WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) 鈥� Kyle Connor scored twice and Tyler Toffoli broke a third-period tie to lift the Winnipeg Jets to a key 4-3 victory over the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday night.
The win clinched second place in the Central Division for the Jets and home-ice advantage in their first-round playoff series with the Colorado Avalanche.
鈥淥bviously that鈥檚 what we wanted to do tonight,鈥� said Nikolaj Ehlers, who had a goal and assist. 鈥淲asn鈥檛 beautiful all the way through, but we got it done and that鈥檚 what鈥檚 important.鈥�
Winnipeg (51-24-6) also stretched its win streak to seven in front of its eighth sold-out crowd of the season at Canada Life Centre.
Toffoli took a pass from Ehlers during a power play and sent a backhand shot past Seattle goalie Philipp Grubauer with 8:20 remaining in the third period.
鈥淣ice to get that out of the way in this game,鈥� Connor said of securing home-ice advantage. 鈥淚 thought we stuck with it, you know, ups and downs in the game.鈥�
Connor鈥檚 pair of markers extended his point streak to eight games, including four goals and eight assists.
鈥淚 see him skating really well at both ends of the ice. He really is,鈥� Jets coach Rick Bowness said of Connor. 鈥淭hat tells you that he鈥檚 engaged in the game. There have been some great back checks.鈥�
Mark Scheifele and Josh Morrissey each contributed a pair of assists.
Connor Hellebuyck made 20 saves for the Jets, who finish the regular season at home Thursday against the Vancouver Canucks.
Yanni Gourde had a goal and assist and Tomas Tatar and Tye Kartye also scored for the Kraken (33-35-13).
鈥淚 think it doesn鈥檛 matter who we鈥檙e playing, we鈥檝e got to bring that every night,鈥� Kartye said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a good team over there and it was a pretty good effort by us.鈥�
Grubauer stopped 20 shots for Seattle, which lost its fourth game in a row and concludes its playoff-less season Thursday in Minnesota against the Wild.
鈥淥ur entire team fought hard tonight,鈥� Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said. 鈥淩egardless of anything else, we鈥檙e in a situation where we鈥檝e dug out of a two-goal deficit, got ourselves back to even.
鈥淲e take a careless penalty and that鈥檚 the difference in a hockey game like this. We did a heck of a job for the first minute and 50 of the kill, but they found a spot inside and found the game-winner on that.鈥�
The Jets had veteran forward Nino Niederreiter back on the ice after he missed the past five games because of skate cut that nicked his Achilles tendon.
Winnipeg forward Morgan Barron left the game in the first period and didn鈥檛 return because of a lower-body injury. Bowness said he鈥檒l be evaluated more.
UP NEXT
Kraken: Travel to Minnesota to play the Wild on Thursday night.
Jets: Host the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday night.
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The Associated Press
