Page 19 - ATD28NOV2015
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SPORTS A19
Saturday 28 November 2015
Hellebuyck hangs on to win debut, Jets beat Wild 3-1
front of me and blocked a scorer when he sprained a
lot of shots, and it showed knee ligament on Nov. 5.
out there.” “I look at the first part of
Just 11 seconds later, Ehlers the season and I think our
got loose on a breakaway record was a little mislead-
and put the game away. ing. I think there were a lot
Winnipeg’s defense en- of inconsistencies in our
tered ranked 29th in goals game,” Wild coach Mike
allowed but had little prob- Yeo said. “What happens
lem preventing Minnesota is I think we’re playing the
from generating quality same game that we were
scoring chances. at the start of the year, but
The Wild have just one win the league gets better. So
in their last six games. Parise right now we’re not getting
was Minnesota’s leading away with those things.”q
Winnipeg Jets left wing Nikolaj Ehlers (27), of Denmark, scores on Minnesota Wild goalie Devan
Dubnyk (40) during the third period of an NHL hockey game in St. Paul, Minn., Friday, Nov. 27,
2015. The Jets won 3-1. Associated Press
ADAM CZECH third time in their last 11 when it was announced
games overall. before the game that
Associated Press “A lot of things have been Parise would start, but his
going wrong around here, return failed to spark Min-
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Ear- and we needed some way nesota.
to get back to our game After Jason Zucker was
ly in the first period of his plan,” Byfuglien said. “New whistled for an elbowing
blood in the pipes never penalty behind the net,
NHL debut, Winnipeg Jets hurts, and the kid played Perreault took a pass from
great.” Byfuglien and zipped it
goalie Connor Hellebuyck Ryan Carter scored for past Devan Dubnyk to give
Minnesota, finally getting Winnipeg a 1-0 lead with
stopped a wrist shot from a shot past Hellebuyck 3:34 left in the second pe-
that made it 2-1 midway riod. Byfuglien made it 2-0
Minnesota’s Charlie Coyle. through the third period. early in the third when his
Hellebuyck was college odd-angle shot hit Dubnyk
Making that first save hockey’s top goalie in in the back of the skate
2013-14 at UMass Lowell and went in for his seventh
calmed Hellebuyck’s and the goaltender on goal. “It’s just one of those
the U.S. team that won a bounces. It got in some-
nerves, and he didn’t have bronze medal in the 2015 how,” Byfuglien said.
world championships. Carter’s goal bounced off
much reason to stress af- Minnesota finished with a of Winnipeg defenseman
season-low 15 shots, which Mark Stuart and past Hel-
ter. He only faced 14 more was also a season low in lebuyck to give Minnesota
shots allowed for the Jets. some momentum.
shots. Dustin Byfuglien had “Tough to play when you The rookie bounced back
feel like you’re chasing the quickly and stopped a big
a goal and an assist, Helle- puck all game,” said Parise, shot from Jason Pominville
who added that his knee with 3:11 to play.
buyck made 14 saves and felt fine. “Tough to make “It felt great,” said Helle-
plays, tough to make shots buyck, who was told by
the Jets spoiled winger when you feel like you nev- coach Paul Maurice on
er have the puck.” Thursday afternoon that
Zach Parise’s return from a Wild fans at the Xcel En- he’d be starting. “I think the
ergy Center let out a roar team played really well in
knee injury by beating the
Wild 3-1 on Friday.
“I think anyone playing
their first game is hyped
up on adrenaline, so I was
focused,” Hellebuyck said.
“The team was playing re-
ally good in front of me
and that’s all you can ask
for.”
Mathieu Perreault added
his second goal in two
games and Nikolaj Ehlers’
goal late in the third put
the game away.
The Jets won on the road
for the first time in their last
seven tries and for just the
