Hellebuyck's 34 saves lead Jets past Blues

ST. LOUIS, MO - Slowly but surely, Connor Hellebuyck is etching his name in the Winnipeg Jets record books.
The goalie's 34-save effort led the Jets to a 4-0 win over the St. Louis Blues Friday at Scottrade Center. The win not only moved the Jets to a 36-16-9 record, but his sixth shutout of the season surpassed Ondrej Pavelec's five shutouts in 2014-15 to set a new franchise mark. It also leaves Hellebuyck two wins shy of Kari Lehtonen's franchise record of 34.

"I was seeing pucks, seeing (them) well and the guys were doing the right thing in front of me," said Hellebuyck. "They were taking their guys, they were clearing rebounds and they were giving me sightlines, and that's all I ask from them and they did a phenomenal job with it."

Nic Petan, Blake Wheeler, Kyle Connor, Patrik Laine scored in the win for the Jets, who had a slow start to the opening frame, but quickly found their game and took over by the midway point of the period.
"I thought we could have been a little better," said Wheeler who extended his point streak to seven games with a goal and an assist. "Connor (Hellebuyck) played really well and when we got off to a nice lead in the first, we were able to cruise from there."
The Jets have won eight of their last 10 games against the Blues, including all five matchups last season.
"About 30 minutes, we were really good after that (the opening six-and-half minutes)," said Head Coach Paul Maurice. "Again, on the puck very well, knocked a lot of stuff down and countered really quickly off that. So, it was maybe not the start we wanted, but we would expect that start from St. Louis. But we were able to get up to our speed and play pretty solid."

Mark Scheifele was the primary reason the Jets opened the scoring, stealing the puck in the attacking zone before sending a perfect pass over to Petan, who tapped it home for his second of the season at 10:03 of the first.
"It (the pass) was awesome," said Petan, whose goal ended up being the game-winning tally. "It was a little turnover and my eyes lit up and it was a great pass."

The Jets made it 2-0 just 45 seconds later Wheeler picked up a loose puck in the neutral zone, carried it down the right wing and wired a shot far side on Jake Allen.
Former Jet Chris Thorburn was in the box for hooking when Winnipeg made it 3-0 at 18:31. Allen stopped Wheeler's initial shot, but Connor was there in tight for his 22nd of the season. The captain recorded a career high 53rd assist, and Dustin Byfuglien got the other helper, giving him at least a point in five straight games.
The scoring continued for the visitors at 6:04 of the middle frame. From top of the right circle, Laine wired a shot high, stick side that Allen would like to have back. Laine's 29th goal of the campaign was Winnipeg's fourth of the night on the first 13 shots they fired on goal.

After their previous on Feb. 9, a 5-2 Blues win saw St. Louis pull within two points of the Jets in the Central. With the victory tonight, Winnipeg sits nine points ahead of the Blues in the standings and still hold a game in hand.
"It's huge. A huge two points," said Wheeler. "That's a team that's trying to catch us in a tightly contested division and conference, so every game is magnified now."
Winnipeg is now two points back of Nashville for top spot in the Central with the Predators once again holding a game in hand. Meanwhile, the Blues are barely hanging on for the final Wild Card spot in the Western Conference, one point up on the Los Angeles Kings and Calgary Flames.
The Jets will face another Central Division opponent on Saturday when they visit the Dallas Stars - a team they've beaten twice already this season.
Winnipeg is 3-2-1 in the second game of a back-to-back contests in 2017-18.
- Jamie Thomas, WinnipegJets.com