Third Star honour a reward for Connor's hard work

WINNIPEG - Two overtime winners, a three-point night in a playoff spot clinching game, and tying for the league lead in goals by a rookie.
Safe to say Kyle Connor has had a good week.
So good, in fact, the NHL awarded him the Third Star of the Week.
"It's a pretty cool feeling. It's a lot of hard work and compete from this team," said Connor.
"The more games I play, the more comfortable (I get), and the more confidence grows. I'm just kind of building my game. Throughout my whole career, it's kind of just learning and implementing all the stuff I've learned."

The 21-year-old has seven goals and nine points in his last seven games, but it was a night in Carolina when the young winger was held off the score sheet that stands out to head coach Paul Maurice.
The rookie played just over 15 minutes in a 3-2 Winnipeg Jets win over the Hurricanes that night.
"He played about as well as you can play, and didn't score," said Maurice. "I think he may have felt that. He had a stretch where he wasn't putting the puck in the net, but he really did a nice job of staying with his game and not changing his game. You see that with young players very often. If they don't get the result, they'll go back to a game maybe they used to play. He didn't do that.
"He's doing great things. I'm happy for him. He's earned it."
The development in Connor's game compared to the 20 NHL games he played last season has been remarkable in Maurice's mind.

The 2016 Hobey Baker Memorial Award finalist played 52 games with the AHL's Manitoba Moose in 2016-17, finishing second on the team in points with 44 in 52 games, while leading the team in goals with 25.
He wasn't on the Jets' opening night roster to start 2017-18, but quickly made a case to be there when he opened the AHL season with five points in four games.
"What he's built on over the year is his ability to influence the game when we don't have the puck. You can call that defence, but there's quite a bit more to it," said Maurice.
"I'm not just talking about the takeaways you see on the sheet as a statistic. The number of passes he doesn't allow to be direct, how he closes on people, how he gets to his position quick.
"Then as he gets to be more known, the way he changes how people defend him. Very aware of that speed - such extreme speed from standing to top speed. He's getting slightly more room at times."

Connor was quick to give credit to his line mates, including captain Blake Wheeler, who had a goal and an assist against the Nashville Predators on Sunday.
The assist moved Wheeler into a tie for the league lead in assists with 65, and Maurice said there is no one better for Connor to look up to.
"He might have the best mentor, one of the best mentors in the league for that on the other wing," said Maurice. "He's got a fantastic model every day in practice and in a game. He's been able to play with it, watch it, have somebody on the bench talk to him about specific plays.
"It's way more powerful coming from a player than from a coach. The things we're talking about are hard things to do. If you're a 30-goal guy, you don't necessarily have to do those hard things, but we need you to do them if we're going to win."
The 29 goals Connor has this season are tied with Vancouver's Brock Boeser for the rookie lead, while his 50 points are the fifth most in the NHL.
"I'm not watching it," Connor said. "I know where I'm at, but for me I'm just focusing on playing better and helping this team."
With seven games to go in the regular season, and just one left on a home stand that has seen the Winnipeg Jets go a perfect five-for-five so far, Connor knows there is still a lot of work to be done.
The first of those seven games is against the Boston Bruins tomorrow night.
"They're a good team. They've got depth and highly talented players," said Connor. "But I think if we're at our best and playing our game, nobody can hang with us."