Kyle Connor is no stranger to the overtime winner.
The only guy who has scored more in extra time in Winnipeg Jets history is the guy who passed him the puck for the 11th of his NHL career, longtime linemate Mark Scheifele (who has 12 OT winners).
Connor found a sliver of open space on the glove side of Filip Gustavsson and ripped home a shot just 51 seconds into overtime — with Minnesota’s Zach Bogosian serving a minor for holding the stick —to propel the Jets to a 2-1 victory over the Wild on Sunday.
“Gabe (Vilardi) was actually back door and I found the goalie leaning, almost respecting that,” said Connor. “A little bit of room, (so) I thought, ‘Why not?’”
Connor finished with a game-high eight shots on goal and 10 shot attempts.
“Yeah he’s a shot-volume guy. And then you saw it at the end, not many guys can stand still and put that shot like he does,” said Jets head coach Scott Arniel. “He’s a guy that shoots from all angles, all places. His release is so good that you want him to do that. When he’s on he’s finding holes, he’s finding places on the ice so he can get that shot away.”
The Jets, who opened the season with three straight wins for the first time, are back in action Friday against the San Jose Sharks.
“It’s awesome. It’s great. Listen, I didn’t know that. Great to hear,” said Arniel “We’ll move on. Hopefully it’s four (on Friday).”
Let’s take a closer look at what transpired on Sunday:
THE BOLD MOVE – With 2.9 seconds to go in the first period and a faceoff in the offensive zone, Arniel opted to pull his goalie in favour of an extra attacker. Jets captain Adam Lowry won the draw and Scheifele blasted home a one-timer with 1.5 seconds to go to even the score, 1-1.
“You’re trying to hit that inside hole, the Ovi (Ovechkin) hole. You draw it up like that and it very rarely goes exactly according to plan. But it was a big goal for us and it ended up being the tying goal that got us to overtime,” said Lowry. “I like the mindset that you’re going to push, you’re going to go for it. You put a little bit of risk, but it’s a calculated risk.”
Arniel later revealed the cut-off point is around four seconds, so he didn’t hesitate to send the extra player over the boards.
Scheifele, who was playing in his 800th NHL game, also approved of the decision.
“With that little time on the clock, it makes it next to impossible to get the puck down the ice unless you rip it like 300 miles and hours, which I don’t think is happening,” said Scheifele, who now has four goals and six points in three games. “It comes down to just the amount of time that’s on the clock. But I love it today.”
THE BRICK WALL – World-class goaltending has been a staple for the Jets during the Connor Hellebuyck era, but it’s impossible to ignore the role the Vezina Trophy winner has played in the quick start out of the gate.
Even with two of the three games going into overtime, Hellebuyck has allowed only two goals on 83 shots that he’s faced.
The numbers are incredibly gaudy so far, with Hellebuyck sporting a goals-against average of 0.66 and a save-percentage of .976.
“Phenomenal. He’s amazing. He truly is special,” said Scheifele.
For those keeping score at home, it’s been a pretty solid start for the players who signed matching seven-year extensions last October, with Scheifele and Hellebuyck having a big impact so far.
IDENTITY BUILDING – There were some folks wondering if the Jets would be committed to the sound defensive game that allowed them to capture the Jennings Trophy for giving up the fewest goals in the NHL last season.
While it’s still early, it’s evident the Jets haven’t forgotten the commitment required.
“We had to do a lot of teaching the last couple of years. A lot of repetitious things that became ingrained,” said Arniel.
To put it bluntly, the Jets know what it’s supposed to look like when they’re on top of their game.
“We’ve stressed it since Day 1. That’s kind of our identity,” said Connor. “Teams go out 30, 40, 50, 60 games into the year and they don’t know what kind of identity they are as a team. We have a good starting point from last year and building who we are and what that looks like. If it’s not there, we know what to get back to.”
PK PERFECT – After combining to take just two minor penalties in the first two games, the Jets were sent to the sin bin three times on Sunday but managed to kill off each of the minor penalties.
That leaves them a perfect five-for-five on the season. On the flip side, the Jets have three power-play markers so far this season — Connor’s against the Wild and two in the season opener against the Edmonton Oilers.
Although it’s a small sample size, that represents notable progress for a team that had improving its special teams near the top of its list of priorities going into the new season.
“Last year, the story was that we’d always come out on the wrong side of that or we’d win in spite of special teams,” said Lowry. “It’s nice to have them contribute in a positive manner.”
EXTRA, EXTRA – Former Jets D-man Declan Chisholm made his season debut for the Wild after missing the first two games with an illness. Chisholm, who was claimed off waivers by the Wild last season, skated on the third pairing with Jon Merrill and quarterbacked the second power play unit.
The Jets iced the same lineup for a third consecutive game, which meant defenceman Dylan Coghlan and forward David Gustafsson were the healthy scratches. The Wild were without two key contributors as centre Joel Eriksson Ek and captain Jared Spurgeon suffered injuries in Saturday’s shootout loss to the Seattle Kraken.
It was a strong start for the Jets’ primary affiliate as the Manitoba Moose swept the Iowa Wild to open the American Hockey League season. Forward Nikita Chibrikov led the way offensively, chipping in one goal and three assists for four points, while top defence prospect Elias Salomonsson had a goal and three points and centre Brad Lambert contributed three assists. In goal, Dom DiVincentiis made his pro debut on Sunday and turned aside 37 of 39 shots he faced in a 3-2 victory and Thomas Milic made 24 saves in the 6-4 win on Saturday.
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Ken Wiebe
Sports reporter
Ken Wiebe is a sports reporter for the Free Press, with an emphasis on the Winnipeg Jets. He has covered hockey and provided analysis in this market since 2000 for the Winnipeg Sun, The Athletic, Sportsnet.ca and TSN. Ken was a summer intern at the Free Press in 1999 and returned to the Free Press in a full-time capacity in September of 2023. Read more about Ken.
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