In St Paul on Tuesday night, the Winnipeg Jets’ Connor Hellebuyck made 28 saves to help the Jets to a 2-1 win over the Minnesota Wild.
“I was slowly improving all last year,” Hellebuyck said. “… I really figured out my game and was able to replicate it. Now I know exactly what I’m doing every night.”
Hellebuyck is 6-0-1 on the season and has ascended to the number one position on the Jets roster with the skid Steve Mason has found himself in in Winnipeg.
Kyle Connor and Nikolaj Ehlersscored for the Jets as they had a 2-0 lead early in the third..
Luke Kuninfinally got the Wild on the board with about five minutes left in regulation but that was it.
Ehlers’ goal came on a giveaway by Matt Dumba on a dreadful back pass at the Wild blue line. Ehlers picked up the puck and buried it for the 2-0 lead.
Matt Dumba sat the rest of the game.
“He just hasn’t been playing that well,” Wild head coach Bruce Boudreau said. “He’s a good player that maybe I’ve set the bar pretty high for him and he hasn’t reached that bar. I just thought that was an inexcusable play, and at some point you have to be accountable for your actions.”
The Wild dropped to 4-4-1 on the season.
The Jets are 3-0-2 in their last five and 6-3-2 on the season.
“There’s a lot of really good areas to improve on,” Jets head coach Paul Maurice said. “What I like is the general theme … I think we’re playing faster. That’s the style of game we have to play. We’re moving the puck a little bit quicker, we’re a little simpler through the neutral zone. I still think we can generate more shots, put more pucks to the net. Twenty games is the quarter pole, but we’ve been fortunate to have good goaltending, so we’re on the right side of the ledger.”
[WATCH: All Jets vs. Wild highlights]
Alex Stalock made 17 saves in taking the loss for Minnesota.
“Self-preparation, it hasn’t been there for a few games right now. We were lucky to be in the position we were in in the last 10 minutes of the game. They had two breakaways, maybe three, and it could’ve been [3-0 or 4-0] going into the third period,” Boudreau said after the dismal effort from his team and loss.
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