Winnipeg, Manitoba: Mathieu Perreault viewed his 100th NHL goal as a lucky tap rather than a highlight-reel milestone.
The Jets forward scored two twice and added an assist to help Winnipeg halt a three-game losing streak with a 5-1 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Monday night.
His second goal with 44 seconds left in the game was even initially awarded to linemate Matt Hendricks before it was changed. Canucks goalie Jacob Markstrom was behind the net with the puck and shot it straight to Hendricks in the slot. Hendricks fired the puck and Perreault lifted his stick up and deflected it in.
“It’s kind of a reaction play,” Perreault said “It was going in his empty net and I just got my stick on it. I could have tipped it out of the way so lucky enough it went in.”
The win was the Jets’ seventh straight victory at home. They have points in their last 11 games (10-0-1) at Bell MTS Place.
Dmitry Kulikov, Josh Morrissey and Nikolaj Ehlers also scored for Winnipeg (18-8-5). Ehlers’ 14th of the season was on the power play and gave him goals in three straight games.
“Coming home and playing in front of this crowd every night is pretty amazing,” Ehlers said. “Seeing it now with three games away with three losses, we needed the extra energy and the crowd gave us a boost today.”
Brock Boeser scored his team-leading 16th goal for the Canucks. He also extended his goal-scoring streak to three games.
Connor Hellebuyck made 25 saves for Winnipeg. Markstrom stopped 19 shots for Vancouver (14-13-4).
