Laine ties for NHL goal lead as Jets beat Dallas Stars

WINNIPEG: Patrik Laine scored two goals and Connor Hellebuyck turned away 28 of the 30 shots he faced as the Winnipeg Jets defeated the Dallas Stars 4-2 on Sunday at Bell MTS Place in Winnipeg. Sunday’s game was the second of a season-long six-match homestand for Winnipeg. The Jets are in second place in the Central Division, eight points behind Nashville and seven points ahead of Minnesota, both of whom were idle on Sunday.

Dallas lost its fifth straight match and is 0-3-2 on its six-game road trip. The Stars still hold the second wild card into the playoffs from the Western Conference, pending the results of Sunday’s game between Anaheim and New Jersey. A Ducks win or overtime loss would vault them over Dallas.

Laine got the only goal of the first period, scoring on the power play with just one second left after Blake Wheeler found him with a pass as he was falling down. Dustin Byfuglien also got an assist on the goal, which extended Laine’s club-record point streak to 15 games.

Mattias Janmark tied the game for the Stars 1:13 into the second as he received a sweet pass in the slot from Radek Faksa and beat Winnipeg goaltender Hellebuyck. Tyler Pitlick garnered the second assist on the tally.

Just 1:04 later, Ben Chiarot unloaded a slap shot from the point that made its way through traffic and past Dallas netminder Kari Lehtonen, giving the Jets a 2-1 lead. Joel Armia and Adam Lowry were credited with the assists.

Laine scored his second goal of the match (and his 43rd of the season) at the 6:43 mark of the second period when he grabbed the puck on the rush after a pass from Nikolaj Ehlers and wristed a shot between Lehtonen’s legs, extending the Jets’ lead to 3-1.

That advantage lasted until the 17:13 mark of the second quarter as Jamie Benn cut into the lead when he found a hole over Hellebuyck’s left shoulder after assists by John Klingberg and Alexander Radulov.