Connor Hellebuyck made 22 saves to help the Winnipeg Jets stay alive in their Western Conference semifinal series with a 4-0 victory against the visiting Dallas Stars in Game 5 on Thursday.
The Stars hold a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series heading to Game 6 on Saturday in Dallas.
Hellebuyck has two shutouts in the series, five in his postseason career and 50 overall.
His home shutout streak stretched to 143:22.
Nikolaj Ehlers scored two goals, Mark Scheifele had a goal and an assist, Vladislav Namestnikov also scored and Kyle Connor and Neal Pionk had two assists each for the Jets, who were coming off losses in Games 3 and 4 at Dallas.
“We’re going to look at video and see the things that we need to continue doing and some things we can clean up,” Ehlers said. “But, I think overall, we played a really good game today and that gave us the result that we wanted.”
Connor credited his team’s toughness with sparking the win.
“If you just look over the course of the game how many 50-50 battles there are, it adds up,” Connor said. “It’s just a combination of everybody having that extra gear and that fight and just being dialed in.
“It’s the ultimate team sport. We need every guy in here going. It’s the toughest time of year, and I thought we stepped up, but obviously the job’s not done.”
Jake Oettinger made 31 saves for the Stars, who were shut out 4-0 in Game 2.
“They played with a desperation level,” Dallas coach Pete DeBoer said of the Jets. “… I think we could have done a better job creating a little bit more offense, obviously. We did have a few looks, one off the crossbar, a couple here and there, but not enough.”
After the Jets outshot the Stars 11-4 in a scoreless first period, Hellebuyck made a glove save on Dallas defenseman Thomas Harley from in close in the opening minute of the second period and later a poke check on Wyatt Johnston’s drive to the net.
Connor then retrieved the puck and traded passes with Pionk as they raced through all three zones. Connor then passed to a trailing Scheifele, who took a shot from the right circle that nicked the stick of Johnston, banked off the skate of Harley and into his own net to give the Jets a 1-0 lead at 6:17.
It was Winnipeg’s only shot on goal through the first 13 minutes of the second period.
The Jets were 1-for-18 on the power play in the series when Dallas committed tripping penalties 11 seconds apart early in the third period.
The Jets scored 30 seconds into the two-man advantage when Ehlers received a pass to the side of the net and skated in close before firing the puck into the far side for a 2-0 lead at 2:20.
Winnipeg added another power-play goal with 7:53 remaining in the game. Alex Iafallo made a backhand pass from below the goal line to Namestnikov, who was cutting through the right circle. Namestnikov scored with a one-timer.
Ehlers scored into an empty net with 45 seconds left.
–Field Level Media
