In an exciting tilt between the Winnipeg Jets and visiting Colorado Avalanche Saturday, Connor Hellebuyck made 25 saves to backstop the Jets to a 3-0 shutout.
“The team is playing really well in front of me,” Hellebuyck said. “They’re bringing it every night and you can tell. Guys are getting a little banged up, that means they’re blocking shots and doing the right things. My hat is off to my teammates.”
The was tight through the match with the Jets taking a 1-0 first period lead on a goal from Patrik Laine,
“I thought we stayed with them most of the night,” Blake Wheeler (three assists) said. “Good skating team over there. Forwards forecheck hard, make it tough to come out of the zone. We were looking for a little bit too much in the first period. I think we simplified in the second half of the game and were able to capitalize.”
Jack Roslovic widened the lead to 2-0 early in the third period.
“We play a lot of games on the road coming up here, so we’ve got to bring the same intensity on the road that we’ve been bringing at home,” the Avs’ Alexander Kerfoot said after the loss.
Nikolaj Ehlers sealed with a late empty net goal for the Jets.
“We’ve built leads this year and been comfortable in tight games. Down the stretch, we’re going to be playing teams that are fighting. … You can’t expect to come in and blow away every team,” Wheeler said after the win. “That shouldn’t be the expectation. The more we stay with those games, the more success we can look to have down the stretch.”
The Jets improved to 31-13-9 with the win and are 5-0-2 in their seven games.
“They’re a tough team,” Avalanche forward Matt Nieto said. “They have a really tight neutral zone. We had trouble going through the neutral zone and getting into their end. But when we had a sustained attack, I thought we had chances that tested their goalie a little bit more and got more traffic in front of him for sure.”
[WATCH: All Avalanche vs. Jets highlights]
Semyon Varlamov made 29 saves in his return to the Avs net.
“I thought [Varlamov] played great,” Avs head coach Jared Bednar said. “It was great to see him back in the net and he was our best player tonight. So, we’ve got to regroup and get a day off and get ready for Tuesday against San Jose.”
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