Connor Hellebuyck made 21 saves to help the Winnipeg Jets even their Western Conference semifinal series against the visiting Dallas Stars with a 4-0 win in Game 2 on Friday night.
Hellebuyck, the front-runner to win a third Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s top goalie, has 49 shutouts in his career, including four in the postseason.
“That’s what he does every night for us,” Jets defenseman Josh Morrissey said of Hellebuyck. “He’s an incredible goaltender. He makes very difficult saves look very easy, routinely and often. You could tell he was feeling it tonight and when he’s feeling it like that, it gives the players in front of him, defensemen, forwards, a lot of confidence.”
Game 3 in the best-of-seven series is scheduled for Sunday afternoon in Dallas.
“It’s a game we can build off of,” Morrissey said. “There were a lot of good things out there. As everybody knows, momentum in the playoffs is in-game. I don’t think it often carries over from game to game. So, we’ll try to look at things we did well today. It will be a whole different animal going on the road here, but definitely a lot we can build on.”
Nikolaj Ehlers had two goals and an assist, Gabriel Vilardi and Adam Lowry also scored and Dylan DeMelo contributed two assists for the Jets, who won the Presidents’ Trophy for the best record during the regular season.
Jake Oettinger turned aside 21 shots for the Stars, who were coming off a 3-2 road victory in Game 1 on Wednesday.
Tyler Seguin was called for a double-minor high-sticking penalty on Morrissey 17 seconds into the game, and Vilardi scored with 42 seconds left on the four-minor power play to give the Jets a 1-0 lead.
Ehlers took a shot that clipped off Oettinger’s skate, hit the post, came back and hit Oettinger’s skate blade and was heading back toward the goal line when Vilardi pushed it across.
Morrissey had missed Game 1 after sustaining an upper-body injury in Game 7 against the St. Louis Blues on Sunday.
The Jets scored again when a centering pass by Ehlers went off the skate of Dallas defenseman Esa Lindell and redirected into his own net, giving Winnipeg a 2-0 lead at 7:07 of the first.
“You start the game with a four-minute minor 10 seconds in,” Dallas coach Peter DeBoer said. “They score on the power play and then one goes off our own skate and into the net. You’re down 2-0 (7:07 into the game). That’s a big hole in this rink. So, self-inflicted, the other kind of unlucky.”
The Jets extended the lead to 3-0 at 11:02 of the second.
A shot from the right point by DeMelo was deflected wide and caromed off the end boards and out the other side. Lowry was there to sweep the puck into the net from the bottom of the left circle before Oettinger could slide over.
Hellebuyck made two more Grade-A saves in the second period, a sprawling stop on Evgenii Dadonov at 14:16, followed by a left pad save on Jamie Benn off a rush at 15:32.
“I thought we pushed hard in the second to try and climb back in the game,” DeBoer said. “Hellebuyck made some saves. We get one there, maybe the momentum shifts, but that was the game.”
Hellebuyck led the NHL in wins (47), goals-against average (2.00) and shutouts (eight) during the regular season, and was second in save percentage (.925). However, he had struggled in the playoffs entering Game 2, owning a 4-4 mark, a 3.75 GAA and a .836 save percentage
Ehlers scored into an empty net with 3:40 left to make it 4-0.
–Field Level Media
