Scheifele hat trick sparks Jets

The Canadian Press
Judy Owen

WINNIPEG–Mark Scheifele couldn’t have timed his second career hat trick any better.
Scheifele’s parents were in the stands at Bell MTS Place to watch his three goals help propel the Winnipeg Jets to a 5-2 win over the Dallas Stars last night.
“Definitely a long time,” Scheifele said when asked about the last time his parents from Ontario saw him net a hat trick.
“It was pretty fun to have a game like that in front of them,” he added.
He scored once during the first period and twice in the third–sending the hats raining down with an empty-netter with a minute left.
His first hat trick was back on March 5, 2016 at home against Montreal in his third season.
The victory also marked Patrik Laine’s first goal in five outings as the Jets extended their point streak to six games.
Laine’s goal came after he told reporters at the morning skate that he didn’t have a lot of confidence and felt he couldn’t do many “positive things” on the ice.
He has five goals and two assists in 12 games.
“It’s only one goal but hopefully I’m not struggling in the next game,” Laine said.
“I think we had a really good game with our line, even though they scored two times when we were on the ice, but I think it was a really, really positive game,” he added.
The victory was the third-straight for the Jets (6-3-2), who are 4-0-2 during the points streak.
Jets’ defenceman Tylers Myers also scored while Blake Wheeler added three assists.
Connor Hellebuyck made 21 saves to pick up his seventh win of the season (7-0-1).
He’s the only goalie in the NHL that has made at least eight starts and remains undefeated in regulation.
Alexander Radulov scored for Dallas, extending his goal streak to four games.
Mattias Janmark had the other marker while Ben Bishop stopped 22 of the 26 shots he faced.
Winnipeg jumped to a 3-0 lead with three goals in a span of four minutes, 18 seconds in the first period, including a pair on the power play from Scheifele and Myers.
The Jets didn’t allow a power-play opportunity.
“In this league, if you’re down 3-0 in the first, it’s hard to come back,” Radulov said.
“I think we did a pretty decent job in the second.
“Some moments, I think, we were on top of them with a chance to come back, but then [they got the fourth goal] and they kind of tried to play more defence and we tried to force things,” he added.
“It wasn’t there today.”
Dallas (7-6-0) had won two in a row going into the game.
The loss finished off a five-game road trip (2-3-0).
“It’s not what we wanted,” said Stars’ defenceman Marc Methot.
“You want to be over .500 for sure, definitely with a team like this.
“We’re relying heavily on our top line,” he noted. “They seem to be getting a ton of goals for us and we got to be helping them out a lot more.
“And certainly with [Bishop] back there, we owe him better.
“There’s lesson to be learned and I’m sure we’re going to hear about it when we get back, and that’s going to be part of the process,” Methot added.
Elsewhere in the NHL, L.A. beat Toronto 5-3, Minnesota doubled Montreal 6-3, Ottawa downed Detroit 3-1, Calgary nipped Pittsburgh 2-1 (OT), Boston edged Vegas 2-1, and Washington shaded the N.Y. Islanders 4-3.
The N.Y. Rangers beat Tampa Bay 2-1 (OT), Columbus dumped Florida 7-3, Philadelphia blanked St. Louis 2-0, Colorado downed Carolina 5-3, and Buffalo topped Arizona 5-4.