Mark Scheifele (55) of the Winnipeg Jets gets the puck past Mike Condon (39) of the Montreal Canadiens to score in second period action in an NHL game at the MTS Centre on March 5, 2016 in Winnipeg, Manitoba.Marianne Helm/Getty Images
Mark Scheifele's first-career hat trick elevated the Winnipeg Jets over the Montreal Canadiens 4-2 Saturday night in a see-saw matchup.
Scheifele's empty-netter late in the third completing the trio after giving the Jets 1-0 and 3-2 leads and snapping Winnipeg's (27-32-5) six-game home winless streak. Rookie Andrew Copp had his third goal of the season.
Alex Galchenyuk scored twice for Montreal (30-30-6) to bring his season total to a new career mark of 21. The Canadiens dropped their fourth straight game to finish their current western road swing win-less.
Scheifele opened the scoring 4:10 in the second period, catching Canadiens defenceman P.K. Subban at the end of a power-play shift that lasted 2:19. Inside the Montreal zone, Scheifele stole the puck from Subban and broke in all alone before beating goaltender Mike Condon with a quick backhand finish.
The 22-year-old Scheifele adds on his career-high season goal total with his 18th, 19th, and 20th of the season as the third-year NHLer continues to heat up. Serving as Winnipeg's No. 1 centre since Bryan Little fractured a vertebrae, Scheifele now has seven goals and five assists over his last eight games.
The Canadiens tied the game just 1:13 later. Max Pacioretty made a backhand between-the-legs pass to Galchenyuk in the slot whose one-timer beat Ondrej Pavelec to make it 1-1.
Winnipeg took the lead again at 5:57 of the third when a Ben Chiarot point shot was deflected by Copp.
Galchenyuk scored for a second time midway through the third, deflecting a Greg Pateryn point shot to tie the game 2-2.
Scheifele's winner came at 13:01 of the third before completing the hat tricks with 29 seconds remaining in overtime.