Scheifele's hat trick pushes Jets to win over Canucks

WINNIPEG - From the ceremony, to the custom shirts and name plates in the dressing room stalls, to the presentation of the silver sticks to his family, Sam Gagner's 1,000th game had it all ahead of puck drop.
The Winnipeg Jets made sure the night ended in perfect fashion too.
Mark Scheifele recorded a hat trick, his second this month and seventh of his career, to push the Jets to a 4-1 win over the Vancouver Canucks. Even better, Gagner wasn't the only person with family in the stands.
Scheifele did too.
"I know they were pretty jacked up for that one for sure, so it was awesome to have them in for Christmas," said Scheifele. "It's always awesome having them in the stands watching. It definitely puts a smile on my face."

The Jets (22-13-1) snapped a three-game losing streak with the victory, and also kept another streak going. This is the third consecutive season the Jets have had a player hit 1,000 games and it's the third win, as the Jets beat the Canucks for Paul Stastny in 2021, the Toronto Maple Leafs for Blake Wheeler in 2022, and the Canucks for Gagner on Thursday.
Pierre-Luc Dubois, who had the other goal for the Jets on a penalty shot in the second period, felt the night was fitting for Gagner - who has fit into the team's room perfectly.
"It was great. The video was great, the fan reaction was great to see," Dubois said. "Seeing his kids, his wife, the speeches on the (scoreboard), I'm sure it was a special moment for him because it felt special for us. It wasn't the start we wanted to give him, but we're glad we got that win for him."

Ah yes, the start.
After all the emotion from the pregame ceremony honouring Gagner's accomplishment, the Jets had a tough start to the game. Dylan Samberg's cross-ice breakout pass was intercepted by Elias Pettersson at the top of the right circle, and he quickly found Andrei Kuzmenko, who pounded it past Connor Hellebuyck.
That took all of 41 seconds to occur.
"Going down 1-0 isn't how you want to start at home but I thought as the game was on, we got better and better," said Dubois. "It wasn't perfect, but you're not going to go from how we were playing before to perfect."

Two big penalty kills kept it at 1-0, and when the Jets were afforded their first power play chance with 6:45 left in the second, they took full advantage. Scheifele deflected a Josh Morrissey point shot 37 seconds into the man advantage to tie the game up. It was Scheifele's 21st of the season.
"A night like tonight, he's looking at me like he wants to be out there. He's feeling it," said head coach Rick Bowness. "He looked at me a couple times and I said 'Ok, you go.' When the player is feeling it, let them go. He was very good tonight in faceoffs. In terms of important faceoffs he won. His overall game is very good."

It was just the start to a wild finish to the second period.
Less than two minutes after Scheifele's goal, Dubois was hauled down on a partial break, giving the Jets centre a penalty shot - the third since the Jets relocated to Winnipeg since 2011. Dubois started down the right side, cut to the middle, and fired a wrist shot past Collin Delia to give the team its first lead.
"When I was a kid I never scored on penalty shots, breakaways or shootouts," said Dubois, who now has 17 goals on the season. "I haven't had a penalty shot in the NHL, that's for sure. Probably not in junior either."

Then with time ticking down in the middle frame, and the Jets on a 4-on-3 power play, Scheifele wired a wrister that Delia couldn't squeeze. Scheifele let out a big double fist pump, as he now had 22 goals on the season and - more importantly - the Jets were up 3-1.
Josh Morrissey and Kyle Connor assisted on both of Scheifele's power play goals, and the Jets finished 2-for-4 on the man advantage.
"That's how you score in this league, you've got to do the right things over and over and not try to chase the game," said Scheifele. "I think we had four lines that were playing well today and we need that more and more every game."

Conor Garland pulled Vancouver back within one with 6:49 to go, but Scheifele completed the hat trick with 28 seconds to go, finishing off some strong work by Adam Lowry - who cleared the puck, then won a foot race with Pettersson to get the puck to Scheifele for the tap-in.
"Adam was awesome tonight," said Scheifele. "A lot of really good plays and a lot of plays that didn't end in goals. He was just clearing space. Making good plays. Simple chips. Good in the faceoff circle. He was great and I had a lot of fun playing with him tonight."
Now back in the win column, the Jets will head on the road for a quick one-game road trip in Edmonton. That will be game 1,001 for Gagner, against the team he played the majority of those games with.
"How many guys have played 1000 games? Three hundred and something," said Bowness. "How many of those guys have gone to the minors and come back? Not very many of them. A lot of guys have quit or retired or moved on. So you give him a lot of credit for going back to the minors for a couple stints and still persevering. It's a major tribute to his character and his love of the game. You've got to love that."
ICE CHIPS
Josh Morrissey left the game in the third period following a hit from Tyler Myers. He tried to return, skating during a stoppage in play but wasn't able to continue.
"There's a little bit of a lower body injury," said Bowness. "He didn't come back. He'll be treated tomorrow. We're hopeful that he'll play Saturday."