Jets no longer perfect, but still tough to beat without a fight

WINNIPEG — The Winnipeg Jets knew all good things must come to an end. Or at least paused temporarily.

John Tavares had a hat trick and Max Pacioretty chipped in three assists in a 6-4 Toronto Maple Leafs’ victory Monday that ended the Jets’ reign as the only unbeaten NHL team.

Winnipeg had opened the season with a franchise-record eight consecutive victories (8-1-0).

"We were hopeful to go 82-0, but that's never been done,” Jets defenceman Josh Morrissey joked.

Despite being behind 4-0 early in the second period, the team didn’t quit, he added.

“We were 8-0 for a reason — we're 8-1 for a reason — but that compete to battle back, and make it a game so that we can pull the goalie and see if we could try to tie it up, I think that's the character of our group," Morrissey said.

"We'll look at what we need to get better at, get some rest and move on.”

The Maple Leafs (5-4-1) snapped a three-game winless skid (0-2-1) in front of Winnipeg’s first sellout crowd of the season at Canada Life Centre. Many of the 15,325 fans cheered loudly while sporting Toronto jerseys.

"Move off it,” Jets head coach Scott Arniel said of what the response to the loss should be. “We'll look at it as coaches. We'll talk about it, but you move on to your next game.”

Kyle Connor had a pair of goals and added two assists for the Jets, extending his point streak to nine games (eight goals, six assists). That mark set a franchise-record for longest point streak to start a season, which had been held by former captain Blake Wheeler since 2015-16.

Mark Scheifele picked up a goal and assist, Gabe Vilardi scored and Morrissey contributed three assists. Connor Hellebuyck stopped 30 shots for Winnipeg.

“They came out hard and we didn’t have good jump to start there,” Connor said of the reason for their streak ending.

William Nylander had a goal and two assists and Matthew Knies and Morgan Rielly also scored for Toronto. Pacioretty’s helpers came after he was moved from the fourth line to the second with Tavares and Nylander for the game.

"I just liked our pace with our feet, with the puck, without the puck, and the way we moved the puck as well tonight," said Tavares. "You know, getting on the forecheck, recovering pucks and the way we were able to use the open parts of the ice, get into the interior, make it difficult on their goalie.

"We drew some penalties early, so I just really liked the energy and pace of our game today.”

Toronto head coach Craig Berube gave the results a thumbs up.

“They had a heck of a game,” he said of the new trio. “They got it done offensively. They went up against Scheifele’s line for most of the game and they were very good defensively.”

Pacioretty also liked his new partners.

“As a line, for the first time playing together, we were reading each other really well,” he said. “It starts with moving your feet. And that’s a big reason why we had a nice night tonight.”

Pacioretty said halting Winnipeg’s run gives some extra satisfaction.

“It does a bit,” he said. “When we focus on our five-on-five game, we definitely have the right mindset. And that’s important.

“It’s easy to come in here a little frustrated from the last couple games and try to play a little bit east-west, get a little bit cute. But we had the mindset that we would move our feet, keep things simple and play a playoff-like game. And I felt that on five-on-five we did that.”

Toronto pumped in its most goals in a game this season, but all were at even strength. The Leafs’ power play limped into the game at 10 per cent (3-for-30) and came up empty on two chances.

The Leafs outshot the Jets 19-6 in the first period with Tavares and Nylander scoring. Knies fired in a rebound to make it 3-0 just 56 seconds into the second frame.

Reilly added another goal at 3:25, followed by Connor’s power-play markers to squeeze the score to 4-2. Tavares got his second goal at 17:53.

Scheifele and Vilardi made it 5-4 in the third, but Tavares scored into an empty net with 25 seconds remaining.

Notes: The loss also snapped Winnipeg’s 16 regular-season game win streak, which dated back to last season. … Toronto has won its last six games against Winnipeg.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 28, 2024.