*Photo from TSN*
The Winnipeg Jets have lots of high end forward talent. Matthew Perreault, Kyle Connor, Mark Scheifele, Nikolaj Ehlers, and Andrew Copp, to name a few. Wednesday night against Vancouver, Copp had himself a night. Copp scored 4 goals, 6 different Jets added assists, and the Jets cruised past the Vancouver Canucks with a 5-1 victory.
Copp started the scoring 5:53 into the second period, with a power play goal to make it 1-0. Copp extended the lead 4:57 later, making it 2-0 Jets. The lead then became 3-0 on Scheifele's 13th goal of the season. In the 3rd period, Copp scored two more times for the Jets, his 9th and 10th goals on the season, and Nils Hoglander added a late goal for the Canucks to make it 5-1.
Copp said of scoring 4 goals that "I'm going to have a hard time remembering my last four-goal game. I don't know, I don't know if that's ever happened before. Obviously, our power play was working again today, and just getting those two at the end were kind of cherries on top."
Connor Hellebuyck got the win for Winnipeg, stopping 38 shots out of 39 that came his way. Hellebuyck was 1:25 away from his second consecutive shutout. Hellebuyck's record increased to 15-9-2 this season with the win, while Winnipeg is sitting firmly in playoff position, second in the North Division with a 20-11-2 record.
Hellebuyck said of just missing the shutout that "I love shutouts but at the end of the day we win and that's all I really care about, continuing to climb the standings, and we've got to look forward," said Hellebuyck. "It's not going to be an easy division and we need all the wins we can get."
Thatcher Demko got the start in net for the Canucks, taking the loss, with Copp being the kryptonite for Demko all night long, save for one Scheifele goal. Demko saved 31 shots out of 35 that came his way, with Copp's last goal being an empty netter. Demko's record dropped to 12-12-1 on the season, while Vancouver has a 16-18-3 record, 5th in the North.
Canucks coach Travis Green said of the loss that "Sometimes you play a pretty decent game and things don't go your way. Does it sting? Yeah, a little bit. It should, though. That's why we play the games, because they matter, and they feel great when you win and when you lose, they're supposed to hurt."
The Canucks don't play for another week, hosting the Calgary Flames on March 31, with Demko expected to start. Winnipeg faces the Flames next as well, but on Friday night. Hellebuyck is expected to start.
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