- Winnipeg Jets defeat Vancouver Canucks in their exhibition game last night, 4-1.
- Connor Hellebuyck had 37 saves for the Jets and was arguably the best player of the game.
- Both teams played open and aggressive, but the Jets eventually came on top.
- Jets meet Calgary Flames on Saturday, while Canucks face Wild on Sunday in their elimination games.
Fantastic Hellebuyck Leads Winnipeg to a Win
With 37 saves, Connor Hellebuyck was the central figure of the exhibition match between his Jets and the Vancouver Canucks. Boys from Winnipeg won this with 4-1, and have created a swing which they hope to use in the future.
The Vezina Trophy finalist didn’t stop just one shot, but denied numerous attempts of the Canucks’ players who were more than solid. His teammates were in disbelief after several reactions, and all of them were often congratulating Hellebuyck.
“I thought it was great, being able to get to that playoff-battle mentality and that battle level,” Hellebuyck said after the game. “This game was not just an exhibition for me.”
And the start of the match didn’t indicate that this might some friendly meeting. The Canucks pressured their rivals all over the ice, and were better throughout most of the first period. However, Winnipeg scored first, with just 1:03 left until the end of the sequence.
Tucker Poolman’s wrist shot went through the crowd in front of Jacob Markstrom’s goal, and finished behind the back of the Swedish international. Once mentioning Markstrom, he had 30 saves from 33 shots towards him, and was also very good in this event.
“I thought it went better the longer it went,” Markstrom said. “It’s nice to be out there. It’s been a while, but it was nice to be out there. I felt like the longer the game went, more details and stuff like that start to fall into place.”
Once the second frame started, things changed, with the Jets taking over the command of the ice. They waited for a goal until 14:54, when Nikolaj Ehlers netted on a rebound after Patrick Laine’s shot. Markstrom did stop that one, but Ehlers was just to close.
At 16:19, the Jets reached another goal. This time it was Dmitry Kulikov who beat the Canucks’ goalie.
Vancouver finally broke Hellebuyck’s lock at 13:13 inside the final period, when Antonie Roussel used the chaos in front of Winnipeg’s goal to somehow palace the puck behind the line.
Blake Wheeler responded a little bit more than five minutes after that, using the fact that Markstrom went out and that the Canucks played with an empty net.
Eliminations Start this Weekend
The NHL made a new format for the completion of the regular part of the season, which includes the best-of-five series and that will determine the seedings before the start of the playoffs.
The Jets (37-28-6) are starting their matchup this Saturday, and the opponents are Calgary Flames. On the other side, Vancouver faces Minnesota Wild (36-27-6) one day later.
Ladies and gentleman get ready for some high-intensity contests, because the hockey is back.
