WINNIPEG – Mark Scheifele had two assists and reached 80 points for the second consecutive season as the Winnipeg Jets beat the Colorado Avalanche 3-1 at Canada Life Centre. Connor Hellebuyck made 27 saves to improve to 8-2 in his last ten starts against Colorado. Kyle Connor, Alex Iafallo and Cole Perfetti scored for the Jets who are 27-28-10 on the season. The Jets get right back to work Sunday afternoon when they host the St. Louis Blues at 2 CT.
NEEDED EVERYONE
Scott Arniel said on Friday that the Jets were going to need everyone to get the right result against the league leading Avalanche. He alluded to the team’s performance in a 4-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning in the second game of this homestand. The Jets kept most shots to the outside, cleaned up any second chance opportunity in front of Hellebuyck and blocked 24 shots including Dylan DeMelo helping out his goaltender in the third period saving a sure goal.
“Yeah, it was great. You know, the details were there. We had a lot of jump. We played together," said Hellebuyck.
"Very little mistakes. And, you know what, some help from DeMelo blocking some goal line shots. So, yeah, we had it all."
30 GOALS FOR KC
After a scoreless first period, the Jets opened the scoring at 2:05 of the second, Mark Scheifele entered the Avalanche zone and spotted Kyle Connor alone in the slot and Connor fired home his 30th of the season. It’s the eighth time that Connor has reached 30 goals in his career which is the most in franchise history, passing Ilya Kovalchuk. Consistency clearly has been the key for the Jets sniper reaching the 30 goal mark in eight of his nine full seasons in the NHL.
"Yeah, that's obviously a big part of it, consistency and in your game," said Connor.
"And, trying to bring that level every single night, and with such a grind of a season, and then we're obviously down to the wire here with the push that we need to have, and it needs to be there every single night. And yeah, it’s something that it's tough to do."
