THREE THINGS: Hellebuyck makes 32 saves, Jets win 4th straight

Connor Hellebuyck made 29 saves leading the Winnipeg Jets to a 6-2 win over the Minnesota Wild at Grand Casino Arena. The Jets won their fourth straight game and ended their nine-game winless streak on the road. Mark Scheifele had a four-point night (1G 3A), Gabriel Vilardi, Jonathan Toews, Tanner Pearson, Josh Morrissey and Logan Stanley scored for Winnipeg. Morrissey recorded his 90th career multi-point game and surpassed Dustin Byfuglien for the most multi-point efforts by a defenceman in franchise history, Winnipeg will host the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday at Canada Life Centre.

HELLE SHOW FIRST, THEN TOEWS 900TH POINT

It is not uncommon for Connor Hellebuyck to give his teammates time to get their legs under them and that was the case in the first period on Thursday night. Minnesota fired the first 10 shots on net and Hellebuyck turned them all aside. Finally, Matt Boldy was whistled for high-sticking Dylan DeMelo and just over 30 seconds after that Marcus Foligno tripped Gabriel Vilardi to give the Jets a 5-on-3 advantage. On that power play, Jonathan Toews opened the scoring slamming in a loose puck behind Jesper Wallstedt for a 1-0 lead and the 900^th point of his career.

Winnipeg would close out the first period with two goals eight seconds apart, first Tanner Pearson made sure to follow up his own rebound to score his seventh of the season.

Moments later, Toews won an offensive zone faceoff to Mark Scheifele, and he spotted Josh Morrissey who one-timed a slap shot past Wallstedt with under three seconds left in the period and Winnipeg led 3-0 after 20 minutes.

"Obviously, you get a five on three, you got to take advantage, especially the way that the start of the game went," said Scheifele.

"So, obviously I was a big goal on a five on three, and then to get two right at the end of the period is, was a kind of a back breaker."

BIG STAN AND SCHEIFELE

In the second period, the Wild pulled to within two goals when Danila Yurov scored at 4:53 to make it 3-1. But the Jets restored their three-goal lead after their power play expired when Logan Stanley held the puck in at the blue line, walked in and blasted a slap shot over Wallstedt’s shoulder for his eight of the season. After the game, Scheifele said that he was like a proud dad when it comes to Stanley's success this season and the Jets defenceman had this to say.

“Yeah. He’s helped me a lot, actually. He's done a lot of work with me since I was 18, 19 and got drafted," said Stanley.

"And he's always been in my corner, he’s a great friend, and I love him.”

Scheifele added to his point totals to help the Jets extend the lead, as he got a secondary assist on Gabriel Vilardi’s power play goal at 12:51. The Jets number one centre watched Alex Iafallo enter the Wild zone, head behind the net and Iafallo set up Scheifele who ripped a shot off the post and in. It was Scheifele’s 13^th career four-point game and tied Blake Wheeler for the second most in franchise history.

SUCCESS ON THE ROAD VS. WILD

Per NHL Stats, The Jets won their sixth straight road games against the Wild dating to the 2022-23 season, which is their longest active streak against a single opponent. The only team they have recorded a longer run against in their franchise history are the Canucks (8-0-0 from 2016-17 to 2020-21).