Connor Hellebuyck made 21 saves to help the Winnipeg Jets even their Western Conference semifinal series against the Dallas Stars with a 4-0 win in Game 2 on Friday night.
Hellebuyck, the front-runner to win a third Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s top goalie and also also finalist for the Hart Trophy, has 49 shutouts in his career, including four in the postseason.
Game 3 in the best-of-seven series is scheduled for Sunday afternoon in Dallas.
Nikolaj Ehlers had two goals and an assist, Gabriel Vilardi and Adam Lowry also scored and Dylan DeMelo had two assists for the Jets, who won the Presidents’ Trophy for the best record during the regular season.
Jake Oettinger turned aside 21 shots for the Stars, who were coming off a 3-2 road victory in Game 1 on Wednesday.
Tyler Seguin was called for a double-minor high-sticking penalty on Josh Morrissey 17 seconds into the game, and Vilardi scored with 42 seconds left on the four-minor power play to give the Jets a 1-0 lead.
Ehlers took a shot that clipped off Oettinger’s skate, hit the post, came back and hit Oettinger’s skate blade and was heading back toward the goal line when Vilardi pushed it across.
Morrissey had missed Game 1 after sustaining an upper-body injury in Game 7 against the St. Louis Blues on Sunday.
The Jets scored again when a centering pass by Ehlers went off the skate of Dallas defenseman Esa Lindell and redirected into his own net, giving Winnipeg a 2-0 lead at 7:07 of the first.
The Jets extended the lead to 3-0 at 11:02 of the second.
A shot from the right point by DeMelo was deflected wide and caromed off the end boards and out the other side. Lowry was there to sweep the puck into the net from the bottom of the left circle before Oettinger could slide over.
Hellebuyck made two more Grade-A saves in the second period, a sprawling stop on Evgenii Dadonov at 14:16, followed by a left pad save on Jamie Benn off a rush at 15:32.
Hellebuyck led the NHL in wins (47), goals-against average (2.00) and shutouts (eight) during the regular season, and was second in save percentage (.925). However, he had struggled in the playoffs entering Game 2, owning a 4-4 mark,a 3.75 GAA and a .836 save percentage.
Ehlers scored into an empty net with 3:40 left to make it 4-0.
