Hellebuyck, Jets shut out Montreal, 5-0

In Montreal, Connor Hellebuyck made 19 saves on Saturday night, in a 5-0 win for the Winnipeg Jets over the Canadiens.

“I think a shutout, no matter where it comes, is awesome, especially in this league,” Hellebuyck said. “Most shutouts are a team shutout and tonight was no different. The guys are blocking shots and keeping them to the outside and letting me see the shots altogether and really applying the pressure in the O-zone. I thought we were a good team tonight.”

Paul Stastny gave the Jets a 1-0 lead in the middle frame, and and Nikolaj Ehlers (power-play)  pushed the lead to 2-0 later in the period.

“I think the best part of the game was, for us, that we improved from our first game in here,” Jets coach Paul Maurice said. “We had given up a fair amount off the rush. And we were much, much better at it. I also think we got stronger with it as the game went on. The areas that we thought we needed to improve from Game 1 we did.”

The Canadiens have lost three games since Carey Price has not iced.

“I feel that tonight we came out a little bit on our heels, being scared of making those mistakes,” Canadiens head coach Dominique Ducharme said. “But being smart doesn’t mean that you have to be passive. I thought we were a little passive. Yes, we were not giving much, but a little passive. Scoring a first goal in that kind of game probably would give energy to our guys, and getting scored on did the opposite, so I didn’t like that reaction.”

As the second period wound down to seconds left, Derek Forbort scored for a 3-0 lead.

“Tonight was an overall team game,” Hellebuyck said. “We stuck to our game. Our details were right. We played hard and we really took it to them. They’re a good team and they really pushed back. I think we just continued to push and push until we got what we needed.”

Andrew Copp scored off the power play for a 4-0 lead and and Mathieu Perreault added a late strike for the final marker.

Jake Allen made 20 saves in the loss.

“We’re spending too much time in our zone, but it starts up ice,” Ducharme said. “We need to be better [at] creating a block of five [who are] harder to play against in the neutral zone so they don’t get those entries. And we’ve got to be killing quicker in our zone.”