Hellebuyck, Jets end Wild's win streak at six with shutout

WINNIPEG --Connor Hellebuyck made 27 saves, and the Winnipeg Jets ended the longest active winning streak in the NHL with a 2-0 victory against the Minnesota Wild at Canada Life Centre on Tuesday.

"I think we protected the house real well," Hellebuyck said. "We had good backchecking. Our [defensemen] just played a phenomenal game, keeping everything to the outside, allowing me to see pucks and clearing rebounds. And that's huge. And not only that, it wasn't a whole lot of scrambles. It was tight and guys were playing off each other. And that's what you want to see."
Mark Scheifele scored, and Kyle Connor had two assists for the Jets (19-17-7), who won for the second time in nine games (2-5-2).
"I think we're desperate," forward Adam Lowry said. "The way our play was the first half of the season, we put ourselves in a pretty tough spot and we're gonna have to kind of get our way out of it. And every game is crucial."

Kaapo Kahkonen made 27 saves for the Wild (28-11-3), who had won six in a row during a season-high 10-game point streak (9-0-1). The loss was Minnesota's first on the road in its past seven games (5-1-1).
"We didn't get to our game," coach Dean Evason said. "I was going to say we didn't get it quick enough, but I don't think we got to it at all. We had offensive zone time. Pucks were bouncing, but we didn't get to the net like we should have. There was a pile of rebounds there. [Winnipeg] did a real good job of collapsing, protecting the slot, and we didn't do a good enough job of having more will to get to that area for us that we normally do."
Scheifele gave the Jets a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 8:57 of the first period. The forward ended a six-game goal drought with a one-timer from the left circle off a pass from Connor.
"We've got to learn from it," Wild forward Jordan Greenway said. "The good thing is we've set ourselves up to maybe have a lapse like this, fair game. But going forward we've got to find a way to get back to our game."

Nate Schmidt scored into an empty net from behind the red line at 18:49 of the third period for the 2-0 final.
"I think it's playing start to finish, that's the biggest thing," Winnipeg coach Dave Lowry said. "We all know that this is a tough division (Central) to win in. When you look at the style and you look at the teams, this is the way you have to play. You have to play start to finish, and usually the games are physical."
NOTES: Hellebuyck won for the first time in eight games (1-5-2) and ended a three-game losing streak. … Kahkonen, in his first game against the Jets, lost for the first time in his eight starts (6-1-1). ... Scheifele has scored 20 points (seven goals, 13 assists) in his past six games against Minnesota. … Wild forward Kevin Fiala had an NHL career-high 12-game point streak end (nine goals, seven assists). It tied the longest point streak in Wild history (Mikael Granlund from Jan. 12-Feb. 4, 2017; five goals, 12 assists). … Wild forward Kirill Kaprizov had an NHL career-best eight-game point streak end (five goals, eight assists). … The Jets have a point in five of their past six games against the Wild (3-1-2) and are 5-2-0 in their past seven games against them at Canada Life Centre, outscoring them 26-17. … Wild forward Marcus Foligno had four hits and 12 penalty minutes in 12:59 of ice time after missing two games with an upper-body injury.