Kyle Connor scored twice and had an assist for the Winnipeg Jets, who jumped out to an early lead and never looked back in a 5-1 victory against the visiting Ottawa Senators on Tuesday.
Dylan DeMelo, Josh Morrissey, Axel Jonsson-Fjallby and Pierre-Luc Dubois all had multi-point nights for the Jets. With Connor Hellebuyck sick, David Rittich made a spot start and stopped 35 shots.
The Jets moved within a point of the first-place Dallas Stars in the Central Division and bounced back from a Sunday loss to the Seattle Kraken.
Cam Talbot was on the receiving end of the Jets' onslaught, giving up the five goals on 24 shots. Ottawa has lost back-to-back games after a four-game winning streak.
Kevin Stenlund gave Winnipeg a 1-0 lead 1:58 into the game when he batted his own rebound out of midair for his first goal of the season.
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Five minutes later, Morrissey walked in from the blue line and picked the top corner to make it 2-0 with his sixth goal of the season.
Ottawa made it 2-1 at 8:28 of the first period, on a power-play goal by Drake Batherson, before Winnipeg continued the rout.
Sam Gagner scored with 13 seconds remaining in the first period to make it 3-1. Gagner's goal came from a sharp angle on a delayed penalty. The Jets smartly regrouped and attacked for a six-on-five instead of giving up the puck on the play.
Connor then scored twice in the second period.
He made it 4-1 on a rebound 1:02 into the period with his 14th goal of the season. He scored again at 14:23 when he ripped a shot from the slot after a feed from Dubois.
With a 5-1 lead, Winnipeg went into prevent mode in the third period and effectively choked out any offensive flourish for either team in the final 20 minutes.
--Field Level Media
The Trust Project
