The Winnipeg Jets got back to their winning ways on Monday night, defeating the Minnesota Wild 4-1 inside Xcel Energy Centre.
It was Winnipeg’s seventh straight win over the Minnesota Wild, a division rival that they have dominated since late in the 2022-23 season. There was lots to take away as the Jets improved to 18-4-0 to begin the season.
Connor Hellebuyck dominates once again
Connor Hellebuyck, as he often is, was the best player on the ice for the Winnipeg Jets on this night.
He stopped 43 of 44 shots thrown his way, and according to Natural Stat Trick’s tracking, stopped 3.17 goals above expected. The Wild had 30 scoring chances on this night, 16 of which came of the high-danger variety, but Hellebuyck stood tall and kept the Jets in it for the first two periods.
“I felt good. I was seeing it,” Hellebuyck said about his performance. “The guys were allowing me to see lanes and picking up sticks, picking up rebounds, so it was a great team effort tonight.”
Photo Credit: Colby Spence (Illegal Curve)
His stats to begin the season are eye-popping, to say the least, as the reigning Vezina-Trophy winner looks to win the award for a third time this season. He’s got a 15-2-0 record, a 2.06 goals against average, and a .929SV% to go along with three shutouts.
Is now a good time to remind everyone that this is only year one of a seven-year extension for Connor Hellebuyck?
Alex Iafallo scores career goals 99, 100
Alex Iafallo scored twice for the Jets on this night, giving him his 99th and 100th career goals in the NHL. The first one was a backhand beauty to get Winnipeg on the board, and the second one gave the Jets some much-needed insurance as he deflected home a Neal Pionk point shot on the power play to make it 3-1.
Scott Arniel spoke about the many roles that Iafallo plays for the Jets on a fourth line that has been playing effective hockey in the past couple of games.
Photo Credit: Colby Spence (Illegal Curve)
“Yeah, it was awesome. For him, that’s 100 career goals, that’s a great accomplishment,” Arniel said. “That’s one thing about AL, he’s such an all-purpose player. We use him on the penalty kill, he’s out there on the power play. Certainly when you need him to shut down the opposition he does a great job. He’s a real good pro, and we know what we’re getting every night from him.”
While the top two lines failed to get on the scoresheet tonight, the Jets’ bottom six picked up the slack, as two goals from Iafallo were backed up by Nino Niederreiter and Adam Lowry finding the back of the net.
Ville Heinola was steady in his season debut
With Dylan Samberg suffering a broken foot in Saturday’s game against Nashville, the door was open for Ville Heinola to make his season debut on this night.
He played just 12:14 on this night, and while he was clearly rusty in the first period after not playing in an NHL game since the 2022-23 season, he settled in and played a solid game in limited minutes.
Photo Credit: Colby Spence (Illegal Curve)
“I think he’d be the first to admit that was fast for him,” Arniel said. “But, he got to get in and experience it, and like you said, he drew the penalty. But there were a lot of things I liked, he has patience and poise, and we know that, especially on the breakouts and things like that. At the end of the day, that’s what we want. We want to get his feet wet, and to do it against that team, with losing Sammy, for him to step in that was huge.”
With Heinola on the ice, the Jets controlled the shot attempts 12-8, the shots on goal 8-3, and the scoring chances were 7-2 in their favour as well. Against the second-best team in the NHL, for his first NHL game in a long time, it was a solid debut for Heinola, who will only improve with a stretch of games.
Jets lock it down in the third period
Despite allowing 39 shots in the first two periods, the Jets allowed just five shots against in the third period. The Wild had 29 shot attempts in the first period and then 29 shot attempts in the second and third periods combined.
Coming off of a poor defensive outing in Nashville on Saturday and Hellebucyk bailing them out early, the Jets found their footing in their own end in the third period and closed out this game.
Photo Credit: Colby Spence (Illegal Curve)
“I really liked that as the game kept going on, we kept getting stronger and stronger and building ourselves into a real solid win at the end. To respond from last game, that’s just a really solid sign.”
Up next
The Winnipeg Jets now sit at 2-1-0 at the midway point of this six-game road trip, and they will travel to Los Angeles to take on the 12-7-3 Kings. They will then close out the trip with a game on Friday against the Vegas Golden Knights before taking on the Dallas Stars on Sunday.
Stay tuned to illegalcurve.com for insight, analysis, and all the coverage you need on the Jets and Moose.
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