Mason AppletonÏ㽶ÊÓƵֱ²¥™s third-period goal stood up as the winner, helping the Winnipeg Jets to a 3-1 win over the visiting Vancouver Canucks in NHL action Sunday afternoon.
Kyle Connor and Cole Perfetti also scored for the Jets (51-19-4). Pius Suter had the lone goal for Vancouver (34-27-13). Connor Hellebuyck made 23 saves to pick up the win in goal. Thatcher Demko made 24 stops for Vancouver.
With the loss, the Canucks remain six points back of the St. Louis Blues and Minnesota Wild in the chase for the two Western Conference wildcard playoff spots. Winnipeg is six points ahead of the Dallas Stars atop the Central Division.
Undeniable.
Ï㽶ÊÓƵֱ²¥” Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks)
Suter opens the scoring in Winnipeg!
Vancouver opened the scoring 18:55 into the first period, when Suter took a nice feed from Tyler Myers and beat Hellebuyck. The Jets challenged that the play was offside, but the goal was upheld. Suter now has 22 goals on the season.
Winnipeg pulled even midway through the second, when Connor stepped over the blue-line and snapped his 38th of the year past Demko.
AppletonÏ㽶ÊÓƵֱ²¥™s winner came at the 6:24 mark of the third, when he knocked home a rebound after a scramble in front of DemkoÏ㽶ÊÓƵֱ²¥™s crease.
The Canucks had several good chances to pull even but were unable to beat Hellebuyck, the reigning Vezina Trophy winner as the leagueÏ㽶ÊÓƵֱ²¥™s best goalie.
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Perfetti put things out of reach at 12:11, dangling neatly around Vancouver defenceman Derek Forbort and beating Demko to make it 3-1.
Vancouver hosts the Seattle Kraken Wednesday (7:30 p.m.).
NOTES: Vancouver finished a six-game road trip with a 2-2-2 recordÏ㽶ÊÓƵֱ²¥¦ The Jets now have a 28-6-4 record at homeÏ㽶ÊÓƵֱ²¥¦ Ailing forwards Elias Pettersson, Filip Chytil and Nils Höglander all missed another game for VancouverÏ㽶ÊÓƵֱ²¥¦ Winnipeg is one win away from matching its club record for victories, set last seasonÏ㽶ÊÓƵֱ²¥¦ Both teams were blanked on the power play, with the Jets going 0-for-4 and the Canucks 0-for-3.