Hellebuyck makes 50 saves, Jets end Rangers' 10-game point streak

Connor Hellebuyck made 50 saves, one shy of his NHL career high, and the Winnipeg Jets ended the New York Rangers' 10-game point streak with a 4-1 win at Madison Square Garden in New York on Monday.

[Hellebuyck] was outstanding tonight," Winnipeg coach Rick Bowness said. "We needed that kind of performance from our goalie tonight. You talk about timely saves, there were a lot of them tonight, and timely goals."
Hellebuyck was starting on consecutive nights after making 25 saves in a 4-2 loss at the New Jersey Devils on Sunday.
"He was incredible," Jets defenseman Josh Morrissey said. "They're aggressive offensively. He was unbelievable and looked so solid in there. 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. That's a pretty special performance. 50 shots I think it was at the end. He was insane tonight like he's been all year."

Kyle Connor had a goal and two assists, and Mark Scheifele scored two goals for the Jets (35-21-1), who had lost two straight. Morrissey and Mason Appleton each had two assists.
Vincent Trocheck scored for the Rangers (33-15-9), who were 8-0-2 during their point streak. Igor Shesterkin made 17 saves.
"[Hellebuyck] was great, not a lot of rebounds," Rangers captain Jacob Trouba said. "He was where he needed to be. Simple. He doesn't get out of position or make the acrobatic, crazy save because he doesn't put himself in that position. He was good, controlled the rebounds and there wasn't a lot of second chances for us."
Pierre-Luc Dubois gave the Jets a 1-0 lead at 5:12 of the first period on the power play when he tipped in Morrissey's shot from the high slot. Morrissey has 58 points (11 goals, 47 assists) in 57 games this season, passing Dustin Byfuglien (56 points in 78 games in 2013-14) for the most in a season by a defenseman in Jets/Atlanta Thrashers history.
"[The record] means a lot," Morrissey said. "I'm more worried about how we're doing as a team and how we're playing. But when you remove that and look at it, 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. Just have to get them the puck and good things happen."
Scheifele made it 2-0 at 16:32, knocking in a rebound at the right post shortly after a Rangers' power play expired.
"We had to crank up our intensity," Bowness said. "We had to start working a lot harder tonight. The guys responded."
Connor extended it to 3-0 at 6:04 of the second period with a quick shot from the left hash marks.
"You're not going to keep them to nothing," Trouba said. "They've got some good players on their team, they capitalized on their chances, and we just didn't put ours in. Just one of those games."

Trocheck cut it to 3-1 at 11:00, finishing a backdoor pass from Vladimir Tarasenko at the left post.
"I thought we did a decent job of getting inside," Rangers forward Chris Kreider said. "They did a good job keeping us to the outside, but it wasn't like that the entire night. We were getting some really good Grade A chances in tight. We got our looks ... we got our chances, and the puck wouldn't go in."
Scheifele scored on a backhand in the slot at 15:29 of the third period for the 4-1 final.
"He got it back, good response," Bowness said of Scheifele's turnover that led to Trocheck's goal. "He gave it up but then it's get it back. So he gets two. Those are big goals for us.
"[The Rangers] are a highly skilled team. There are three or four lines coming at you, and they're a high shot volume team. We kind of expected it. We probably gave up a few extra shots than we needed to give up with our puck management, which got us into trouble."
NOTES: Jets forward Cole Perfetti did not play Monday. Bowness said he sustained an upper-body injury against the Devils on Sunday and will be evaluated this week. … Scheifele's multigoal game was his 10th of the season. ... New York's point streak was the longest active in the NHL. Its last point streak of at least 10 games was a 13-game run (11-0-2) from Oct. 18-Nov. 15, 2015. … The Rangers are 22-5-4 since since Dec 5. … Artemi Panarin had his seven-game point streak end. … Forward Tyler Motte had two shots in 10:01 of ice time in his first game back with the Rangers since being acquired in a trade with the Ottawa Senators on Sunday. Motte played nine games with the Rangers last season before signing with the Senators as a free agent on Sept. 14.