Jets make history at home on saturday
Connor Hellebuyck did it again and now the Winnipeg Jets have a place all their own in the long, storied history of the National Hockey League.
For the third straight game on this most recent homestand, the current holder of the Vezina and Jennings Trophies, was absolutely brilliant as he led the Jets to a 4-1 win over the Dallas Stars.
Sure, Vladislav Namestnikov and Alex Iafallo each had a goal and an assist and the third line played its best game of the season, but Hellebuyck was the key to victory. He was simply brilliant.
The win capped off a tremendous four-game homestand as the Jets beat Tampa 7-4, Utah 3-0, Colorado 1-0 and Dallas 4-1. Winnipeg has noe won six straight.
However, the victory also means the Jets have won 14 out of the first 15 games this season – clearly the best start in franchise history, but also the greatest start to a season in NHL history. No NHL team has ever won 14 of its first 15 games to open a campaign.
"It’s a lot of fun," Iafallo said post-game. "Winning in stretches like that is what you play for and we’re having fun doing it. Just joking around. But once it’s game time, we’re ready to rock, so it’s a lot of fun right now.”
In front of a loud, proud sellout crowd of 15,225, the Jets took it to Dallas from the opening faceoff and then held the fort in the third period as the Stars outshot Winnipeg 20-5 over the final 20 minutes and 33-25 on the afternoon.
However, the Jets set the tone in the first period, built on it during the second and kept the Stars in check in the third.
In the opening 20 minutes, the Jets looked great. Obviously, they had forgotten the sluggishness of the third period against the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday night. In fact, the Jets looked like a completely different team.
They immediately attacked the Dallas net setting up a number of good scoring chances and were finally rewarded at 7:28 when, in the dying seconds of a power play, Vladislav Namestnikov found Alex Iafallo all alone in front of Stars’ netminder Jake Oettinger and Iafallo ripped it under the bar to make it 1-0. It was Iafallo’s second of the season.
Less than three minutes later, Rasmus Kupari scored his second of the year, picking up a rebound off an Iafallo shot and slipping it around Oettinger to make it 2-0 Jets.
Winnipeg outshot Dallas 12-4 and completely dominated the period.
Namestnikov got the second period rolling by jamming a goal past Oettinger at 3:34. Cole Perfetti and Neal Pionk picked up the assists on Namestinikov’s fourth of the season.
“We went out of the last game and fixed what needed to be better," Namestnikov said. "We met as a group and talked and today was just all about us and our work ethic, doing the little things right and not turning over pucks in the neutral zone.”
Although Dallas was considerably better in the second period, outshooting Winnipeg 10-8, Hellebuyck was terrific, and the Jets simply had too much firepower for Oettinger. Winnipeg made it 4-0 at 7:14 of the second as Nikola Ehlers blasted a shot past Oettinger from the slot. Mark Scheifele and Gabriel Vilardi picked up the assists.
With that, Dallas head coach Peter DeBoer had seen enough of Oettinger. He sent Oettinger to the locker room and called on Casel DeSmith to finish the afternoon. DeSmith had a great friend in the post as Jets’ Nino Niederreiter and Cole Perfetti both hit it on point-blank shots, but in the end DeSmith got the job done and the Jets did no more damage.
Dallas scored its only goal at 18:38 of the third period as Roope Hintz tipped through Hellebuyck’s legs to erase the shutout bid. Hellebuyck was just one minute and 22 seconds away from his third straight shutout and, of course, it came to an end on a Dallas power play.
The Jets played well for two periods and hung on in the third, but once again, the story of the game was Hellebuyck. He made 32 saves and lowered his goals against average to 1.78 and raised his save percentage to .936. The three stars were, of course, Hellebuyck, Namestnikov and Iafallo.
“This team never gives up and it plays for each other,” said Namestnikov. “And these fans are just great. It’s great to play for them.”
The 14-1-0, first place (in the entire NHL) Winnipeg Jets will now head out onto the road and they’ll face three real tests. They’ll play in New York against the Rangers on Tuesday, in Tampa on Thursday and at Florida on Saturday, Nov. 16, against the defending Stanley Cup champs.
The full photo gallery from Saturday's game is courtesy of Scott Stroh:
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