Hellebuyck makes 50 saves, Scheifele scores twice as Jets beat Rangers

The Winnipeg Jets needed their best players to be their best players to help them out of a two-game skid to start a four-game road trip.
They got exactly that, with two goals from Mark Scheifele, and singles from Kyle Connor and Pierre-Luc Dubois.
And then, there was the performance Connor Hellebuyck put in.
The 2020 Vezina Trophy winner and three-time NHL All-Star put up an incredible performance, making 50 saves in Winnipeg's 4-1 win over the New York Rangers - a team that was 8-0-2 in their last 10.
"He was incredible," said Josh Morrissey, who finished with two assists. "I didn't think anything was going to beat him clean. It was impressive. Everything was sticking to him. I thought we did a good job battling in front to let him see the puck. When he sees it, he's going to stop it."

The 51 shots Hellebuyck faced were the most he's had to deal with all season, and it came with the 29-year-old playing his second game in as many nights after stopping 25 in New Jersey the night before.

"I always feel better I the second half, and I had some rest, so it was a perfect storm," said Hellebuyck. "I'm exhausted. Now I have to take care of the body and get ready to go for the next one."
For the third time on the road trip, the Jets (35-21-1) opened the scoring. Morrissey pounded a shot from the point that went off Dubois just outside the Rangers crease on Winnipeg's first power play. The goal, which came just over five minutes into the game, was the 24th of the season for Dubois. Morrissey's assist gave him 57 points on the season, setting a new franchise record by a defenceman, putting him one ahead of Dustin Byfuglien.
"It means a lot," Morrissey said, taking a brief moment to focus on his individual achievement. "Especially considering the relationship I had with Buff and him being my first partner when I came into the league. I credit a lot of the confidence I had early in my career to playing with him and his attitude. It definitely means a lot to me and it's a function of opportunity and us having a great team and great players that make my job easy."

The other benefit was the fact it was Winnipeg's only power play of the game, and for a team looking to build some positive results on the man advantage, scoring a big goal is massive.
"We came back to the units we had before the Jersey game. We're still trying to find exactly what our identity could be. It was good to get a goal, goals help the confidence," said Dubois.
"We only had one and it was 40 seconds, not even, and now we can talk about it, look at video, and we can prepare for the next one."
As a Morgan Barron high-sticking penalty expired later in the opening frame, the Jets increased their lead with Scheifele's 33rd of the season. Kyle Connor's shot off the rush was partially blocked by Jacob Trouba, which didn't allow goaltender Igor Shesterkin to make a clean stop. The loose puck dribbled in the crease, and Scheifele poked it home to make it 2-0 with 3:28 left in the first.
"We needed those goals to go in at the right time and they did tonight," said head coach Rick Bowness, who challenged his group to be more engaged through the full 60 minutes ahead of the game. "We had to crank up our intensity. We had to start working a lot harder tonight. The guys responded."

Winnipeg opened the second period with two more penalty kills, and once again it set up a goal. It started with Dubois - who had just hopped out of the box after a hooking call - barrelling his way up ice with his mix of strength and speed. The Jets gained the New York zone, and after Morrissey kept the play alive, Mason Appleton spotted Connor in the slot. Connor made no mistake, burying Appleton's pass for his 26th of the season and a 3-0 Jets lead.
Just past the midway mark of the period, the Rangers finally solved Hellebuyck.
When the Jets weren't able to clear, Vincent Trocheck potted a cross-crease pass from Vladimir Tarasenko to cut Winnipeg's lead to 3-1.

But that was it. The Rangers fired 31 shots at the Jets net in the final two periods, but Hellebuyck had the answer to all of them, including a highlight reel glove save on a Chris Kreider one-timer from the slot.
"I mean, it wasn't that great," Dubois laughed.
"He makes tough saves look easy. Sometimes when you're in the stands you're looking and you say 'oh that wasn't that great of a shot,' or 'that wasn't that great of a pass,' but it was. He just reads it so well, it's just an easy save.
"He was great for us tonight. Great could be an understatement. It is an understatement."

That set the stage for Scheifele's second of the night - and 34th of the season - a laser beam of a backhand from the slot off a saucer pass from Connor with 4:31 remaining in regulation. It's Scheifele's 10th multi-goal game of the season, and it cemented a massive win for the Jets.
"Especially after two tough losses to start the road trip, to get ourselves a chance to go back 0.500, we needed this win tonight," said Dubois. "Especially at this point of the year, results matter more than anything else."
Next up is the road trip finale against the New York Islanders on Wednesday. Oh, and for the record, the Jets have four more back-to-backs this season.
What does Bowness think about running the same goaltender on consecutive nights again?
All he could do was laugh at the thought.
"There are no rules on that, man," he said. "Would we do it again? Again, if it was a tough night last night, we wouldn't have been able to do this. So we held them under 30 shots last night. That was why we were able to do it."