipped it under Hellebuyck’s blocker.

It was his first goal since Nov. 5, 2018, when he played for the Montreal Canadiens.

“The goal doesn't matter at all, obviously,” Juulsen said. “You know the third [goal against] I went for the hit, ended up in the back of our net, and the fourth one is on me as well.”

Vilardi tied it 1-1 on a power play at 5:16, taking a pass from Scheifele at the side of the net and chipping a backhand under the blocker arm of Demko.

“That was really fun,” Vilardi said. “It was a good atmosphere, and obviously it's more fun because we won, but those are the games you dream of playing. A good atmosphere, the crowd was great, 'Hockey Night in Canada,' it's cool.”

Monahan put the Jets ahead 2-1 with another power-play goal at 9:25. This time, Vilardi took a pass from Scheifele along the goal line and quickly sent it to Monahan for a one-timer from the slot.

It was Monahan's first goal and point with Winnipeg since being acquired in a trade with Montreal on Feb. 2.

“The power play has been kind of fighting it a little bit, so to get one on there and obviously take a lead, it's a good feeling,” Monahan said. “We've been working at it and we've had a few looks, but starting to get some chemistry now and starting to be able to read off the guys, so I think things are going to start clicking here.”

Myers tied it 2-2 with an individual effort at 14:19. He intercepted a blind clearing attempt from Vilardi at the right point, cut around Neal Pionk at the top of the circle, and scored blocker side with a backhand from the left hash marks.

“For the most part we played a good game,” Myers said. “We'll look at some of the things we can clean up, but guys were into it tonight.”

Vilardi responded for the Jets to make it 3-2 at 7:47 of the third period. Juulsen took himself out of position with a big hit on Scheifele, who had already banked the puck back off the boards to Connor, who then skated in on a 3-on-1 and sent a backdoor pass to Vilardi at the right post.

“I knew he was going to be stepping up, their [defensemen] were doing that all night, so great play by [Connor] by just coming in behind me, and obviously (he) made an unbelievable pass to Gabe,” Scheifele said.

Scheifele then made it 4-2 at 9:42, receiving a short pass from Connor off a rush through the low slot and scoring with a quick shot over a sprawling Demko.

“Just lost a little composure on those plays,” Tocchet said. “That's a good learning lesson for us. You just got to be careful of those things, not run out of position.”

NOTES: Jets forward Morgan Barron left in the second period because of an illness that has been going through the team. … Winnipeg defenseman Brenden Dillon had seven hits in 19:35 of ice time in his return from a three-game suspension for an illegal check to the head against Pittsburgh Penguins forward Noel Acciari.