WINNIPEG — Kyle Connor knew the Winnipeg Jets' game against the Dallas Stars on Friday would be a big test.
He and his teammates passed with flying colours.
Connor scored twice and added an assist in a 4-1 victory that gave Winnipeg (46-17-4) 96 points and widened its Western Conference and Central Division lead over the Stars to 10 points. Dallas (42-21-2) has two games in hand.
The team’s leading scorer with 35 goals and 84 points downplayed the importance of the game, even though they’re sitting in first place with a good gap between their challengers.
“We're never comfortable with it,” Connor said. “We're pushing onto the next one. I think that's kind of been what's made us so successful this year.
“We're not resting, saying cruise control here. There's a lot of hockey left, 15 or so games. You want to build this thing so that you're peaking at the right time, so that's definitely going to be an objective of ours.”
Dylan Samberg and Morgan Barron also scored, while Mark Scheifele contributed a trio of helpers in front of a sell-out crowd of 15,225 at Canada Life Centre.
Connor Hellebuyck made 24 saves, helping the Jets go ahead 2-1 in the clubs' four-game season series. The final meeting is April 10 in Dallas.
Mason Marchment scored for the Stars with 3:49 remaining in the third period. Jake Oettinger stopped 18 shots for Dallas.
Jets head coach Scott Arniel didn’t soften the importance of the victory.
“It was a big game,” he said. “The difference between us being up six points (if we lost) or now being up 10 points.
“They recognized that we had to be at our best against a really good hockey team that doesn’t give you a whole lot of ice or a whole lot of room to work. I thought we had a fantastic first period. It was real solid. We got out, got the lead and didn’t stop from there.”
Winnipeg, which also moved two points ahead of the idle Washington Capitals for top spot in the league, scored on two of its six shots in the first period. Dallas had nine.
Samberg recorded his fifth goal of the season when the defenceman’s shot went through traffic past Oettinger at 8:01. Connor made it 2-0 with a one-timer with 2:58 left in the frame.
Connor then reaped the reward of a passing play with Josh Morrissey to make it 3-0 at 6:43 of the second.
Barron tipped in a Dylan DeMelo shot at 7:26 of the third to stretch the lead to 4-0.
“I think it was exciting. It felt like it was getting towards the end of the year, it almost felt like a playoff game,” Barron said. “They’re kind of creeping up on us in the standings there.”
Marchment nixed the shutout with his 16th of the season with 3:49 left.
“We weren't competitive enough,” Dallas head coach Pete DeBoer said. “I thought we made it too easy on their goaltender. They defended hard – we knew they defended hard, their numbers said that – and we just didn't pay enough of a price to get inside and make it difficult for them.”
Connor acknowledged the challenges will continue.
“Every game now is going to be the next big game, right?” he said. “It's going to keep getting bigger.
“So we were able to rise to the task today, and hopefully we learned some lessons and what that looks like and kind of our foundation of how we were able to come out on top and play such a good game tonight. And we take that on to the next one.”
The Jets head out on a three-game road trip starting Sunday against the Seattle Kraken.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 14, 2025.
Judy Owen, The Canadian Press
