Hellebuyck makes 22 saves, Ehlers scores twice in 3rd for Winnipeg
Stars at Jets | Recap | Round 2, Game 5
WINNIPEG — Connor Hellebuyck made 22 saves, and Nikolaj Ehlers scored twice in the third period for the Winnipeg Jets, who avoided elimination with a 4-0 win against the Dallas Stars in Game 5 of the Western Conference Second Round at Canada Life Centre on Thursday.
“That was a great team win, took everyone and we’re going to have to do it again,” Hellebuyck said. “We had everyone. Everyone was doing the same things. They’re going to have a big push back next game, so we got to make sure our details are right and we bring it. Our backs are against the wall and play Jet hockey.”
Hellebuyck made 13 saves in the third period for his second shutout of the playoffs; he made 21 saves in a 4-0 win in Game 2.
“It’s what he’s done for us all year,” Jets captain Adam Lowry said of Hellebuyck. “Another stellar game by him. Like you said, it’s 0-0, we have a bit of a breakdown and we could easily be down 1-0 there. It gets the building on their feet, gives us some energy, lets us take a deep breath and we are able to score 4-on-4 not too long after. We have so much confidence in Connor, what he does, what he means for our team.”
DAL@WPG, Gm5: Hellebuyck blanks Stars for his fifth career shut out
The Stars lead the best-of-7 series 3-2. Game 6 will be at American Airlines Center in Dallas on Saturday (8:00 p.m. ET; ABC, ESPN+, SN, TVAS, CBC).
Mark Scheifele and Vladislav Namestnikov each had a goal and an assist for the Jets, who are the No. 1 seed from the Central Division. Kyle Connor and Neal Pionk each had two assists.
“Our guys, you could feel it, you could hear it, from this morning to tonight, guys just knowing they had to be at their best tonight,” Winnipeg coach Scott Arniel said. “I think we’ve done a good job of putting stuff behind us and focusing on what the next challenge is.
“Whether that was going from the last game to tonight’s game or whether that was going from your first shift in the first period to your third shift in the second period, it was being consistent and doing those things that are going to help us have success. Guys just recognized they have a job to do, and they went out and did it.”
Jake Oettinger made 31 saves for the Stars, who are the No. 2 seed from the Central.
“You never want to give a team life,” Dallas forward Matt Duchene said. “We felt like we needed to win this one. You don’t want to give them any life at all. We don’t want to come back here for Game 7 obviously up 3-1 at one point. It might take seven. They’re a good enough team, it could. We’ll see what happens. We’re going to go home and try to put our best game on the ice and go from there.”
Scheifele gave the Jets a 1-0 lead at 6:17 of the second period during a 4-on-4 when his centering pass to the slot redirected off two Dallas players — first the stick of forward Wyatt Johnston before going in off the skate of defenseman Thomas Harley.
“That was our whole roster stepping up and knowing what the challenge was in front of us,” Arniel said. “And putting their best game on the ice. And it was everybody — forwards, D, goaltender — it was everybody stepping up, not wanting to be eliminated tonight. You could see it right from the puck drop, the opening shift. We didn’t take our foot off the gas.”
DAL@WPG, Gm5: Scheifele’s blast finds the back of the net to open scoring in the 2nd
With the Jets on a 5-on-3 power play, Ehlers made it 2-0 at 2:20 of the third period when he curled a shot around Oettinger from in close and scored off the inside of the far post.
“We don’t want to be done playing hockey and today showed that,” Ehlers said. “We’ve just got to take that to the next game … We want to go to Dallas and win that game. And like I’ve said, these fans, it’s been so special to play here in front of this crowd and we want to repay them by coming back and playing a Game 7 here.”
Namestnikov pushed it to 3-0 with a power-play goal at 12:07 of the third, tucking the puck under the crossbar with a wrist shot from the slot.
“Listen, they won the Presidents’ Trophy, right?” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said of Winnipeg. “That’s a really good team. We do have a great opportunity to go home and win this at home. We did what we had to do, which is win one game in here (Game 1) in order to give us this opportunity of this elimination game (on home ice), and if not, we’ll have to come back in here and win another one.”
Said Dallas forward Tyler Seguin: “They’re good at home. We won one (in Winnipeg) earlier, we had a chance there tonight. We were right in it despite the shots, and however it may have felt to the eye, we felt we were right in it. [Oettinger] was playing great. Just didn’t get that equalizer.”
Ehlers scored his second goal of the period into an empty net at 19:15 for the 4-0 final.
“I didn’t think it was a horrible game by us,” Duchene said. “They got one 5-on-3, another one on the power play, 4-on-4. We didn’t give up anything 5-on-5. We had some looks, Hellebuyck played really well. That’s the way it goes. We knew this wasn’t going to be easy. We knew they weren’t going to roll over on us. We’re going to Dallas here and see if we can end it.”
NOTES: Winnipeg is a League-best 6-1 at home in these playoffs. … Scheifele’s third career goal in a potential elimination game is the most in Jets/Atlanta Thrashers history. … Hellebuyck has five career playoff shutouts, and has multiple shutouts in a series for the second time in his career (also two in the 2018 first round). Only two other U.S.-born goaltenders in NHL history have posted multiple shutouts in two series: Tim Thomas (two in both the 2011 Conference Final and Stanley Cup Final) and Mike Richter (two in both the 1997 Conference Semi-Finals and 1994 Conference Quarter-Finals). … Hellebuyck is the first goaltender in Jets/Thrashers history with a shutout while facing elimination.
