Jets Blast Blackhawks 4-0 as Hellebuyck, Morrissey and Dubois Shine

Nothing will beat a team effort, three power play goals and an outstanding goaltender. Connor Hellebuyck made 30 saves and recorded his second shutout of the season, the Winnipeg Jets scored three power play goals and Josh Morrissey and Pierre-Luc Dubois each had a goal and an assist as Winnipeg impressed an enthusiastic Saturday afternoon home crowd at Canada Life Centre with a 4-0 whitewashing of the Chicago Blackhawks. This one was close in the first period as the Blackhawks had a number of solid scoring chances, but Hellebuyck was simply too good. He stoned Patrick Kane on a breakaway, made easy work of Reese Johnson and Philipp Kurashev, who each had four shots on the afternoon, and never even appeared concerned as he recorded his second shutout in two weeks. Hellebuyck is now 6-2-0-1 on the season with a .938 save percentage and a 2.15 goals against average. With the win, the Jets improved to 7-3-1 and for a brief moment on Saturday afternoon were tied with Dallas for first in the Central Division. This one looked quite different after the first period -- a 20-minute frame when Chicago put up quite a fight. And for the home crowd, the only thing exciting about the opening period was Hellebuyck's continued brilliance and Norm Schmidt's broken skate. The Blackhawks outshot the Jets 12-11 (although the Jets had a 9-4 advantage in shots after the first 14 minutes), but Hellebuyck made two brilliant saves and half a dozen good ones to keep it scoreless. Schmidt, meanwhile, blocked a big shot from the point and stayed in the play even though his skate looked like the pieces of a blown-out truck tire. The fans cheered loudly, appreciative of Schmidt's effort. That set up the offensive explosion in the second period, as the Jets scored three special teams goals in an eight-minute stretch. Defensemen Josh Morrissey scored his first of the year on the power play at 10:04 from Mark Scheifele and Pierre-Luc Dubois; Adam Lowry scored a shorthanded goal, his third of the year, at 13:33 from Dylan DeMelo and Brenden Dillon; and then Dubois scored his fifth from Kyle Connor and Morrissey at 17:55. Hellebuyck remained superb between the pipes, Winnipeg outshot Chicago 13-9 and enjoyed a 3-0 advantage after 40 minutes. Chic ago started the third period with a new goaltender. Dylan Wells, 24, got to play in his first NHL game, replacing Arvid Soderblom and did quite well. The Jets often buzzed the Chicago net as if it were a prolonged power play and Wells even stoned Kyle Connor on a late breakaway. Winnipeg outshot Chicago 13-9 in the final period and scored once. Nate Schmidt, who would make a great forward, rookie a 20-footer from outside the slot over Wells' glove to make it 4-0 at 4:59. It was the Jets third power play goal of the game as Cole Perfetti drew the assist. Winnipeg outshot Chicago 37-30 as the special teams made the difference -- three power play goals and one shorty. Morrissey, Hellebuyck and Dubois were the three stars. Dubois had the stat line of the day: a goal, an assist, two points, four shots and four hits in just 16:57 of ice time. Chicago sort of owned the secondary stats as they won 52 per cent of the face-offs and out the Jets 27-24, but when Hellebuyck is at his best, stats do not matter. The Jets play again on Tuesday night as the first-place Dallas Stars come to town. Dallas beat the Jets 4-1 in Dallas back on Oct. 17. Game time on Tuesday is 7 p.m. It should be a dandy.