Mark Scheifele scored twice and Connor Hellebuyck made 50 saves as the Winnipeg Jets beat the surging New York Rangers 4-1 on Monday night.
Kyle Connor and Pierre-Luc Dubois also scored for the Jets, who are 6-3-0 in their past nine visits to Madison Square Garden. Connor, Josh Morrissey and Mason Appleton each had two assists for Winnipeg, who had lost two straight to open a four-game trip.
“We needed this win tonight,” Dubois said. “Results matter more than anything else.”
Photo: AP
Hellebuyck, playing on back-to-back nights after a 4-2 loss to the New Jersey Devils on Sunday, stopped all 20 shots he faced in the first period and 30 more the rest of the way to improve to 26-16-1.
“It was a good clean game, a good team game,” Hellebuyck said. ”We’ll take wins any way they come.”
Vincent Trocheck scored for the Rangers, who lost in regulation for the first time since Jan. 19. New York were 8-0-2 in their previous 10 games. Igor Shesterkin finished with 17 saves.
“Every once in a while you run into a goalie that’s standing on his head,” Trocheck said of Hellebuyck’s stellar performance. “You tip your hat to him.”
Dubois opened the scoring on the power play at 5 minutes, 12 seconds into the first period, deflecting a shot by Morrissey past Shesterkin for his 24th goal.
Scheifele made it 2-0 with 3 minutes, 28 seconds left in the opening period, poking the puck past Shesterkin.
The Rangers outshot the Jets 20-9 in the first period and finished with a 51-21 edge. Hellebuyck made two dazzling saves on Rangers forward Chris Kreider in the third period, including a sterling glove stop with just over 8 minutes remaining.
“He was outstanding tonight,” Jets coach Rick Bowness said. ”We needed timely saves and we got them.”
In the second, the Rangers failed to convert on two early power-play chances before the Jets increased the lead to 3-0 when Connor scored his 26th goal at 6 minutes, 4 seconds.
“They capitalized on their chances and we just didn’t put ours in,” Rangers captain Jacob Trouba said. ”It was just one of those games.”
Morrissey, who also had an assist on Connor’s goal, is second on the Jets with 58 points and third in scoring among NHL defensemen behind San Jose’s Erik Karlsson and Buffalo’s Rasmus Dahlin.
He also broke Dustin Byfuglien’s franchise record for points in a season (56) by a defenseman with his assist on Dubois’ goal.
“To do this here at Madison Square Garden is special,” Morrissey said. “It’s a function of us having a great team and great players here.”
Trocheck ended Hellebuyck’s shutout bid at the 11-minute mark of the second period with his 16th goal. Vladimir Tarasenko had the lone assist.
Scheifele then scored his second goal of the game and team-leading 34th of the season with a backhand with 4 minutes, 31 seconds left in the third.
“We had 50 shots. Overall we played a good hockey game and didn’t win,” Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said. “Hellebuyck was great. You’ve got to give the other team credit.”
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