Jets earn shutout win over Wild

WINNIPEG - If the Winnipeg Jets want to gain ground in the Western Conference standings, they'll want to play exactly like they did on Tuesday night.
Their Central Division clash with the Minnesota Wild (28-11-3) was filled with all the pace and physicality that comes with the rivalry the two teams have built, and at the end of the night, it was the Jets standing tall with a 2-0 victory.
Mark Scheifele scored his 11th of the season, a power play marker in the first period, and Nate Schmidt potted an empty netter with 1:11 remaining in regulation to cap off a - pardon the pun - wild night at Canada Life Centre.
"The intensity level, that's what we need. That's how you win in this league on a consistent basis," said Jets interim head coach Dave Lowry. "You have to be prepared to lay it all out there. Tonight was another game where we did things right. I really felt we played the right way."

At the other end of the ice, Connor Hellebuyck was solid making 27 saves to earn his third shutout of the season.
His performance was even more impressive given the fact Minnesota came into the game with a six-game win streak, a 10-game point streak, and had scored the third most goals in the National Hockey League.
But the Jets goaltender wasn't keeping all the praise for himself.
"Our details were right and we were controlling the game," said Hellebuyck. "They're a good team, they were buzzing around in our end. But we kept the chemistry right, we kept our end right and made sure that nothing got blown open."
The Jets (19-17-7) got the start they were looking for, as Scheifele capitalized on a two-on-one with Connor to open the scoring 8:57 into the first. The opportunity came when Blake Wheeler won a puck battle in the corner, with the Jets on their second power play. The puck popped out to Connor, who found Scheifele in the left circle for a - somewhat misfired - one-timer, but it didn't matter. It went in over the right shoulder of Kaapo Kahkonen.
It was the exclamation mark of a first period that saw two fights at the same time, with Brenden Dillon and Jordan Greenway squaring off after Dillon's hit on Marcus Foligno in the neutral zone. Foligno popped up and tried to get involved as well, but Adam Lowry grabbed the Wild forward and the two had a tilt of their own.
"For Lows and myself, I think we kind of answered in that instance. Overall, they're a physical team and they played hard. There were hits all over the ice tonight," said Dillon.
"All throughout the line-up, we were playing hard, blocking shots, the little things, sticks in the right lanes. It was fun to play tonight."
Greenway picked up the extra roughing penalty, putting the Jets on the power play that Scheifele cashed in on.
It wasn't the only time that Lowry and Foligno would drop the gloves on this night.

In the third period, as tempers continued to flare up, the two locked up again after a shoving match in front of the Jets bench.
It all started after a Greenway shove of Scheifele a few seconds before. That drew a crowd - as play continued inside the Minnesota zone - and then the second fight of Lowry's night was on.
"I think that's one of their bigger lines, they're quite effective," said Adam Lowry. "Every game is crucial, and these guys have had such a good year and they play hard. I think that just kind of stays in the game. It's two teams that are desperately looking to climb the standings and know how important these points are."
As entertaining as the night was, Winnipeg's real success came in the defensive zone.
Even while defending a 1-0 lead for most of the night, the Jets still held the edge in high-danger chances at five-on-five (according to Natural Stat Trick) by a 7-5 margin. They also didn't sit back and try to hold one-goal lead. The Jets outshot Minnesota 12-10 in the final 20 minutes, which was aided by two power plays, but even at that - the shot attempts at five-on-five were 13-11 in favour of the home side.

It was the full 60-minute effort the Jets were looking for.
"We all know that this is a tough division to win in," said Dave Lowry. "You look at the style, you look at the teams, this is the way you have to play. You have to play start to finish, and usually the games are physical."
The win will certainly serve as a template for the Jets, who have another four consecutive games against Central Division opponents coming up.
In fact, their entire schedule in the month of February (beginning with tonight's game) is against Western Conference opponents - the very teams the Jets are trying to gain ground on.
"The guys in the locker room now know what it's going to take and we have the details right," said Hellebuyck. "That's the game that we've got to play. We've seen it and we know we can do it. So now we've just got to build confidence in it."