Connor Hellebuyck’s outstanding performance leads Winnipeg Jets to 4-1 win over the Wild to improve to 18-4-0

Connor Hellebuyck is a difference maker on most nights. Tonight in St. Paul was no exception as he made 43 saves which put his Jets team in a position to take it 4-1 over the Wild in a battle between the 1st & 2nd place teams in the NHL. With the win Winnipeg improve to 18-4-0 on the season.

For those who would like to take a deeper dive into the advanced stats click here to see the results from the game via Natural Stat Trick.

Notable:

The first two periods it was the Connor Hellebuyck show as he saved 38 of 39 shots he faced including 21 saves on 22 shots in the 1st period. The Jets netminder was absolutely sensational.

While scoring the first goal hasn’t’ really been necessary for Jets to win games this season given the nature of the 1st period it was important that Alex Iafallo scored the 99th goal of his career to tie the game shortly after the Wild took the lead. Big forecheck by Rasmus Kupari to set up that opportunity.

With the shots a whopping 34-13 in favour of the Wild it was the Jets who had an unexpected 2-1 lead as former Minnesota forward (for 5.5 seasons) Nino Niederreiter puts the visitors ahead on a play that Alex Iafallo won’t draw an assist on but his antics caused both Joel Eriksson Ek and Yakov Trenin to focus on him which allowed Winnipeg to push ahead.

Former UMD Bulldog Alex Iafallo must love playing in the state he went to college as he got his second of the game to add some insurance in what was a very good 3rd period by his Jets team. That was a power play goal. It was also the 100th goal of his NHL career.

Despite face the Jets were protecting the lead they controlled play in the final frame which ended with captain Adam Lowry getting his fifth of the season into the empty net to make it a 4-1 game. One captain ties another as Lowry’s empty netter gives him 110 in his career which tied him with former captain Andrew Ladd for 7th on the All-Time list for 2.0 Jets goals.

With the win the Jets are now 18-4-0 on the season.

Multipoint Game:

Alex Iafallo 2G
Neal Pionk 2A

Highlights:

Player/Coach post-game media:

Illegal Curve Post-Game Show:

Up next:

The Jets are in L.A. tomorrow where they will practice at Crypto Arena at 2:30 PM CST. Begin your day with all the latest Jets and Moose news in the AM Papers on illegalcurve.com which are available starting at 7 AM CST and then check back for the Practice Report.