Winnipeg Jets forward Kyle Connor is tied for first-place in NHL scoring.
The Winnipeg Jets are officially home to the NHL's top goal scorer - or at least one of the two men tied for first place league-wide.
On Tuesday evening, Kyle Connor scored two times in the Jets' 6-3 win over New Jersey, bumping him up the ranks into a tie for first with Toronto's Auston Matthews.
The two American-born forwards each have 13 goals in 15 games played this season, and are enjoying strong starts to the year following less productive 2022-23 seasons.
“There are just certain players around the league who you play with or play against who just have that goal scoring knack," defenceman Josh Morrissey said of his teammate.
"Obviously, it’s his skill, it’s his smarts, it’s his shot, it’s all of that."
Having started the year with three goals in his first five games, the Michigan product went for a stretch of three games between goals, before settling into a consistent scoring pace as the first month of the season wore on. He now has 10 goals in his past 10 games, including seven in the past week (four games).
"He’s a goal scorer," interim head coach Scott Arniel said. "We’ve said it before, we were talking about him a couple of weeks ago after the Vegas games or around that area. We were saying that once those guys get one, they’re goal scorers and they get that feel and that good feeling about themselves, and hopefully now he has that feeling as well and rolls with it.”
Connor, who was named the NHL's Second Star of the Week this past Monday, had a hat trick performance over Nashville and multi-goal games against St. Louis and the Devils in the past seven days.
"We’re using our feet to create turnovers and we’re playing well in our systems, too," Connor reflected following his hat trick performance. "I think we are. That’s something we can always fall back on and know if we do that well, we’re going to get turnovers and have the puck more, which is obviously what we want to do, and have possession and create as much offence as we can.”
The NHL's 2021-22 Lady Byng Memorial Trophy winner is also back on pace for another season to which he is able to stay out of the penalty box more often than not (two penalty minutes thus far in 2023-24).
With 13 goals in 15 games, Connor is on pace for 71 goals this year - something highly unlikely, unless he puts up Teemu Selanne-esque numbers for the remaining five months of the schedule.
Connor currently sits fourth in shots on net, while shooting at a 19.4 percent rate, putting him 67th of all players. He averages just under 21 minutes of ice time per game and has already accrued eight power play points on the year.
"You see a lot of those goals off the cycle that he’s scored in the slot over the years," Morrissey added. "All the skills that go into it, sure, but that real scoring knack is something that you can try to teach, but he just has it naturally."
"It’s fun to watch.”
According to the new NHL Edge statistics, 17 of Connor's 67 shots on net come from high danger scoring areas, to which he has found seven goals on the year (44 percent success rate).
The 26-year-old's previous season-high is 47 goals - set during the 2021-22 campaign, which broke Patrik Laine's record (44 goals) for most goals for a single player since the team returned to Winnipeg in 2011.
“I mean, when he’s going like he is, that puck just keeps on finding him," teammate Nikolaj Ehlers said of Connor's recent success. "His first goal, he shoots the puck, it comes right back out to him, he’s right there with that speed and is able to put it in. He’s a pretty important and good player for us.”
Connor's 20 points and three power play goals both lead all Jets players.
Next up for Connor and the Jets is the final two games of the season-high, five-game homestand as the Buffalo Sabres and Arizona Coyotes roll into Canada Life Centre for Friday and Saturday tilts with the Jets, respectively.
