Winnipeg Jets double up Maple Leafs 6-3 in Blake Wheeler's 1,000th NHL game
It's nearly 2022 but you'd never know it from the Winnipeg Jets' 6-3 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs Sunday night at Canada Life Centre.
The Jets celebrated the 1,000th NHL game of their captain Blake Wheeler with a hometown offensive display that would have made Dale Hawerchuk and the rest of the 1980s Jets proud.
There were also enough penalties and punches thrown between the two sides to evoke memories of the Broad Street Bullies of the 1970s.
Connor Hellebuyck stopped 32 shots in the Jets net for his ninth victory of the season while Joseph Woll got in front of 35 at the other end of the ice.
The Jets improved to 12-8-4 while the Leafs fell to 17-7-2.
Pierre-Luc Dubois, Andrew Copp, Evgeny Svechnikov, Kyle Connor, Nikolaj Ehlers and Mark Scheifele scored for Winnipeg.
Michael Bunting, Auston Matthews and Ondrej Kase replied for Toronto.
Wheeler helped get the Jets on the board first with a nifty pass on the power play to Dubois, who was all alone in front of the Leafs net. His deke beat Woll, the Leafs' backup, at 4:05 to give the home side a 1-0 lead. It was his 12th goal of the season.
Hellebuyck bailed his captain out just a few minutes later as Wheeler got burned dangling at centre ice while the Jets were changing, enabling John Tavares to skate in all alone. Hellebuyck stuck out his left pad as the Leafs captain went to his backhand on a deke.
Dubois then took the dreaded offensive zone penalty as he tripped up centre David Kampf, sending the Leafs to the power play. Toronto didn't do much for most of the man advantage but out of nowhere left winger Pierre Engvall found Bunting in the Jets' slot and his wrist shot bulged the twine behind Hellebuyck at 16:08.
The Jets regained the lead before the second period was two minutes old when defenceman Neil Pionk hit Copp with a stretch pass and he beat Woll on a partial breakaway.
The Jets doubled their lead to 3-1 just a few shifts later as Dominic Toninato found Svechnikov on a two-on-one and his wrist shot beat Woll high to the blocker. It was the Russian winger's second goal of the season.
The Jets went back to the power play a few minutes later. Connor put the Jets ahead 4-1 when his shot from the right face-off dot beat Woll at 7:38 for his 15th of the season.
Wheeler, who has yet to score a goal all year but had two assists on this night, was sent in all alone at the mid-way part of the second period but he couldn't beat Woll. Just a few seconds later, however, Ehlers converted Copp's pass for his ninth of the season to give the Jets a 5-1 lead. It was Winnipeg's fourth goal in less than nine minutes.
Wheeler's tripping penalty on Rasmus Sandin at 13:28 of the second period put the Jets down two men and Matthews made him pay. His wrist shot from the top of the circle beat Hellebuyck just underneath the crossbar just 52 seconds later to make it 5-2.
The Leafs still had the power play but couldn't capitalize but it didn't matter as seconds after it expired, they pulled within two. Kase went down the right side and squeezed a shot between Hellebuyck and his left post at 15:46 for his sixth of the season.
The Jets salted the game away thanks to yet another power-play goal as Connor hit Scheifele at the Leafs blue line and he split the defence and went five-hole on Woll for his sixth of the year at 8:14 of the third period.
The Leafs were playing the second road game in as many nights, having lost to the Minnesota Wild 4-3 in a shootout Saturday. Toronto played their second game without sniper Mitch Marner, who collided with teammate Jake Muzzin at practice on Friday.
The Jets honoured Wheeler in a pre-game ceremony with a silver stick and a video montage of his career, which started with the Boston Bruins in 2008 and took him to Atlanta before moving with the Thrashers to Winnipeg in 2011. The Jets all wore Wheeler jerseys during the warm-up.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 5, 2021.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Maple Leafs fall to Bruins in Game 3, trail series 2-1
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
New Indigenous loan guarantee program a 'really big deal,' Freeland says at Toronto conference
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
'Life was not fair to him': Daughter of N.B. man exonerated of murder remembers him as a kind soul
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.