Mason Appleton鈥檚 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.
鈥� Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) March 30, 2025
Suter opens the scoring in Winnipeg! pic.twitter.com/NPV96PJApU
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.
Appleton鈥檚 winner came at the 6:24 mark of the third, when he knocked home a rebound after a scramble in front of Demko鈥檚 crease.
The Canucks had several good chances to pull even but were unable to beat Hellebuyck, the reigning Vezina Trophy winner as the league鈥檚 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 record鈥� The Jets now have a 28-6-4 record at home鈥� Ailing forwards Elias Pettersson, Filip Chytil and Nils H枚glander all missed another game for Vancouver鈥� Winnipeg is one win away from matching its club record for victories, set last season鈥� Both teams were blanked on the power play, with the Jets going 0-for-4 and the Canucks 0-for-3.
