Hellebuyck makes 25 saves, Jets shut out Avalanche

WINNIPEG -- Connor Hellebuyck made 25 saves for the Winnipeg Jets in a 3-0 win against the Colorado Avalanche at Bell MTS Place on Saturday.

Hellebuyck, who has five shutouts, moved into a second-place tie with Nashville Predators goalie Pekka Rinne for most in the NHL. Tampa Bay Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy leads the NHL with seven.
"The team is playing really well in front of me," Hellebuyck said. "They're bringing it every night and you can tell. Guys are getting a little banged up, that means they're blocking shots and doing the right things. My hat is off to my teammates."
WATCH: [All Avalanche vs. Jets highlights]
Patrik Laine, Jack Roslovic and Nikolaj Ehlers scored, and Blake Wheeler had two assists for the Jets (31-13-9), who have a point in seven straight games (5-0-2).
Semyon Varlamov returned and made 29 saves for the Avalanche (28-19-4) after missing 11 games because of a lower-body injury he sustained Jan. 2.
"I thought [Varlamov] played great," Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. "It was great to see him back in the net and he was our best player tonight. So, we've got to regroup and get a day off and get ready for Tuesday against San Jose."
Colorado is 1-3-1 in five games after a 10-game winning streak.
Laine scored his 13th power-play goal on a one-timer at 2:27 of the first period. He tied Pittsburgh Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin for most power-play goals in the NHL.
Roslovic made it 2-0 with his second NHL goal at 5:17 of the third period. Wheeler's shot from the slot deflected off Roslovic and defenseman Tyson Barrie up in the air and over Varlamov.

"I thought we stayed with them most of the night," Wheeler said. "Good skating team over there. Forwards forecheck hard, make it tough to come out of the zone. We were looking for a little bit too much in the first period. I think we simplified in the second half of the game and were able to capitalize."
Ehlers made it 3-0 with an empty-net goal, his 20th, at 19:42.

"They're a tough team," Avalanche forward Matt Nieto said. "They have a really tight neutral zone. We had trouble going through the neutral zone and getting into their end. But when we had a sustained attack, I thought we had chances that tested their goalie a little bit more and got more traffic in front of him for sure."

Goal of the game

Laine's goal at 2:27 of the first period.

Save of the game

Hellebuyck's save on Gabriel Landeskog 50 seconds into the third period.

Highlight of the game

Varlamov's save on Ehlers at 8:11 of the second period.

They said it

"We play a lot of games on the road coming up here, so we've got to bring the same intensity on the road that we've been bringing at home." -- Avalanche forward Alex Kerfoot
"We've built leads this year and been comfortable in tight games. Down the stretch, we're going to be playing teams that are fighting. ... You can't expect to come in and blow away every team. That shouldn't be the expectation. The more we stay with those games, the more success we can look to have down the stretch."-- Jets forward Blake Wheeler

Need to know

Hellebuyck set an NHL career-high with his 27th win (27-6-8). … Jets forward Matt Hendricks left the game in the second period because of an upper-body injury. Forward Brandon Tanev left the game in the third period with an upper-body injury. Jets coach Paul Maurice said each is day to day.

What's next

Avalanche: Host the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday (9 p.m. ET; ALT, NBCSCA, NHL.TV)
Jets: Host the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; TSN3, FS-A PLUS, NHL.TV)