Hellebuyck makes 38 saves, Jets defeat Ducks for first win

WINNIPEG - Connor Hellebuyck made 38 saves and the Winnipeg Jets won 5-1 against the Anaheim Ducks at Canada Life Centre on Thursday.

Kyle Connor had two goals and an assist and Pierre-Luc Dubois had a goal and an assist for the Jets (1-2-1), who won for the first time this season in their home opener.
"It gets us going in the right direction, shows what we need to do to win games in this League," Hellebuyck said. "A great performance from everyone tonight and we need to continue to build off that."
Connor said, "The first one feels great. It's always tough … you feel a little pressure. Coming back home from a road trip, the tendency is to come out pretty slow the first period. It feels great. It's a full team effort. [Hellebuyck] played great back there."
Troy Terry scored, and John Gibson made 22 saves for the Ducks (2-3-0).
"Winnipeg is a dangerous team," Ducks coach Dallas Eakins said. "If you leave something a little too juicy, they're going to put it in your net. So I think it was a great lesson in that. We like our zone time, we like our chances at the net, we like our shot count, we like our attempts, we like the way our power play looked, but we didn't like what we left. We have to get better at that."

Terry scored on the power play at 2:45 of the first period to make it 1-0 Anaheim.
"The shots were in our favor and we were creating offense, but that's when we got lazy," Terry said. "When you're playing these teams in the NHL, if you take a shift off here or there, they're going to make you pay. That's our next step."
Dubois tied it 1-1 at 4:10 of the first.
Andrew Copp gave the Jets a 2-1 lead 1:01 into the second period, redirecting a Nate Schmidt slap pass from the point.
"I think we have room to get better, for sure," Copp said." I think after giving up the first one our PK stepped up. [Hellebuyck] played well. I feel like a lot of their chances were from the outside. But with that said, I do think we have levels that we can get to to get better. But a step in the right direction, winning a hockey game, playing a relatively full 60 minutes. Home opener, fans back in the building, happy with the win but there's definitely ways we can get better."

Josh Morrissey made it 3-1 Jets at 1:30 of the third period. Connor scored into an empty net at 17:11 then scored at 18:46 for the 5-1 final.
"Important to get a win," Jets coach Paul Maurice said. "I thought we played hard and well enough to win the last game that we played, and I thought we ended up building as that game went along. Concern coming off the West Coast and on the road coming back. Our third was our best period in terms of pace of our game anyways. I don't want to see Connor (Hellebuyck) seeing that many pucks every night, but he was sharp and on it."
NOTES: Jets center Mark Scheifele was placed in the NHL's COVID-19 protocol on Thursday, the team announced. Jets captain Blake Wheeler remains in protocol after testing positive Monday. … Kevin Shattenkirk assisted on terry's goal to extend his point streak to five games (three goals, three assists), setting a career high to start a season. … Copp has scored in three straight games. … Terry has five points (one goal, four assists) in his past three games. … Connor has four goals and two assists in his past two games.