In Winnipeg, Connor Hellebuyck made 29 saves and the Jets shutout the Vegas Golden Knight, 4-0, on Friday night.
The win gave lift to the Jets who climbed to the first wild card spot in the Western Conference.
Kyle Connor had a first period goal for the Jets – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
“It’s a testament to the guys in front of me and how well we’ve been playing,” Hellebuyck said. “When we bring it we know we can shut teams down. I thought tonight was a good game.”
Winnipeg made quick work of the game with three goals in the first period.
“You’ve got one team that started like they’re fighting for their playoff life, and we didn’t,” Vegas head coach Peter DeBoer said. “The game was over in the first period. … The first period was unacceptable. That’s what happens when you’re playing desperate teams with great goaltending. When you get in a hole like that, it’s hard to come back.”
Nikolaj Ehlers, Patrik Laine and Kyle Connor were the strikers in the first period.
“We’ve just got to keep climbing,” the Jets’ Blake Wheeler said. “… We needed a win. They played a good game. They’re fast, they have good sticks. They didn’t give us a whole lot. I think our goalie was outstanding tonight, made the stops when we needed him to. He gave us a chance to win.”
Mathieu Perreault scored on the power play in the second period.
“When our crowd gets into it like that it’s so easy to get some momentum and really carry and push our pace on them,” Hellebuyck said. “I’m just having a lot of fun and taking every moment in like it might not happen again. So I’m enjoying it.”
[WATCH: All Golden Knights vs. Jets highlights]
Marc-Andre Fleury made 20 saves in the loss.
“We had some chances to get back in the game late in the first period or early in the second period,” Vegas’ Nate Schmidt said. “But the underlying factor is that we weren’t really good with the puck tonight and it caused us to play slow and caused us to turn the pucks over and into their transition. And they’re a great rush team. They have a lot of guys that can move the puck off the rush and make plays, and if you feed into that it’s going to be much more beneficial for them than for us.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.