Three things - Hellebuyck wins showdown with Laine

WINNIPEG - The Winnipeg Jets ended their four-game homestand with a 4-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens at Canada Life Centre. The Jets finished 2-1-1 on the homestand and are now 22-9-1 on the season. Kyle Connor and Gabe Vilardi had multi-point nights with a goal and an assist each and Josh Morrissey chipped in with a couple of helpers. Connor Hellebuyck recorded his league leading 19^th win while making 26 saves and was named the game’s first star. The Jets will head to California on Sunday for a two-game road trip starting Tuesday in San Jose.

HELLE DOING HELLE THINGS

Before the game, former Jet Patrik Laine joked that Connor Hellebuyck avoided facing him his previous two visits to Winnipeg because Hellebuyck had the Paddy flu. In the second period with the Jets enjoying a two-goal lead and the Canadiens on a power play, Lane Hutson found Laine open for the one-timer, but Hellebuyck made a stellar blocker save on Laine to keep it 3-1. Laine finished the night with seven shots on goal and the Vezina Trophy winner stopped them all.

“No flu tonight, no flu tonight,” said Hellebuyck.

“He had a lot of shots tonight and he’s a good shooter.”

Hellebuyck has 294 wins to give him the third-most wins by a goalie in their first 10 seasons. He trails only Henrik Lundqvist (339) and Martin Brodeur (324) for wins in their first 10 seasons.

KC PASSES LITTS

The Canadiens had a 1-0 lead in the first period before the Jets went to the power play for the first time. Kyle Connor spotted Gabe Vilardi at the far post and sent a seeing eye pass for the easy tap in for Vilardi at 14:34. With the assist, Connor passed Bryan Little for fourth on the Jets/Thrashers all-time scoring list. He trails only Blake Wheeler (812), Mark Scheifele (751) and Ilya Kovalchuk (615) in the franchise list for points.

The number one power play in the league went to work again in the second period with Winnipeg up 2-1. The Canadiens took two minors 25 seconds apart to give the Jets a 5-on-3, with two seconds remaining in the first minor to Cole Caufield, Connor one-timed a Josh Morrissey pass past Sam Montembeault for a 3-1 Winnipeg lead. Connor has nine points (4G, 5A) in his past six games and is up to 523 career points.

JMO DISHES OUT THE ASSISTS

Josh Morrissey came into the night third amongst defencemen in assists with 25, and the Jets number one defenceman delivered again on Saturday night with his recorded his 51st career multi-assist game and passed Vyacheslav Kozlov (50) for the fifth most in franchise history. Morrissey is now up to 27 assists on the season.