Jets shut out Canucks, secure No. 3 seed in North

WINNIPEG -- Blake Wheeler had two goals and two assists, and the Winnipeg Jets secured the No. 3 seed from the Scotia North Division with a 5-0 win against the Vancouver Canucks at Bell MTS Place on Tuesday.

The Jets will play the Edmonton Oilers, the No. 2 seed, in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
"It's nice knowing who we're going to play," Jets forward Paul Stastny said. "I think it's finding ways to try to minimize [the Oilers'] chances off the rush. They're going to make plays, they're going to score goals, they're going to score points, but for us it's how do we adjust our game to make us successful."
Kyle Connor had a goal and two assists, Stastny played his 1,000th NHL game, and Connor Hellebuyck made 24 saves for his fourth shutout of the season for the Jets (29-23-3), who had lost nine of 10.
"[Coach Paul Maurice] had one of his all-time best [pregame] speeches, put it all into perspective," Wheeler said. "[Stastny] is the type of guy that goes about his business. He doesn't say a whole lot, doesn't command the spotlight or a whole lot of attention. His teammates respect the [heck] out of him for it. It was a night that was kind of a galvanizing sort of moment for our team. We wanted to have a good night for him. We wanted it to be a memorable night for him."
Braden Holtby made 31 saves in his first start since May 3 for the Canucks (21-27-3), who lost for the eighth time in 10 games. Vancouver won 3-1 here Monday.
"I feel bad for [Holtby] tonight," Canucks coach Travis Green said. "We weren't good in any areas of the game, and when you're not good in any areas, you're going to give up a lot of chances.
"We weren't good, plain and simple. They're a good team trying to get ready for the playoffs, and we weren't up to that level tonight."
Connor gave the Jets a 1-0 lead at 7:48 of the first period.
"We talked about that they were going to come out harder than they did yesterday, and they did," Canucks defenseman Alexander Edler said. "And we didn't have a good enough response."

Wheeler made it 2-0 at 2:05 of the second period before Mark Scheifele extended the lead to 3-0 at 8:33.
"The first few goals were kind of our identity," Wheeler said. "Nothing special through the neutral zone, just make their [defensemen] turn, go get the puck, and just forecheck them and force them into making mistakes."
Wheeler made it 4-0 at 10:44 of the third period with his fifth goal in seven games, and Mason Appleton scored at 11:54 for the 5-0 final.
"That's kind of unacceptable," Vancouver forward Tanner Pearson said. "We just can't stop playing hockey for no reason or else we're going to hang out our goalies to dry, which we did tonight, pretty much."

It was Hellebuyck's 24th shutout in six NHL seasons with Winnipeg.
"I've liked my game for a while," Hellebuyck said. "I thought it's been getting better and better, and when the team puts that performance in front of me, we can grow this as a group, and this is the confidence we need going into the playoffs. We can't go into the playoffs losing. It never works. We played a really good game tonight, and I'm really excited to see how we carry this forward."
NOTES: Wheeler has scored 11 points (five goals, six assists) in his past eight games. It was his 10th four-point NHL game, second to Ilya Kovalchuk (20) in Jets/Atlanta Thrashers history. … Stastny is the 354th player to play 1,000 NHL games and the ninth to reach the milestone this season. … Forward Dominic Toninato had one shot on goal and two hits in 11:35 in his Jets debut. … Scheifele (21 goals, 40 assists) scored at least 60 points for the sixth straight season. His assist tied Bryan Little (304) for second in Jets/Thrashers history. Wheeler is first with 466. … Jets defenseman Neal Pionk had an assist and was plus-2 in 19:55 after missing two games with an undisclosed injury. … The Canucks are 0-for-18 on the power play in the past seven games. … Winnipeg won the season series 6-3-0. Vancouver was 3-5-1. … The Canucks were shut out for the sixth time this season, third by the Jets.