THREE THINGS: Jets get huge overtime win in Vancouver

Cole Perfetti scored his first career overtime goal at 1:37 of the extra frame to give the Winnipeg Jets a 3-2 win. Kyle Connor and Gabe Vilardi also scored for the Jets who ended their eight-game losing streak in games decided past regulation. Mark Scheifele recorded his 23^rd multi-point game of the season (2A) and Eric Comrie made 21 saves to win his fourth start in a row. The Jets will head to Anaheim to face the Ducks on Friday.

KC BACK IN ACTION

Kyle Connor arrived back in Winnipeg on Tuesday after winning gold with the United States in Milan. Connor did not play in the final four games of the Olympics, so he returned to the Jets lineup fresh and ready to go. The 29-year-old didn’t play in the final of the 4 Nations Face-Off last February and in his first game back with the Jets he recorded 10 shots on goal and an assist against the Blues. Tonight, Connor extended his point streak to six in the first period finishing off a beautiful behind the back pass from Mark Scheifele to tie the game at one. Connor has 39 points in 29 career games against the Canucks.

Scheifele added his second assist of the night in the second period when he banked a pass off of Gabe Vilardi giving him 70 points in 56 games which is the fastest he has ever reached 70 in his career.

VILLE’S OPPORTUNITY

Ville Heinola has been trying to become a regular NHLer since his first season in the National Hockey League back in 2019-20. The Finnish defenceman played eight times in the Jets first 11 games of that season and registered five points (1G, 4A) in that stretch. Heinola played a career high 18 games last season for the Jets. Now with the injuries to Josh Morrissey and Neal Pionk, a door has opened for Heinola who played on the Jets third defence pairing with Luke Schenn and quarterbacked the team’s second power play unit in Vancouver. Heinola finished the night with 13:44 TOI, two shots, one block and two hits.

HAD TO WIN

With the Jets sitting 11 points out of a playoff spot in the Western Conference as the NHL began its post-Olympic schedule, Winnipeg has very little room for error and beating the NHL’s worst team had to happen ahead of games against Anaheim Friday and San Jose Sunday. Winnipeg will be without Morrissey, Pionk and Nino Niederreiter for an extended period making the task even more challenging.  The Jets made sure they left Vancouver with two points when Cole Perfertti converted a pass from Adam Lowry beating Nikita Tolopilo for the winning goal.