Jets snap losing streak with victory over Predators

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This article was published 27/11/2016 (3232 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Connor Hellebuyck usually spends early afternoons on game days wide awake and alert, playing video games in the comfort of his own home.

The Winnipeg Jets should be grateful their goaltender was thoroughly focused — in mind, body and spirit — on real-life NHL game play Sunday afternoon and not the computer-generated variety.

Hellebuyck’s brilliant 42-save effort, including 11 stops during two tumultuous stretches in the third period when his club was killing off six minutes of penalty time, sparked the Jets to a 3-0 victory over the Nashville Predators at the MTS Centre.

After limping home following five straight road losses, the Jets showed some of their fragility in the first period and small chunks of the second, coughing up pucks and surrendering quality shots while failing to generate much in the way of offence themselves.

Almost single-handedly, Hellebuyck turned aside every Nashville opportunity, giving his club a chance to find its footing and, eventually, build a 1-0 lead on right-winger Drew Stafford’s first goal of the season — on a nifty wrap-around play — with under five minutes left in the middle frame.

But the 23-year-old goalie from Commerce, Mich., saved his finest work for the third period, blocking all 20 shots the Predators fired his way to nail down his second shutout in his last six starts and the fourth of his young career.

The rare noon start — moved ahead by five hours to avoid going head-to-head with the Grey Cup game — altered Hellebuyck’s routine but certainly didn’t leave him rattled.

“I don’t like to nap. I kind of like early games because it kind of gets you going right away,” said Hellebuyck, adding his daily habits usually include playing video games four or five hours before the traditional evening start.

He said the wacky start time caused him neither distress nor even mild trepidation.

“Me, personally, no. Maybe other guys, but I don’t think so. We’re all professionals here and we all go out and play, we’re going to play our game no matter what time it is,” he said. “Maybe you get more comfortable with certain time, but then you get your legs under you and you feel the same.”

 

Winnipeg (10-12-2) posted its fourth straight win at home — indeed, worth noting but less impressive considering jammed in between were five road losses, including a 5-1 defeat to the same Predators (10-8-3) on Friday night.

If home is where the heart is, the Jets had every reason to embrace the opportunity to dazzle their apprehensive fans with a quick burst from the gate. Instead, they looked somewhat dazed and confused.

Add in the fact Predators head coach Peter Laviolette gave all-star goalie Pekka Rinne the afternoon off and went with rookie puckstopper Juuse Saros, and the glaring absences of the visitors’ best shooter, right-winger James Neal, and swift-skating defenceman Ryan Ellis (both out with upper-body injuries), and this could have been a much easier afternoon for the Jets.

But little is coming easy for the team, still sixth in the Central Division, and its confidence needs some reconstructing, offered captain Blake Wheeler.

“Obviously, you lose five in a row and it’s tough to rebuild your confidence even if you think you’re playing well, even if you think you’re not getting the breaks,” he said. “Getting the result kind of cures everything. Sometimes, to break out of a slump you need have your goalie make 40 saves and gut it out.

“I think confidence is a sneaky thing. It’s easier to lose it than it is to gain it back, so I think we’re kind of at the bottom of the barrel when it comes to confidence, so you’ve got to find a way to scratch and claw your way.”

Terrific ‘tender

Hellebuyck, making his fourth consecutive start, dug deep early in the third period, battling to stop forward Colin Wilson and blue-liner Roman Josi from in tight with the Predators enjoying the man advantage with Wheeler off for tripping to preserve the one-goal lead.

Then, when defenceman Mark Stuart caught Wilson with a high stick and was assessed a four-minute minor, Hellebuyck was the club’s premier penalty killer, stopping a barrage of shots, including a wide-open Ryan Johansen from the faceoff dot.

“Just lately, I seem like I’ve been in that groove,” he said. “I’ve liked the way I’ve been playing. Although (Nashville) scored five last game (Friday), I still like the way I feel and not losing my confidence because of a goal here or there, I just continue building my game forward.

“A little luck, too. Sometimes the puck just hits you.”

The Jets also blocked 27 shots in the game — five by defenceman Ben Chiarot, who logged more than 24 minutes of ice time, including 6:19 on the penalty kill.

Jets centre Mark Scheifele, with his 12th goal to tie rookie winger Patrik Laine for the team lead, and Adam Lowry, with his fifth, scored empty-netters with less than a minute left in the game.

Saros finished with 21 saves.

After the game, Winnipeg head coach Paul Maurice singled out Hellebuyck’s sparkling effort, but praised the work of his entire group for showing some grit to grab two much-needed points.

“We got contributions from just about everybody on the bench that had a chance to play,” said Maurice. “You need two or three guys to be really special, and your goaltender is one of them.

“You’ve got to win to feel good. The benefit I’m hoping we see from it is a little bit of confidence with the puck, a little bit of relaxation,” he added, noting the Jets missed the net on several chances and favoured some ill-advised passes instead of just rearing back and firing. “The fight was there, the compete was there.”

Stafford contributes

 

Stafford is starting to look more comfortable, and the Jets need his veteran presence and offensive punch.

Playing just his third game after missing 15 with an upper-body injury, Stafford jumped on a rebound off a blast from defenceman Jacob Trouba, spun around the net and shovelled the puck past Saros.

Stafford said he was glad to contribute to a crucial win.

“It feels good to be back pretty much 100 per cent. To be back feeling like myself again, not only that but to contribute on the score sheet, is huge,” he said. “We needed this one (today).”

The winning goal actually banked off Saros’ stick, bounced up and off his shoulder and fell in behind him.

“It’s nuts considering the quality of chances I had before that and right after that… I could had a couple and then that one goes in, so it’s a funny games sometimes,” said Stafford.

The Jets continue a three-game home stand Tuesday against the New Jersey Devils and then host the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night.

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPJasonBell