Hellebuyck gets 200th win, Jets defeat Avalanche to end four-game skid

WINNIPEG --Connor Hellebuyck got his 200th win, and the Winnipeg Jets defeated the Colorado Avalanche 4-1 at Canada Life Centre on Sunday.

"It just shows that the fans appreciate everything I've accomplished here with them," Hellebuyck said of the standing ovation he received after the game. "I'm glad to call Winnipeg my home these past few years and look forward to some more."
The Jets scored four straight goals in the third period, three in a span of 3:21, to hand the Avalanche their season-high fourth straight loss following a nine-game winning streak.
"I think our work is cut out for us here to get our guys back to playing our game, getting back to our identity," Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. "It starts with the work, the competitiveness. Moves on to execution, details, the whole gamut now. We've seen it all over the last four games."
Kyle Connor scored his 45th goal, and Hellebuyck made 30 saves in his record 380th game for the Jets (36-32-11), who had lost four straight.
"[Connor has] just an elite shot," Hellebuyck said. "It's tricky, tricky to read, and any time you can be tricky like that, you're dangerous any time you get a shot. He's good at a ton of shots and he knows it. He knows at any second he can score. When you have a player like that, guys have to respect him, and it opens up some eyes."

J.T. Compher scored, and Darcy Kuemper made 40 saves for the Avalanche (55-18-6).
"It was ugly all the way through the 40 minutes, in my opinion," Bednar said. "I didn't think we gave up a lot early in the game, for sure. Didn't get a lot. It was kind of just blah."
Compher gave Colorado a 1-0 lead at 5:03 of the third period, taking a centering pass from Erik Johnson on the rush and scoring with a wrist shot. It was his NHL career-high 17th goal of the season.
"We didn't create enough offensively tonight throughout the game," Compher said. "The effort was just not good enough, and once we put one in they continued to come and they were able to get some good bounces.
"We're trying to make sure when playoffs come around we're doing things the right way. But there's no excuses in our room. It just hasn't been good enough."
Adam Lowry tied it 1-1 at 9:04, deflecting Josh Morrissey's point shot.
Blake Wheeler put the Jets in front 2-1 at 10:23, chipping a rebound over Kuemper's glove.
"I thought we had a lot of really good chances," Winnipeg coach Dave Lowry said. "Give Kuemper credit, he made some big saves. I really thought we stayed with what we were doing, with what we talked about. We wanted to get inside, we wanted to attack, we wanted to force them to have to fight through some traffic."

Connor made it 3-1 at 12:25 with his 45th goal of the season, and Nikolaj Ehlers scored at 16:18 for the 4-1 final.
"You see it in all of the great goal-scorers, whether it's a shot or a one-timer or what they're known for coming into the League," Connor said. "You've got to develop in all areas. There are pretty good defenders out there too and they're going to hone in on you. I take pride in that, being able to score in all areas of the ice, whether it's in my spot on the power play over there or anywhere on the ice in tight trying to get a shot off quick. It's something that I continue to work on every summer, and I want to get better."
NOTES:Hellebuyck is 200-129-35 in seven NHL seasons. His 380th start passes Ondrej Pavelec for the most in Jets/Atlanta Thrashers history. … Connor's 45th goal is the most in Winnipeg history, breaking a tie with Patrik Laine, who scored 44 goals in 2017-18. Ilya Kovalchuk holds the franchise record with 52 in 2005-06 and 2007-08 for the Atlanta Thrashers. … Winnipeg defenseman Neal Pionk played his 300th NHL game. … The Avalanche (116) remain four points behind the Florida Panthers for the most points in the NHL. … Compher scored 16 goals in 2018-19… Johnson had an assist and three shots in 18:51 after missing four games with a lower-body injury. … Kuemper made his 55th start in his 55th game, each tying his NHL career high as a member of the Arizona Coyotes in 2018-19. … Colorado forward Valeri Nichushkin had his seven-game point streak end. He scored 10 points (five goals, five assists) in the run.