Hellebuyck, Jets defeat Predators for third straight win

NASHVILLE -- Connor Hellebuyck made 38 saves for the Winnipeg Jets in a 2-1 victory against the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena on Tuesday.

Patrik Laine and Nikolaj Ehlers scored for the Jets (13-8-1), who have won three straight and are 7-1-1 in their past nine games.
"I thought everyone from top to bottom played real good game," Hellebuyck said. "We stuck together, we grinded hard and we battled. I thought everyone brought their 'A' game tonight."
WATCH: [All Jets vs. Predators highlights]
The Predators (9-8-3) are 1-5-2 in their past eight games.
"We're doing good things," Nashville forward Rocco Grimaldi said. "We had, what, [39-25] shots or whatever it was? We had a lot of pucks to the net, had good opportunities, hit a post. It's just one of those times where it's frustrating, and everyone is frustrated."
Laine gave the Jets a 1-0 lead 18 seconds into the first period when he scored off a pass from Kyle Connor on the rush.
"I think we wanted to have a good start," Laine said. "We wanted to play the first 10 (minutes) hard. Maybe if we don't score, we still want to play hard. So that was a great start. We kind of needed that one. It was a great pass by [Connor] and a pretty easy job to put it in."

Ehlers made it 2-0 at 3:47 of the second period on a wrist shot from the slot. Jack Roslovic passed the puck to Ehlers, who beat Predators goalie Juuse Saros for his 100th NHL goal.
"It feels great," Ehlers said. "I'm very proud of that, but I'm not done. I'm going to try and keep it going. Obviously, it's great, I'm proud of it. But we got the two points, and that's all that matters."
Nick Bonino scored for the Predators on a cross-ice feed from Grimaldi to make it 2-1 at 18:11 of the second.

They said it

"We couldn't have started any better. We know coming in on the road that they've lost a few and it's a veteran team. They've got lots of firepower so they would be ready for this game, and it's a loud building, just like playing in Winnipeg. You get the first one and you kind of take some of the wind out of it. It was a real good start for us for sure." -- Jets coach Paul Maurice
"We've got to stick together. It's a tough time. It's a rough patch. But honestly everyone goes through it. You look at St. Louis last year and remember where they were, so it's just something everyone goes through. And if you're a great team, how do you respond to this? How do you guys grow closer together? How do you guys grow stronger together through this? So this is something we've just got to make it band us together and not break us apart." -- Predators forward Rocco Grimaldi on their 1-5-2 stretch

Need to know

Ehlers had five shots on goal in 16:15 of ice time. … Predators forward Kyle Turris was a healthy scratch. Forward Mathieu Olivier made his NHL debut for Nashville and had one shot on goal and three hits in 8:03.

What's next

Jets:At the Dallas Stars on Thursday (8:30 p.m. ET; TSN3, FS-SW, NHL.TV)
Predators: Host the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; SNP, FS-TN, NHL.TV)