Hellebuyck sets franchise win record in Jets victory over Flames

WINNIPEG - A three-goal third period powered the Winnipeg Jets to a 4-1 win over the Calgary Flames to close out a seven-game home stand, but for Connor Hellebuyck, Thursday's victory was a little sweeter.
It was his 153rd win with the franchise, making the 27-year-old the franchise leader in wins by a goaltender.
"It means a lot. I care a lot about this organization. They've given me my shot. I care a lot about the guys in front of me. It's a testament to all the guys that I've played with," said Hellebuyck.
"It's really exciting and I'm really glad I get to share it with these guys. A lot of these guys have been with me since the beginning."

He made 23 saves in the milestone win but was his busiest period was the first, when turned away 10 of 11 shots. Sure, a redirection from Andrew Mangiapane beat him in the final minute of that period, but he made a number of big stops early - including one on a Dillon Dube breakaway.
From then on, Hellebuyck was unbeatable.
"He was really good tonight and made a bunch of saves and most of that would be quiet. When you have those elite players, they make some things look easy that aren't," said head coach Paul Maurice.
"This guy has an inner belief and an inner drive. There are lots of guys with an inner belief, but it's not connected to an inner drive - he has it in spades."
Mason Appleton scored twice, while Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor added singles to help the Jets improve to 7-3-1 on the season.
They also didn't seem to be rattled by Calgary's late goal in the opening period. They'd been there before. In fact, three of the team's six wins coming into the night had come when trailing through 20 minutes.
So they got right to work in the second period.
First, Appleton's second effort - diving at a loose puck just outside the crease - was rewarded as the puck slid through Jacob Markstrom's legs to tie the game 3:31 into the middle frame.

That gave Appleton points in five of the last six games.
"He's been awesome to play with, to be honest," said Mathieu Perreault, who finished with three assists. "He forechecks really hard. He's a really fast player, he talks a lot on the ice. He makes things easy for his line mates. He's a great player. I've enjoyed playing with him and Lows for the last five or six games."
Just over 10 minutes later, Connor forced a turnover at the Jets blue line and took off the other way with speed. He outraced the Flames backcheck and lifted his seventh of the season into the net at the other end, over Markstrom's glove.
"Our forwards did a really strong job of coming back and competing in the middle of the ice. It allowed Kyle to break that loose," said Maurice.
"That was Kyle's best game probably of the year. It's not goal based, it's based on all the things he did away from the puck."
In the final minute of the second, Scheifele batted down a Flames clearing attempt, then - later in the shift - had Neal Pionk's point shot go into this body. He corralled the loose puck and fired it past Markstrom to put the Jets up 3-1 after 40 minutes.

All told, in the second period the Jets outshot the Flames 11-7, in addition to holding a 4-1 edge in high-danger chances.
Maurice said that puck that Scheifele knocked down was perhaps an embodiment of what the Jets improved on throughout the game.
"You don't always keep that puck in. But if you don't keep that puck in, because of where Mark is at that time, you're not going to give anything up," said Maurice.
"What's really valuable is you'll give up far less d-zone time, you'll give up far less odd-man rushes. I thought we got better with that. The first period, they had a bunch of chances and Connor was really strong at that point. Then we got better with it. That, for me, what was turned the game."
Up 3-1 through 40 minutes, of course, is a familiar position for the Jets. Two nights earlier, they had the exact same lead over Calgary and hung on to win 3-2.

On Thursday night, they locked it down. According to Natural Stat Trick, they didn't give up a high-danger chance and got in front of as many pucks as they could, finishing with 18 blocks.
"It's important that we play from our end out. We're not sharking for chances, and really take care of our own end," said Adam Lowry.
"For the most part this year, we've done a really good job defending that inner slot. That was one of those areas that really hurt us last year. We gave up a ton of chances there. It was going to be important that we got better at that."
The only offence in the final 20 minutes was Appleton's empty netter, which closed out the 4-1 win, as well as a 4-2-1 home stand.
"We really like where our game is at," said Perreault. "We like where we're positioned in the standings. It's going to be a tight battle for the entire season. So the more points we get early, the better. This home stand has been good for us and we're going to build on that."