Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck makes a save during the third period in Game 4 against the Wild.Hannah Foslien/Getty Images
“This is our ice,” the Xcel Energy Center public-address announcer bellowed as the Winnipeg Jets and the Minnesota Wild neared the start of their NHL playoff game in St. Paul, Minn., on Tuesday night.
That may be the case under normal circumstances, as the Wild can boast to having one of the best home records in the league this season.
But for the next 60 minutes of Game 4 of this ornery matchup, it was Winnipeg’s Connor Hellebuyck who felt the most at home playing in what is usually a hostile environment for the opposition.
The Jets goaltender was tremendous in kicking out 30 shots to earn the shutout in a 2-0 win that has pushed Winnipeg to the brink of victory in the opening-round playoff series.
With Mark Scheifele providing both of the Winnipeg goals, including an empty-netter with 11 seconds left in the game, the Jets have staked their claim to a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven affair. The Jets can clinch their first playoff-series victory in franchise history with one more win, possibly Friday night at Bell MTS Place in downtown Winnipeg in Game 5.
But the Jets will have to accomplish that without rearguard Josh Morrissey. He was suspended by the NHL for one game for cross-checking Minnesota Wild forward Eric Staal. The cross-check to the side of Staal’s face happened in the first period of Winnipeg’s 2-0 victory Tuesday. Morrissey had a hearing with the league’s department of player safety on Wednesday.
The suspension will further deplete an already injury-ravaged Winnipeg defensive core.
“It’s warranted,” Minnesota coach Bruce Boudreau told reporters in St. Paul on Wednesday, referring to the league’s decision to take a closer look at the play.
“I’m not up here trying to be gamesmanship to get the league to call extra stuff,” Boudreau continued. “It is what it is, though. It was a vicious cross-check to the face.”
The controversy erupted late in the first period while the Wild were already enjoying the man advantage in what to that point was a goalless hockey game.
Morrissey clobbered Staal with a cross-check across the side of his face in the slot in front of the Winnipeg net and the Minnesota forward crumpled to a heap on the ice.
No penalty was called on the play.
Winnipeg would go on to kill off Minnesota’s man advantage before Scheifele connected with the game’s first goal with 28 seconds left in the period to put the Jets ahead 1-0. To add insult to injury, Morrissey assisted on the goal.
Before the suspension was announced, Winnipeg coach Paul Maurice said that, at the most, Morrissey’s action deserved only a fine.
“There’s no intent on this,” Maurice told reporters in Winnipeg on Wednesday. “It got played. You’ve got a real smart coach on the other bench who has all the focus on that and not on the game now. Why wouldn’t you?
“Morrissey is a great defenceman for us. If you had a chance to get him out, you’d play it as hard as you could, so I don’t have any problem with that.”
After gaining the lead, the Jets utilized a disciplined, kitty-bar-the-door defensive scheme that made it difficult for the Wild to claim any space in the middle of the Winnipeg end.
Most of the time the Minnesota puck handlers were funnelled toward the side boards, which made it difficult to mount many serious goal-scoring opportunities.
The odd time the Wild were able to break through the choke hold and muster a foray toward the net, Hellebuyck was there to turn them away.
For Winnipeg, it was a timely return to form for the third-year goaltender, who was given the hook in Game 3 on Sunday for the start of the third period after allowing all six Minnesota goals in a 6-2 Wild victory.
It was only the second time this season that Hellebuyck had been yanked during a game, and perhaps he felt he had something to prove.
Just before the start of Tuesday’s game, the 24-year-old learned that he was one of three contenders for the Vézina Trophy, awarded each season to the NHL’s top goaltender.
In a final ballot that is bound to keep spell checkers delightfully engaged, Hellebuyck will contest the award against Pekka Rinne of the Nashville Predators and Andrei Vasilevskiy of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
“It’s exciting and I’m looking forward to it,” Hellebuyck said of the Vézina nomination. “But I’ve got to dial it back in.
“We’re here to do a job and we’re here to win a Stanley Cup and we’ve got to worry about that first.”