Hellebuyck’s 42-save shutout backstops Jets to 4-0 win over Golden Knights

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This article was published 22/03/2022 (1354 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Now this is the Connor Hellebuyck we’re used to seeing around here. And Tuesday’s vintage performance by the former Vezina Trophy winner served up a timely reminder of just how tough the Winnipeg Jets can be to put away when their No. 1 netminder is in the zone.

Just ask the Vegas Golden Knights, who played a mostly solid road game at Canada Life Centre — and came away with absolutely nothing to show for it. That’s because Hellebuyck stopped all 42 shots that came his way as the Jets eventually woke from a prolonged slumber to skate to a 4-0 victory.

“Those are one of those nights where it just hit you,” Hellebuyck said of his fourth shutout of the year. “I could tell early on when the puck was just going my way. The bounces were going my way, tips were going my way, posts were going my way.”

Winnipeg improves to 30-24-10 and are now just three points out of the final Western Conference playoff spot, currently held by Dallas, with 18 games remaining. Vegas is in a free-fall, losing in regulation for the seventh time in nine games to fall to 34-28-4, one point back of the Stars and two points ahead of the Jets.

“We were always in the mix, but now we’re really in the mix,” said Hellebuyck. “Yeah, that’s not how we want to play, but wins at this point are huge. We can continue building and maybe get some momentum off of it.”

Prior to puck drop, Jets centre Mark Scheifele had bemoaned the loss of good friend and long-time teammate Andrew Copp, who was shipped to the New York Rangers a day earlier. “You feel a little lost out there,” Scheifele said of the emotional aftermath of the trade deadline.

That general malaise apparently inflicted the entire team, save for Hellebuyck, as they came out with perhaps the ugliest first period of the season. Winnipeg didn’t record its first shot until 15:03 had expired — Vegas had 11 at that point — and were soundly outplayed. The Jets struggled to exit their zone, repeatedly turned over pucks and couldn’t complete even the most basic of passes.

And yet, the frame ended in a scoreless tie. Thanks entirely to Hellebuyck. Considering Vegas had played a night earlier in Minnesota — suffering a 3-0 loss to the Wild — you’d think Winnipeg would have been primed to jump all over their weary opponent. You’d be wrong.

“He played well. That might be an understatement,” centre Pierre-Luc Dubois said of his goaltender. “I know we say at this point of the year wins are all that matter. I think we can play a lot better than that. But when we have a guy like him back there in net to repair mistakes, especially when we spend that amount of time in our zone, it’s huge.”

The second period didn’t start much better, with Vegas recording the first five shots and leading 22-4 in that department.

“We have to be committed to a little bit tighter in our end,” said Hellebuyck. “I think it all starts from our end. Just defensively, we need to sort out some reads, and we need to figure out where we can be more aggressive.”

But one of the beauties of sport, especially hockey, is the unpredictable nature. And wouldn’t you know it, but the Jets struck first, courtesy of a bit of a lucky break. Blake Wheeler’s pass attempt went off a Vegas defender’s skate, off goaltender Logan Thompson’s pad and right on to the stick of Dubois , who shovelled it home for his 25th of the year at 6:16.

Just like they drew it up, right?

The Jets appeared to make it 2-0 a couple minutes later, this time on a goal that was anything but flukey. Kyle Connor fed a perfect pass to Evgeny Svechnikov, who ripped a wicked wrister past Thompson. There was just one problem — Dubois was a fraction of an inch offside, which Vegas spotted and successfully challenged.

Svechnikov nearly went from hero to goat as he took a silly slashing penalty right off the ensuing faceoff, a potential huge turning point in the game. But the Jets managed to kill it off, along with two other minors on the night, to protect the clean sheet. As the old saying goes, your goaltender is usually your best penalty killer, and that was true of Hellebuyck on this night.

Perhaps his best stop of the night was a sliding pad robbery off William Carrier, who couldn’t believe he was denied.

Scheifele added to the lead — this time for real — with a nifty re-direct of a Nikolaj Ehlers pass for his 24th of the campaign at 15:14. That gave the home team some breathing room, along with a bit more pep in their step, and they carried that over to the third and stepped on the gas.

Defenceman Neal Pionk connected on a slapshot at 11:06 for his third of the year, once again courtesy of a sweet Connor feed. Connor is now up to 40 helpers on the year, a new career-high, to go with his career-best 39 goals (and counting). Ehlers then finished off the scoring as Scheifele returned the favour from earlier in the night, putting a puck right on his tape for the tip-in. Ehlers, despite missing more than six weeks with a serious knee injury, is up to 19 goals.

Wheeler, who said earlier in the day his club was “not waving the white flag” despite trading Copp, had two assists as well.

“I think any team that’s trying to win a Stanley Cup, you need a goalie that can help you win games when you’re not playing that well,” said Dubois. “Bucky was huge for us tonight. To keep us in the game, obvious we go in after the first period not happy about ourselves, but knowing it’s a 0-0 game anything’s possible. We stayed with it, then you get a goal, then you get two, three, four. At this point of the year every point matters, every game matters.”

Two deadline additions made their debuts, as Mason Appleton and Zach Sanford skated on the third line with Paul Stastny. Adam Lowry missed a second straight game in COVID-19 protocol, but will be eligible to return by Friday.

This was the start of a pivotal four-game homestand for Winnipeg, with the next three all against teams currently well below the playoff line. Ottawa is in town Thursday, Columbus (and old friends Patrik Laine and Jack Roslovic) on Friday, and Arizona on Sunday.

In other words, a massive opportunity for the Jets to make some hay. However, they haven’t strung together more than two wins since the beginning of January as they’ve struggled to find consistency. That includes Hellebuyck. But if Tuesday is a sign of what’s to come, the hockey club and their fans can breathe a lot easier.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg