Jets shut out Ducks, pad lead for first in Central

ANAHEIM -- The Winnipeg Jets extended their lead in the Central Division to three points with a 3-0 win against the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center on Wednesday.

The Jets (44-25-4) have nine games remaining, and the second-place Nashville Predators have eight. They play each other for the final time this season Saturday in Winnipeg.
Connor Hellebuyck made 29 saves for his first shutout in his 55th start of the season for the Jets, who have won four games in a row and can match their longest winning streak of the season at the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday.
WATCH: [All Jets vs. Ducks highlights]
"It's a monkey off my back," Hellebuyck said.
Kyle Connor had a goal and an assist for the second straight game, Jacob Trouba had two assists, and Mark Scheifele and Nikolaj Ehlers scored.
John Gibson made 20 saves for the Ducks (30-36-9), who lost for the first time in three games.
"They got a couple lucky bounces on their goals, and we couldn't find the back of the net," Anaheim assistant coach Marty Wilford said.
The Jets scored on the power play for the fifth straight game to take a 1-0 lead at 15:56 of the first period.

Ducks forward Corey Perry was serving the first of his four minor penalties for high-sticking Bryan Little when Trouba shot a one-timer from the high slot. The puck went wide but came off the end boards to Connor, who backhanded it through his legs from the right side of the net to Scheifele at the top of the crease for a high shot past a sprawled Gibson.
"At the end of the night, we took too many penalties," Anaheim forward Jakob Silfverberg said. "It's tough killing a lot of penalties, tough to get a rhythm going with all four lines when you're doing that."
The Jets went 1-for-5 on the power play. The Ducks were 0-for-5.
Connor scored when he redirected defenseman Tyler Myers' wrist shot from the right point for a 2-0 lead at 4:25 of the third period.

Ehlers made it 3-0 at 7:07 when his shot from below the left face-off circle hit Gibson and went in on the short side.
"We want to be ready from the start," Ehlers said. "If you're not ready from the start in this league, it can get ugly pretty fast. It's something that we focused on as well and something we need to be ready for. So we played a good game tonight."
The Jets are trying for their first division title since relocating from Atlanta for the 2011-12 season.
"I think it would be huge," Hellebuyck said. "Having home-ice advantage is always a good thing. Plus, we already know it's going to be a grind (in the Stanley Cup Playoffs), so any advantage we can get, we need."

They said it

"We had really good sticks and knocked an awful lot down, made some blocks. But it seemed there was some chaos. It was hard getting a handle for both teams, getting a handle on the puck, but our defensive sticks were good and disrupted a lot of plays from them getting to the net." -- Jets coach Paul Maurice
"I thought we came out and played pretty well. I thought we commanded 5-on-5. We got into a little bit of penalty trouble, and they scored one late in the first period. Other than that, I didn't think our game was that bad. We traded chances. Our third man was working well. They were turning pucks over and we were creating [chances] in the zone." -- Ducks defenseman Josh Manson

Need to know

The Jets won their 20th road game of the season to tie the Jets/Atlanta Thrashers record, reached in 2006-07, 2014-15 and 2017-18. ... Hellebuyck had six shutouts in 64 starts last season, but none after a 4-0 win at the St. Louis Blues on Feb. 23, 2018. ... Scheifele has five points (three goals, two assists) in the past four games. ... Trouba has four points (one goal, three assists) in the past four games. ... Winnipeg is 8-for-26 (30.8 percent) on the power play in its past eight games against Anaheim. ... Jets defenseman Joe Morrow returned after missing 14 games with a lower-body injury. He had an assist, a plus-1 rating, three hits and one blocked shot in 12:44 playing on the top pair with Trouba in place of Nathan Beaulieu, who is day to day with an undisclosed injury. ... Winnipeg forward Jack Roslovic was back in the lineup after he was a healthy scratch in a 3-2 win at the Los Angeles Kings on Monday. Roslovic, who got his first NHL hat trick in a 9-3 win against the Ducks on Feb. 2, was on the fourth line with Mathieu Perreault and Andrew Copp. ... Ducks rookie defenseman Jacob Larsson missed the game with a thigh bruise. Andy Welinski was recalled from San Diego of the American Hockey League on Wednesday and played his first NHL game since Jan. 23 in Larsson's place.

What's next

Jets: At the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday (10 p.m. ET; ESPN+, ATTSN-RM, TSN3, NHL.TV)
Ducks:Host the San Jose Sharks on Friday (10 p.m. ET; NHLN, SN, FS-W, NBCSCA, NHL.TV)