Hellebuyck stands tall for Jets against Oilers

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This article was published 22/10/2023 (714 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It was precisely the type of performance Connor Hellebuyck needed — and the Winnipeg Jets needed from him.

After getting off to a slow start by his own lofty standard, the Jets workhorse goalie shook off an early deficit and propelled his team to a 3-2 overtime victory over the Edmonton Oilers in NHL action Saturday night at Rogers Place.

Hellebuyck allowed two goals on the first six shots he faced, then quickly got locked in and finished with 38 saves to record his second victory of the season in his fourth start.

Although the small sample size can skew the numbers at this time of the season, Hellebuyck had allowed 13 goals in his first three starts as he took a 4.38 goals-against average and .843 save percentage into the contest.

Hellebuyck was unable to snare a shot from Darnell Nurse and then over-committed during an Oilers power play on a one-timer from the point by Evan Bouchard, but stopped Warren Foegle on a breakaway and Mattias Janmark shortly after the Oilers took a 2-0 lead and that seemed to help him turn the tables.

But Hellebuyck’s personal statistics improved considerably (3.72 GAA, .878 S%) after Mark Scheifele ended the contest with 67 seconds left in the extra session. The club’s top centre won an offensive-zone draw and got to the net to redirect a perfect pass from Josh Morrissey to help the Jets move to 2-3 and snap a two-game losing skid.

The Oilers, meanwhile, are 1-3-1.

After the game, Scheifele made it clear his goalie’s heroics were the reason the visitors grabbed two points.

“He’s a fantastic goalie and the backbone of this team for a reason and he proved that (Saturday),” Scheifele told reporters in Edmonton. “There was zero quit. Obviously, going down early was tough but we just kept on battling back. We didn’t try doing anything too crazy on one shift and just battled back.”

Morrissey cued the comeback with a power-play marker midway through the first period before playing a big role on the clincher.

“You know what, obviously both teams feel that we’re better than our records show,” Morrissey told reporters. “It’s early, for both (teams), four games in but there comes a time where you’ve got to start putting your money where your mouth is and winning games and getting points.We weathered the storm and (there was) no quit in us.

“To come back and grind through that game, I really liked a lot of the things that we did from the 10-minute mark of the first and on. A huge win for us and it’s nice to get a little validation, to see a win in the win column when we feel we’ve been playing well. It’s nice to get a result. That’s one and we’ve got to build on it.”

The Jets are back in action on Tuesday against the St. Louis Blues before heading out for a pair of road games against the Detroit Red Wings and Montreal Canadiens.

“Yeah, it’s not the start that we wanted but this team is relentless,” Jets forward Vladislav Namestikov, whose shorthanded marker in the third period pushed the game to overtime, told reporters. “We’re not going to give up no matter what the score is. I thought, after that tough start, we kind of figured it out. From there, it was our game to take.”

There’s much to digest from the late affair in the Alberta capital. Here goes…

1. The miscue: With the Oilers looking to extend the lead late in the second period during a power play, goalie Stuart Skinner came out of his net to play the puck but Alex Iafallo grabbed it first and found Namestnikov for a short-handed marker that made it 2-2 late in the second period. “I kind of saw the goalie was hesitant when he came out to play the puck and Iafallo beat their guy,” said Namestnikov, who has points in consecutive games after being promoted to the role of second-line centre. “From there we just had to get to the net first and I think that’s all we did.”

2. The juggle: After the Jets’ top line was on the ice for the first even-strength goal against and got caught puck-watching before Darnell Nurse walked into the slot and scored, head coach Rick Bowness got the line blender out and flip-flopped Mason Appleton and Iafallo in an effort to give his top trio a spark. Iafallo has the versatility and defensive awareness to mesh well with Scheifele and Kyle Connor. “He just keeps working up there,” said Bowness. “That’s why I moved him up on the right wing. It didn’t bother him. He just kept playing his game. That’s how he plays and that’s why he’s so valuable to our team. Regardless of left wing, right wing, killing a penalty, on the power play, he just plays his game. He’s a hockey player. He loves playing the game, he’s very reliable and you saw him block some shots out there. He does a lot of things that help your team win.” Iafallo is up to three goals and four points in five games and could threaten his career highs for both goals (17) and points (43) if he continues to be leaned on during the absence of Gabriel Vilardi, who is out four to six weeks with a sprained MCL.

3. Powerful stuff: Trailing 2-0 in the first period and in danger of being skated right out of the rink, the Jets took advantage of a holding minor to Leon Draisaitl to get back into the game. Just before Draisaitl was set to step back onto the ice, Morrissey blasted a slapper through a perfect screen by Appleton to trim the deficit to 2-1. Morrissey is motivated to take another step forward in his progression after finishing fifth in Norris Trophy voting last season and he’s off to a fantastic offensive start to the season, with one goal and six points in five games, including the primary assist on the game-winner. The Jets won the special teams battle 2-1, scoring once on the power play and once while short-handed, only allowing the Oilers to score once with the man-advantage.

4. Forever haunting: The issue is certainly not confined to the Jets, but Connor McDavid and Draisaitl continue to rack up points against Winnipeg. The dynamic duo — reunited on the top line by Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft with his team looking for a spark — each chipped in a pair of assists in the first period as the tormenting continued. McDavid now has 53 points in 30 games against the Jets, while Draisaitl has added 41 points in 31 games against the franchise. However, McDavid appeared to suffer a lower-body injury to his left side/hip and didn’t play during the final 4:20 of regulation and didn’t see the ice during overtime. “That’s probably the understatement of the century,” said Morrissey. “I don’t know what’s going on there but (when it’s) 3-on-3 OT, you’re looking for him. We did notice, yeah.”

5. Welcome back: After sitting out Thursday’s game against the Vegas Golden Knights as a healthy scratch, Nate Schmidt checked back in on defence for Logan Stanley. Schmidt skated on the third pairing with Dylan Samberg and took a regular shift, along with his time on both special teams units, finishing with 16:42 of ice time (including a shift in overtime). That’s the type of response the coaching staff would have been looking for.

ken.wiebe@freepress.mb.ca