In Winnipeg, the Jets finally put a strong game together, and Connor Hellebuyck made 38 saves in a 5-1 win over the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday night.
It was the Jets’ first win of the season.
“It gets us going in the right direction, shows what we need to do to win games in this League,” Hellebuyck said. “A great performance from everyone tonight and we need to continue to build off that.”
Troy Terry scored the Ducks’ only goal.
“Winnipeg is a dangerous team,” Ducks head coach Dallas Eakins said. “If you leave something a little too juicy, they’re going to put it in your net. So I think it was a great lesson in that. We like our zone time, we like our chances at the net, we like our shot count, we like our attempts, we like the way our power play looked, but we didn’t like what we left. We have to get better at that.”
The Ducks dropped to 2-3-0.
“The shots were in our favor and we were creating offense, but that’s when we got lazy,” Terry said. “When you’re playing these teams in the NHL, if you take a shift off here or there, they’re going to make you pay. That’s our next step.”
Kyle Connor had two goals and three points in the win as the Jets turned a tight 2-1 advantage into the final with a three-goal third period.
“The first one feels great. It’s always tough … you feel a little pressure,” Connor said, . “Coming back home from a road trip, the tendency is to come out pretty slow the first period. It feels great. It’s a full team effort. [Hellebuyck] played great back there.”
Pierre-Luc Dubois also scored and added an assist for Winnipeg.
Andrew Copp gave the Jets a 2-1 lead with his goal.
“I think we have room to get better, for sure,” Copp said.” I think after giving up the first one our PK stepped up. [Hellebuyck] played well. I feel like a lot of their chances were from the outside. But with that said, I do think we have levels that we can get to to get better. But a step in the right direction, winning a hockey game, playing a relatively full 60 minutes. Home opener, fans back in the building, happy with the win but there’s definitely ways we can get better.”
Josh Morrissey got the third period outburst with an early strike for a 3-1 lead.
“Important to get a win,” Jets head coach Paul Maurice said. “I thought we played hard and well enough to win the last game that we played, and I thought we ended up building as that game went along. Concern coming off the West Coast and on the road coming back. Our third was our best period in terms of pace of our game anyways. I don’t want to see Connor (Hellebuyck) seeing that many pucks every night, but he was sharp and on it.”
John Gibson made 22 saves in the loss.
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