Hellebuyck makes 21 saves, Jets shut out Stars in Game 2 to even West 2nd Round

WINNIPEG — Connor Hellebuyck made 21 saves for the Winnipeg Jets, who evened their best-of-7 series against the Dallas Stars with a 4-0 win in Game 2 of the Western Conference Second Round at Canada Life Centre on Friday.

“I thought the guys in front of me did a phenomenal job, just letting me see pucks and keeping the tips away, playing the rebounds,” Hellebuyck said. “It’s never just the goalie doing it — it’s everyone out there.”

Dallas won Game 1, 3-2 on Wednesday.

“We’re playing our game, and we know what it looks like and we know what it feels like,” Hellebuyck said. “That being said, we’ve got to wipe it and go play a hard road game. It’s never easy on the road, especially at playoff time.”

Nikolaj Ehlers had two goals and an assist, and Gabriel Vilardi and Adam Lowry also scored for the Jets, who won the Presidents’ Trophy awarded annually to the team that finishes with the most points in the regular season.

“[Hellebuyck] was fantastic,” Winnipeg coach Scott Arniel said. “Sometimes we take him for granted because he makes the hard look easy, so easy, but he had some acrobatic ones tonight.”

Jake Oettinger made 21 saves for the Stars, who are the No. 2 seed from the Central Division.

“[Hellebuyck] made some huge saves in the second (period),” Stars forward Matt Duchene said. “We get one there or two there, it's a different game. He was great. I also think it wasn't our best game. We did enough to score some goals and he made some big saves. We know that's not our A-game, it's not our best. Game 1 was solid and we want to go back home and get ready for that."

Game 3 is in Dallas on Sunday (4:30 p.m. ET; MAX, truTV, TBS, SN, TVAS, CBC).

“Dallas, you just saw why they're No. 2 in the League on their transition and their ability to attack,” Arniel said. “We've got to be aware of that. That's something that's kind of self-inflicted but 'Helle' made sure that we shut the door on them."

With the Jets on a four-minute man-advantage after Stars forward Tyler Seguin took a double minor penalty for high-sticking Jets defenseman Josh Morrissey just 17 seconds into the game, Vilardi scored on the power play at 3:35 of the first period to make it 1-0. After an Ehlers shot hit the post behind Oettinger, Vilardi jammed in the loose puck in the crease.

"You get behind the eight-ball early, it's unfortunate, another four-minute (penalty),” Duchene said. “It seems like it's happening a ton and the guys aren't trying to do it, obviously, but we're in the box a little too much this postseason. It's really tough to get some momentum… They were better than us tonight, simple as that. I don't think it was a horrible effort from us, it's just not at the level it needs to be at.”

Ehlers said: “Obviously huge to get that goal early and especially on the power play as well. I don’t want to say too much. If you look at video from the previous games, you try to find things you can do better, things that are open and I think we were able to find those tonight.”

Ehlers then made it 2-0 at 7:07 when his shot from the left circle redirected in off the skate of Stars defenseman Esa Lindell.

“One goes off our own skate into the net, and you’re down 2-0,” Dallas coach Pete DeBoer said. “That’s a big hole in this rink. Self-inflicted. That one was kind of unlucky. Having said that, I thought we pushed hard in the second and tried to climb back into the game. Hellebuyck made some saves. (If) we get one there, maybe the momentum shifts.”

Lowry pushed it to 3-0 at 11:02 of the second when Dylan DeMelo's shot caromed off the boards behind the Dallas net and Lowry lifted the puck over Oettinger.

“It is always great when you get the lead and just play your game and trust your game,” Hellebuyck said. "That being said, it was a full 60 tonight. We didn’t put the brakes on at all and couldn’t take a break, and I thought we did just that.”

Ehlers shot it the length of the ice into an empty net at 16:20 for the 4-0 final.

"We feel good — we’re a resilient group and we have a lot of confidence in our game,” Dallas forward Wyatt Johnston said. “I think at this point in the playoffs, we have a pretty good idea of what we need to do each night to win. It's just a matter of going out there and putting our best game out there for Game 3.”

Duchene said: “Guys were working and trying their best out there, trying to do the right things. We didn't have enough tonight. When you get shut out it doesn't feel good and we don't want to have that. We're too good of a team to get shut out. [Hellebuyck] made some great saves, he's going to have games like that. He might be MVP of the League this year. Short memory, and get ready for Game 3."

NOTES: Ehlers’ goal was his first in 16 playoff games, dating back to May 23, 2021 when he scored twice, including the overtime winner, in a 5-4 victory in Game 3 of Winnipeg’s first round series against the Edmonton Oilers. … Hellebuyck’s first shutout of these playoffs was his fourth career postseason shutout, tying Craig Anderson for the seventh most by a United States-born goaltender.