Hellebuyck helps Jets beat Penguins 2-1

WINNIPEG — Connor Hellebuyck was outstanding as the Winnipeg Jets beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 2-1 on Saturday night.

Hellebuyck stopped 35 of 36 shots as Winnipeg snapped a five-game losing streak.

Nino Niederreiter and Mark Scheifele scored for Winnipeg (31-14-5) before a crowd of 15,225 at the Canadian Life Centre.

Tristan Jarry made 29 saves for Pittsburgh (23-19-7).

“They're two great goaltenders, and Bucky (Hellbeck) obviously has his head on the line,” Niederreiter said. “He helped us win this game big time in the second period. They pushed hard and we let them play. But then we got it again in the third.”

Brian Rast was the only Penguin to defeat Hellebuyck.

“Obviously, their goalkeeper played really well and when that happens, we have to keep creating chances,” Jarry said. “We've got to go out there and keep the pucks in the net and keep going hard and that's how we're going to get rewarded.”

The Jets lost 3-0 to Jarry and the Pens on Tuesday in Pittsburgh.

“Obviously, we didn't start the game the way we needed to,” said Erik Karlsson, who assisted on Rust's goal.

“The first period was expensive for us today, and after that it is difficult to score only one goal. Jars (Jarry) played brilliantly for us. We gave up great looks for them, and they made looks for themselves. He was there to save us and unfortunately, like I said, we couldn't find a way to score more goals to give ourselves a good chance.”

Winnipeg took a 2-0 lead in the first period when Niederreiter sent a rebound past Jarry from the side of the net. Nate Schmidt's shot missed the net and hit the backboard. It broke a 15 game drought for Niederreiter.

“It's definitely huge,” he said. “I had a lot of opportunities tonight. We could have won the game high, but we also know that the second period was not enough to allow them to get back into the game. In general, we had enough chances to win.”

But snapping the losing streak was more important.

“It's all about winning hockey games now,” Niederreiter said. “Obviously, when you're going to push and put yourself in a great position for the playoffs, you've got to make sure you're winning some close hockey games.

“There won't be any easy games. There will be teams that haven't been in the playoffs recently, and they'll be important games to win because they won't play with a lot of structure. It's something we have to deal with.”

Scheifele opened the scoring early in the one-timer by scoring on a 2-on-1 pass from Nikolai Ehlers.

“It was huge to come out the way we did,” Ehlers said. “I think we played very well in the first period. We skated and worked hard. I think we shot the puck and made it difficult for them to get anything in our zone. But the second stage was obviously not enough. In the third period we came back and got two points, which is huge. We always have things to clean up but we deserved two points tonight.

The Penguins took a 2-1 lead in the second period when Rust scored.

“We didn't set up the game we wanted to play,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “We gave up, I don't know how many people rush in the first half. We were careless with the puck. This is not a game that helps you win.

“We went into the building and played against a team that we knew was going to play in a hurry — they had dropped five in a row. … I think we didn't have the urgency we needed to have in the beginning and we didn't play as smart a game as we needed to, so we weren't ready to play the game we needed to play. win over

“I thought we responded in the second period. I thought we played hard, but we caught up.”

It was Pittsburgh's second straight loss.

NOTES

Winnipeg All-Star winger Kyle Connor played his 500th game. … Pittsburgh superstar Sidney Crosby's nine-game hitting streak (six goals, 11 points) was snapped. … Jets quarterback Brenden Dillon was suspended for three games Tuesday for headbutting Pittsburgh forward Noel Acciari when the two teams played each other. Acciari suffered a concussion as a result of the impact.

NEXT UP

Jets: Host the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday.

Penguins: Host the Florida Panthers on Wednesday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on February 10, 2024.

Jim Bender, Canadian Press