Connor Hellebuyck steals ‘revenge game,’ Winnipeg continues historic start: 3 takeaways

WINNIPEG — The Winnipeg Jets went to great lengths to downplay the notion of Thursday's rematch with Colorado as a matter of playoff revenge.

Neal Pionk , Adam Lowry , and Scott Arniel were all given tons of opportunities to say, "Yes, we circled this one on the calendar. We're still mad about the playoffs and want to prove we're better than them." All three Jets deflected reporters' questions.

"It's not a revenge game," Lowry said. "We've had to move past that."

"Last season's over," Pionk said. "We approach today as today."

"We've talked enough about what happened last spring," Arniel said. "This is all about what happens tonight."

And then Winnipeg won its league-leading 13th game of the season against the team that dominated it in the playoffs. Gabriel Vilardi scored the only goal 66 seconds into the game and Winnipeg looked good early; by the third period, the Jets were in survival mode. Colorado outshot Winnipeg 17-4 in the third period, chaining dangerous shifts together that showed its all-too-familiar ability to shoot, recover the puck, and then open up a seam for a Grade-A scoring chance.

Connor Hellebuyck found answers for everything, stopping all 35 shots he faced. It was Hellebuyck's second straight shutout and the 40th of his career.

"Bucky won that game for us. It's that simple," Vilardi said after the Jets' 1-0 win.

What did we learn about the Jets during Winnipeg's win? What will Arniel want to improve heading into Saturday's game against Dallas — the team who beat Colorado after Colorado steamrolled Winnipeg?

The Jets may not say that Thursday's game was an effort of retribution, but one thing they haven't been shy about naming is their ambition.

"We know we have a championship team in this group," Kyle Connor said Tuesday. "It's not always a straight line to the top. You've got to learn, you've got to develop. You're seeing that here."

Anyone familiar with Jets history knows the cautionary tales. Winnipeg's hot starts were derailed in 2018-19, 2022-23 and again in 2023-24. In all three seasons, Winnipeg led the Western Conference before the new year, while last season's Jets led the league in January . In all three seasons, Winnipeg was outplayed and eliminated in the first round of the playoffs.

Are the 13-1-0 Jets for real? Can we believe in them? These questions might sound absurd to ask about a 13-1-0 team, but Jets fans have had their expectations crushed before.

Here are the answers we found in Winnipeg's 1-0 win over Colorado on Thursday.

Connor Hellebuyck remains great, exorcises playoff demons

If you go back and watch the tape of Colorado's five-game rout of Winnipeg last April, you might find it tough to pin all 24 goals on the Jets goaltender. My guess is that an emotionless second viewing would exonerate Hellebuyck from the avalanche of criticism that came his way at the time.

Wherever you stand on his playoff performance, the loss still stung Hellebuyck — and his 35-save shutout shone brighter because of it.

If you're looking at the Jets' season with the mind to find flaws, you can find them. They've mostly played middling teams, putting together a 3-1 record against clubs who made the 2023-24 playoffs. They've scored a bunch of goals in six-on-five situations and won all three of their overtime games. Toronto dominated them in their first true test, while Colorado did the same for stretches of Thursday's Jets win.

But here's the thing. Goaltenders are allowed to steal games. And, if you're looking at the Jets roster with the mind to guess how good their goaltending is going to be, the answer is still "phenomenal."

"I thought the guys played really hard in front of me," Hellebuyck said. "They let me see pucks, cleared rebounds, scored. We really committed to our game in our defensive zone. It might not have been pretty, but that's why every game is a team effort."

It wasn't pretty. Getting outshot 17-4 in a period and relying on Hellebuyck's highlight reel isn't sustainable.

But that's not the story of the season so far. Winnipeg has the sixth-highest percentage of shots taken at five-on-five while the score is tied, indicating the Jets are not riding goaltending by itself. Winnipeg has led a lot, so it's been made to absorb some desperate pushes by other teams, and Winnipeg's goalies have been there every step of the way.

Scott Arniel isn't afraid to run Ehlers-Scheifele-Vilardi

Mark Scheifele set up the game's only goal with a perfect pass to Vilardi. He also made a series of hard plays, including a first-period forecheck that bodied Cale Makar into giving up the puck. Connor took three shots and made a number of dangerous plays in the offensive zone. But Colorado dominated the third period. And, on the shift where Colorado registered its seventh and eighth shots, Connor and Scheifele kept giving the Avalanche the puck.

First, it was Connor who stole it from defenceman Sam Malinski , only to give it right back. Scheifele stole it again just two seconds later but promptly gave it away, leading to a shot by Logan O'Connor .

"There was a lot of that," Arniel said. "We had the puck and didn't make the right decision with it. And it was a lot of areas on the ice."

So Arniel stepped in. Nikolaj Ehlers was promoted to the top line, while Connor dropped down to play with Cole Perfetti and Vladislav Namestnikov . Suddenly, Winnipeg had life: Namestnikov stole a puck, creating a long two-on-one chance with Connor. Scheifele found Mason Appleton coming off the bench, who made a stunning deke before setting Ehlers up with a perfect cross-crease pass.

My point isn't to criticize a top line that's scored a lot of goals lately, including at five-on-five where it's sometimes struggled. It's to praise the head coach for recognizing Scheifele's trio had lost its way for a moment, doing something about it, and candidly acknowledging the challenge in his postgame comments.

I've been impressed by Arniel's commitment to being honest about the process — which has often been great — and I think it bodes well for the sustainability of Winnipeg's success. Connor in particular has made a lot of good defensive plays even on nights when the line has struggled. He and Scheifele will work magic again. In the meantime, Arniel has established early in his tenure that Winnipeg has other options and will use them when he decides the time is right.

These kinds of starts do not guarantee playoff success

Winnipeg is on the cusp of history. The Jets have already become one of two teams in NHL history to win 13 of their first 14 games. If they beat Dallas on Saturday, they'll be the only team to start a season with wins in 14 of its first 15 games.

So what happened to the 2007-08 Ottawa Senators , who won 13 of their first 14 games but then lost to Washington in Game 15?

Everything happened, that's what.

The first sign that something was wrong was the seven-game losing streak in November and December, but the Senators bounced back. They'd only just played in the 2007 Stanley Cup Final and were still led by Daniel Alfredsson, Dany Heatley and Jason Spezza. All three players were named to the 2008 All-Star game, along with head coach John Paddock, recognizing their continued success.

But Heatley got hurt, goaltender Ray Emery got fined for missing a practice in New York City, and Ottawa fell apart.

The Senators played poorly in January and February and fired Paddock a month after his All-Star appearance. Despite adding playoff experience in Cory Stillman and Mike Commodore at the trade deadline, Ottawa struggled so badly down the stretch that it needed 3 points from its final three games to qualify for the playoffs — and lost the first of those three games.

The Senators ultimately qualified for the playoffs but lost to Sidney Crosby 's up-and-coming Penguins in four straight games.

What does it all mean?

Winnipeg is full value for its 13-1-0 start. The Jets have dominated games, eked them out by way of power-play success, won via overtime and beat Colorado with spectacular goaltending.

This is still the ultimate "don't count your chickens before they hatch" scenario for a team that's struggled in the second half of consecutive seasons. Arniel has been focused on Winnipeg's process as opposed to its results through 14 games and he's been right to do so. The Jets could play .500 hockey from here through the postseason and still clinch a playoff spot. They'll probably be much better than that — and it's not fair to criticize them for not having won games that have yet to be played.

But Dallas brings a new level of challenge, as will back-to-back games against Florida next week. We know that these Jets have been historically successful; we're still learning what kind of team the Jets can be against the NHL's elite.

(Photo: James Carey Lauder / Imagn Images)