Connor Hellebuyck, Jets shut out Blues

WINNIPEG -- Connor Hellebuyck made 29 saves for the Winnipeg Jets in a 3-0 win against the St. Louis Blues at MTS Centre on Friday.
The Jets (29-30-6) trail the Los Angeles Kings by four points for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference, and the Blues (31-27-5) by three points for fourth place in the Central Division.
"It's huge," said Hellebuyck, who earned his fourth shutout of the season. "It's a four-point game, and we're kind of chasing them right now. We do want to make the playoffs, and that's our goal here, so this is another good step in the right direction."

Hellebuyck allowed five goals on 21 shots and was pulled in a 6-5 loss to the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday.
WATCH: All Blues vs. Jets highlights
St. Louis has lost five in a row.
"This should be a good slap in the face for us," Blues coach Mike Yeo said. "I don't know, I get the sense that sometimes we assume or think things are going to turn around for us. In fairness, I think there were some guys, [Hutton] being one of them, that their desperation was very noticeable. And then we had some other guys whose desperation level did not match our situation."

Blake Wheeler scored twice and assisted on a goal by Bryan Little.
Carter Hutton made 37 saves for the Blues and allowed his only goal in his past three starts.
"He's fantastic," Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo said. "You feel bad for him when he plays that way when we don't even score a goal and he lets in one goal. Great effort from him. He was outstanding, like he usually is."

Wheeler made it 1-0 on the power play at 10:51 of the first period.
Little outraced Pietrangelo to the puck to make it 2-0 into an empty net at 17:44 of the third period, and Wheeler scored into an empty net to make it 3-0 at 18:51.

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Goal of the game

With Winnipeg on the power play, defenseman Dustin Byfuglien was deliberate with the puck along the left side of the St. Louis zone before sending it to the top of the right faceoff circle for Mathieu Perreault, who passed to Wheeler at the point for a one-timer past Hutton.

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Save of the game

The best scoring chance for the Blues came after the Jets turned over the puck exiting their zone on the power play. Patrik Berglund sent Jaden Schwartz in alone on Hellebuyck, but the Winnipeg goalie got in front of his shot to keep it 1-0.

Highlight of the game

Hutton batted the puck out of midair from his backside at 7:50 of the second period when Andrew Copp redirected a shot from the point by Paul Postma that floated high after it was deflected by Blues forward Zach Sanford.

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Unsung performance of the game

Jets defenseman Toby Enstrom had five blocked shots and a plus-1 rating in 20:54.

They said it

"We just got to get some more pucks on net. Any time we're over the 30-mark or well over that, there seems to be a lot of success. We got a couple chances tonight, myself included, where we tried to make an extra play. Right now, the simple play is the one that's working." -- Blues captain Alex Pietrangelo
"I don't think that was very good defensively. I think we need to be a lot better defensively. We gave up a lot of good chances. Any time you're giving up, I don't know how many shots they ended up with, but that's not good enough." -- Blues goalie Carter Hutton
"It's self-explanatory. A team right in front of us, we're a few points back of them. The key here is to stay in the fight as long as possible and keep yourself in shouting distance, and anything can happen." -- Jets captain Blake Wheeler on the importance of getting two points

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Need to know

Blues forward Ryan Reaves played in his 400th NHL game. ... The Blues have scored six goals during their five-game losing streak. ... Jets rookie forward Patrik Laine did not have a point for the first time in seven games. He had eight goals and four assists during the six-game streak. ... Byfuglien extended his point streak to six games (two goals, five assists). ... Perreault has 10 points (three goals, seven assists) during a six-game point streak.

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What's next

Blues: At the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, NHL.TV)
Jets: Host the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; SN, ALT2, NHL.TV)