WINNIPEG JETS VS TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS 01/02/2020 LIVE 8:00

Fresh off snapping a three-game skid, the Winnipeg Jets will try to build on that when they host the streaking Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday night.

Kyle Connor scored two late goals to complete his second career hat trick in Winnipeg's 7-4 victory at Colorado on Tuesday.

Connor scored twice after taking a double-minor for cross-checking early in the third period that allowed the Avalanche to tie the score on the ensuing power play.

"I've got to control my stick a little better, but I was just trying to make a play and I ended up with four minutes," Connor said. "Watching them score, too, it's tough to sit there and watch that but we battled back and everybody, top to bottom, we got efforts from everybody, so it was a good one."

Connor gave the Jets the lead again with a power-play goal midway through the third period and later scored his 20th goal off a rebound.

"It is the way hockey goes," said Connor, who has six goals in his past four games. "You are going to get a couple of good bounces."

Jets captain Blake Wheeler said it was more than that.

"He's dialed in," Wheeler said of Connor. "I mean, the kid's got world-class hands on him and he just works extremely hard. Since his recall a couple of years ago, he's just really invested in working every single night."

Wheeler, playing in his 900th career NHL game, added two goals and an assist for the Jets, who were 2-5-1 in their previous eight games.

"It wasn't always pretty, it wasn't always us carrying the play by any means," Wheeler told NHL.com. "You don't have to win in this league like that. You can just battle, and I think we had every guy invested in that battle. A lot of one-on-one battles we won (Tuesday), and that was the difference."

The Maple Leafs, 4-1 winners at Minnesota on Tuesday, are 7-0-1 in their past eight games and have won 13 of 18 games since Sheldon Keefe took over as coach.

"I think we're starting to have a really good feel of the way we want to play," said Maple Leafs captain John Tavares, who scored an empty-net goal. "We can still be better, but certainly I think the things he's implemented have really translated well with the skill-set of our team, the type of players we have and his message."

Toronto rallied from two-goal deficits in each of its previous three games, beating Carolina and New Jersey before losing in overtime to the New York Rangers.

"Whether we're up in a game, down in a game, we believe we can beat anyone, and we believe we're going to find a way to win in any situation," said Maple Leafs forward Alexander Kerfoot, who also scored. "When you got that attitude and that belief, it can go a long way."

Toronto's Frederik Andersen made 26 saves to become the first goalie to reach 20 wins this season (20-8-4).

"We've handled all sorts of different situations," said Keefe, who took over for Mike Babcock on Nov. 20. "We're gaining experience from that, whether it's playing with a lead and scoring early, and then giving it up and having to find our way back, or playing from behind and finding our way back, having a lead and then giving up goals in bunches and figuring that out."