Winnipeg, MB (SportsNetwork.com) - Lee Stempniak's second goal of the game proved to be decisive in the Winnipeg Jets' 5-4 win over the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday.
Jim Slater, Michael Frolik and Mark Scheifele also scored to help the Jets end a two-game losing streak.
Ondrej Pavelec made 26 saves in the win.
Winnipeg still sits on the outside of the final wild card spot in the Western Conference with 92 points. The team is tied with Los Angeles in points, but the Kings hold the tiebreaker and both clubs have four games to go.
The Canucks failed to move closer to clinching a playoff spot despite Alex Burrows scoring a pair of goals. Daniel Sedin added a goal and two assists and Henrik Sedin tallied a goal and an assist.
Eddie Lack allowed all five Jets goals on 36 shots.
There was less than a minute left in the second period when Scheifele's wrister from the circle beat Lack to the far post for his 15th goal of the season that gave the Jets a 4-2 lead.
Just eight seconds later, Burrows pulled Vancouver within one. A set faceoff play sent Burrows in behind the defense, and he slid the puck past Pavelec's outstretched pad.
Winnipeg again went up by two near the midpoint of the third period. Vancouver failed to clear the zone, and Stempniak made the visitors pay when he deked Lack before tucking the puck in through the five-hole.
The Canucks pulled Lack in favor of the extra attacker with three minutes to play. At 17:55, Burrows scored his second goal by redirecting Daniel Sedin's pass into the net.
Not even a minute later, Chris Higgins had a great chance to tie the game but hit the post from point-blank range. Winnipeg withstood the Vancouver surge over the final minute and did not allow another shot on goal.
"Once we went down 5-3, that's tough," said Canucks coach Willie Desjardins. "Not very often do you get two goals. We are lucky we got the one. We hit the post, but you can't put yourself in that spot."
The Jets put the pressure on Vancouver early, and it resulted in a pair of goals. First, Slater scored for the third time in four games, and 50 seconds later, Frolik added to Winnipeg's lead with a wrister that got through traffic in front of the net.
Vancouver cut its deficit to one on the power play near the midpoint of the first period. Alexander Edler's shot from the point caromed off the boards and into the crease where Henrik Sedin tapped the puck into the net.
Daniel Sedin evened the game after the Canucks finished killing a power play. Radim Vrbata found him at the side of the net with a backhand pass from beneath the goal line, and he wristed the puck by Pavelec.
"We've got to find a way to bear down in games," said Jets forward Mathieu Perreault. "We've done a good job for most of the year, now lately, we've kind of struggled with leads."
Less than a minute later, Winnipeg retook the lead. A slow Canucks line change created a breakaway for the Jets, and Stempniak just had to tap in Mathieu Perreault's cross-ice pass.
Game Notes
Vancouver finished with a 24-14-3 record on the road this season ... The Canucks were previously 27-0-0 when scoring four-plus goals ... Winnipeg defenseman Toby Enstrom left the game in the third period with an undisclosed injury ... Jets defenseman Dustin Byfuglien served the first game in his four- game suspension for cross-checking the Rangers' J.T. Miller on Tuesday.
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