Hellebuyck earns fifth shutout as Jets blank Avalanche

WINNIPEG - For the first time this season, the Winnipeg Jets and Colorado Avalanche didn't need overtime.
On this night, the Jets took care of business in regulation, handing the Avalanche a 3-0 loss to wrap up Colorado's season-long six-game road trip.
The Jets meanwhile, now have five of a possible six points in the first three games of a 10-game home stand.

Patrik Laine notched his 24th of the season in the first period to open the scoring, while Jack Roslovic and Nikolaj Ehlers added singles of their own in the third to round out the scoring.
"We had a lot of chances in the second period that we should have scored on. Sometimes they go in, sometimes they don't. But we got three goals, won the game, so it's good," said Ehlers, who scored his 20th of the season in the win.
"We've got guys stepping up. That's the thing about this team. We have young guys coming up - including me, I'm a young guy - and just playing the game they need to play. We like the way we're playing right now, and we have to continue this."
Connor Hellebuyck made 25 saves, and was solid when called upon, to record his fifth shutout of the season. All of those blank slates have come in Hellebuyck's last 22 starts.
"I think the team is playing really well in front of me. They're bringing it every night," said Hellebuyck, who is now tied for second in the NHL in shutouts, and holds the second most wins among goaltenders with 27.
"The guys are starting to get a little banged up. That means they're blocking shots and doing the right things. My hat is off to my teammates."

When Mikko Rantanen was called for tripping Josh Morrissey just 1:23 into the game, Winnipeg's power play would need only a minute with the man advantage to open the scoring.
Wheeler took a pass from Dustin Byfuglien in the right wing circle, and quickly fed a pass through the Avalanche penalty killers to Laine, who blasted the one-timer past Semyon Varlamov.

The second period would finish scoreless, but it was in the back half of that middle frame that head coach Paul Maurice felt his team got going.
The numbers back up the coach. At five-on-five, the Jets had 20 shot attempts to Colorado's 12.
"Bryan Little's line really got it going. We were very strong after that," said Maurice. "But it's the way all of these games are going to look. They're coming into the game tonight coming off 10 wins, and they're in the nine hole. You're going to get their very best. It's not going to be an open game or a loose game.
"We didn't make the most of the offence we generated in the second period, and that happens as well, but we didn't come off our game."

The Jets would extend the lead 5:17 into the third, when Wheeler made a nifty move in the high slot to get around Dominic Toninato, then sent a wrist shot toward the net. The shot popped up in the air off Roslovic, over Varlamov - who lost sight of the puck - and dropped behind him in the net.
It was the second goal of Roslovic's career, and the second assist of the game for Wheeler - his 17th multi-point effort of the season.

"His play at centre has been outstanding, to the point it gives you pause about how you take him out of the middle," said Maurice. "He's played so well defensively in that. He's played with 19, 20, and 21-year-old players that - as good as they are - they come out of games. They haven't developed what he has, that consistency.
"We could talk for half an hour and I wouldn't get close to telling you how important he is to our team."
Ehlers would add an empty net goal with 18 seconds left in regulation.
It's a day away from the rink for the Jets tomorrow, before the home stand continues with a match-up against the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday.

ICE CHIPS
Matt Hendricks (upper-body) and Brandon Tanev (upper-body) both left the game and didn't return.
Hendricks, who exited the contest in the first period, is listed as "hopeful" for Tuesday's match-up with the Arizona Coyotes according to Maurice.
Tanev, who left in the third period after a shift on the penalty kill late in the game, is listed as day-to-day until the team checks him out further.