Kyle Connor had two goals and an assist to help the Winnipeg Jets win their home opener on Thursday night, 5-1 against the Anaheim Ducks.
Pierre-Luc Dubois had a goal and an assist, Andrew Copp and Josh Morrissey also scored and Connor Hellebuyck made 38 saves to help the Jets post their first victory in four games this season.
Troy Terry scored, and John Gibson made 22 saves for the Ducks, who have lost two in a row after winning the opener of the four-game road trip on Monday against the Calgary Flames.
Winnipeg surrendered an early goal but answered with five in a row.
The Jets tied it 1-1 at 4:10 of the first period after Terry tripped coming across the Winnipeg blue line and lost the puck. That set up an odd-man rush the other way, and Dubois redirected a centering pass from Connor for his third goal of the season.
Winnipeg took a 2-1 lead at 1:01 of the second period when Copp got to the puck first on a dump-in. He passed it out and then circled back to the side of the net, where he redirected a shot from Nate Schmidt for his third goal of the season.
The Jets scored early in the third period as well.
Winnipeg was on a power play when Morrissey sent a slap shot into the net from the right circle for a 3-1 lead at 1:30.
The Ducks pulled Gibson with about four minutes left, and Connor scored into the empty net with 2:49 remaining to make it 4-1.
Gibson went back in net and Connor scored again to make it 5-1 with 1:14 to go.
The Ducks came in 4-for-12 on the power play this season after finishing last in the NHL last season with an 8.9 percent success rate, the lowest since the league began keeping track of the stat in 1977-78.
Anaheim was on a power play when Terry tipped in Cam Fowler’s slap shot from the high slot for a 1-0 lead at 2:46 of the first period.
The Jets were without two of their top forwards, Mark Scheifele and Blake Wheeler, who were in the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol.
–Field Level Media
