NHL Game Recap: Jets Extend Win Streak to Five, Hellebuyck Shuts Out Avalanche 1-0

The Avalanche headed to the Canada Life Centre in Winnipeg to play against the Jets on Thursday, November 7th. Connor Hellebuyck and the Jets shutout the Avalanche 1-0, extending their win streak to five games straight after their season-opening eight-game win streak was put to an end by the Toronto Maple Leafs. This is the Jets’ 13th victory in 14 games. The Avalanche just came off a 6-3 victory against the Seattle Kraken, which ended their three-game losing streak. Gabriel Vilardi scored the game’s only goal, picking up his sixth goal of the season. The Jets host the Dallas Stars on Saturday, and the Avalanche heads back to Colorado to take on the Carolina Hurricanes, who has an eight-game win streak.

Colorado Avalanche Lineup:

Lehkonen – MacKinnon – Rantanen

Kiviranta – Mittelstadt – O’Connor

Ivan – Kelly – Kovalenko

Prishchepov – Tynan – Wagner

Toews – Makar

Girard – Manson

De Haan – Malinski

Georgiev

Annunen

Winnipeg Jets Lineup:

Connor – Scheifele – Vilardi

Perfetti – Namestnikov – Ehlers

Niederreiter – Lowry – Appleton

Barron – Kupari – Iafallo

Morrissey – DeMelo

Samberg – Pionk

Stanley – Miller

Hellebuyck

Comrie

Only 66 seconds into the opening period, Winnipeg got on the board when Gabriel Vilardi, who scored the only goal throughout the whole game, put the Jets in front 1-0 early. The puck was thrown up into Winnipeg’s zone, Dylan DeMelo got to it first behind the net and sent it to Josh Morrissey, who then shot the puck out to the neutral zone… Mark Scheifele took the puck, drove up the ice with Vilardi, and passed it over to him for his sixth goal and Winnipeg’s second-straight shutout victory.

Despite the end results, the rest of the game was good for both the Avalanche and Jets. Alexander Georgiev and Connor Hellebuyck each played great, both teams defended well, and it could’ve gone either way.

Connor Hellebuyck on if he sees the win the same way as Vilardi said he sees it, how the rest of the team played, and the game overall: “No. I thought the guys played really hard in front of me. They let me see pucks, they cleared rebounds, they scored, and we really committed to our game and our defensive zone. It might have not been pretty, but that’s why every game is a team effort,” – “We didn’t give up at all, we battled right to the end. Like I said, they were clearing rebounds, giving me lanes, boxing out, the puck was hitting me, and we had a perfect combination for a game like that.”

Josh Manson on if they deserved a better fate, the game, and Alexander Georgiev: “Yeah, but you know what? That’s a really good team and I think it shows that we’re a really good team, we know how to play. It ends up being one little mistake – turnover at the blue line, it goes the other way for a 2-on-1, then at the back of the net to start the game… The rest of the way, goalies are standing on their heads, making big saves for us and keeping the game where it’s at. We’re one shot away from tying the game and one less mistake away early in the game to coming out to 1-0,” – “Georgie made every save that we needed him to and some, I mean that save at the end – sliding across the crease, keeping it a one-goal game. We’re still in that game, we get a chance to score on the power play late in the game, and Hellebuyck made a couple big ones too – the one on Cale. So, it levels out in the end.”

Gabriel Vilardi on the shutout victory and momentum swings: “It’s always good to beat a divisional opponent, especially with them beating us last year. So, it feels good to get the win – It wasn’t our best game… Hellebuyck won that game for us, it’s that simple. I think we had a good first period, and then after that, we kind of lost it somewhere in the middle of the second… We got the best goalie in the world but, we can’t play like that and expect to win very many games.”

Notes:

– Connor Hellebuyck made a total of 35 saves for Winnipeg in his second straight shutout, the first being against the Utah Hockey Club on Tuesday (3-0)… He also leads the NHL with three shutouts this season, and he is the first goaltender to reach 10 wins this season. Hellebuyck has a total of 40 career shutouts, and he has become the fifth goaltender in franchise history to record back-to-back shutouts.

– Gabriel Vilardi has a six-game point streak (eight points; five goals and three assists), which is the longest of his career… Mark Scheifele also has a six-game point streak, picking up eight points (two goals, six assists).

– The Jets are the second team in NHL history to earn 13 wins through their first 14 contests in a season… they join the Ottawa Senators, 2007-08 (13-1-0).

– Alexander Georgiev made a total of 27 saves for Colorado.

– Both Nathan MacKinnon’s and Cale Makar’s season-opening 13-game point streaks snapped… MacKinnon has become the second player in League history with multiple season-opening point streaks of at least 13 games (13 in 2019-20), and he joins Wayne Gretzky. … MacKinnon and Makar have become the third pair of teammates in NHL history with concurrent season-opening point streaks of at least 13 games, and they join Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito (15 games in 1973-74 with the Boston Bruins), and Dmitri Kvartalnov and Joe Juneau (14 games in 1992-93 with the Bruins).