In Winnipeg, Kyle Connor scored a hat trick on Thursday night the Jets 6-3 win over the Nashville Predators.
Connor has 11 goals on the season.
“We’re using our feet to create turnovers and we’re playing well in our systems too,” Connor said. “That’s something we can always fall back on and know if we do that well, we’re going to get turnovers and have the puck more, which is obviously what we want to do, and have possession and create as much offense as we can.”
Laurent Brossoit made 20 saves in the win.
“When we close fast and when we take away — I know it’s an old adage, time and space — but when we get after people quickly our transition comes from a lot of that stuff,” Winnipeg associate coach Scott Arniel said. “There were some really good examples of us pouring back and protecting the guts of the ice and creating the opportunities and turnovers, and then we go the other way.”
The Jets improved to 7-4-2.
Winnipeg took an early 1-0 lead on a strike by Mason Appleton at 4:04 in the opening stanza.
Nashville replied quickly with a marker from Filip Forsberg at 6:43 to knot the game, 1-1.
Connor hit for the first two of his goals in the second period to give the Jets a 3-1 lead.
He scored his first with 65 seconds gone in the middle frame for a 2-1 lead, and his second came at 3:48 to push the advantage to 3-1.
“The biggest thing is that when they come to the bench, it’s their teammates talking about the backcheck; they’re not talking about the goal,” Arniel said. “That’s the big part of it and that’s when you know you’ve got the buy in, and everybody is excited about how these goals are coming or these situations are evolving. It was great. … Those situations have been rewarded for them [lately].”
Midway through the second period, Cole Perfetti scored to extend the lead to 4-1 for Winnipeg.
Forsberg got that one back o his double at 12:05 for a 4-2 score.
“[Forsberg] was great, and I think he’s played really well all year,” Nashville coach Andrew Brunette said. “Tonight, he probably had 15 shot attempts. When he’s on the puck like that and he’s around it, he’s really dangerous. Obviously he has the skill, but what I really appreciate and am proud of him [for] was he was on the puck. Early in the year, maybe he wasn’t as much, [but] it seems like every game he’s getting better.”
In the third, Brenden Dillon scored at 12:51 to extend the Winnipeg lead back to three at 5-2.
“We definitely would have liked to have a better road trip,” Forsberg said. “We did a lot of good things, but at the end of the day we only got two points to take back with us. So, we’ve got to turn that around coming home.”
Nashville dropped to 5-8-0.
Philip Tomasino pulled Nashville back to within two at 5-3 with a goal at 16:16.
Connor sealed the win for the Jets with an empty -net goal for hat trick and the 6-3 final.
Juuse Saros made 31 saves in the loss.
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