Hellebuyck gets 6th shutout of the season as Jets beat Avalanche 3-0
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — Connor Hellebuyck stopped 22 shots for his sixth shutout of the season as the Winnipeg Jets beat the Colorado Avalanche 3-0 on Saturday night.
Nikolaj Ehlers had two goals, and Mark Scheifele also scored for the Jets, who are 2-1-2 in their eight-game homestand.
Hellebuyck had 10 saves in the first period, five in the second and seven in the third to get his NHL-leading 25th win of the season and 301st of his career. The shutout was the 43rd of his career.
Mackenzie Blackwood had 26 saves for Colorado, which finished off a three-game road trip at 1-2-0.
Hellebuyck has shut out the Avalanche in three consecutive regular-season games, dating back to April 13 last year, Nov. 7 and the latest.
Winnipeg led 1-0 after the first period following Ehlers’ high shot over Blackwood’s glove side at 1:08.
Kyle Connor put a short pass to the open side of the net for Scheifele to flip in his team-leading 25th of the season with 4:07 remaining in the second period.
Ehlers had an empty-netter with 57 seconds left.
Takeaways
Jets: Winnipeg changed three of its four lines because of an injury to second-line center Vladislav Namestnikov in Thursday’s overtime loss to Los Angeles. Adam Lowry moved up to fill the spot.
Avalanche: The Jets weren’t allowing Colorado a lot of scoring chances. After the Avalanche put up 10 shots on goal in the first period, they were outshot 12-5 in the second. The Avs also had a tough time in the faceoff circle, winning only 39.1 per cent.
Key moment
The Avalanche got their second power play of the game early in the third period, but Hellebuyck turned aside three tight-in shots.
Key stat
The Jets improved to 21-0-1 when leading after the second period, while the Avalanche are now 4-17-0 when trailing after two.
Up Next
Avalanche host the New York Rangers on Tuesday, and Jets host Vancouver.
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AP NHL: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL
