Hellebuyck blanks Knights, Jets gain ground on Wild Card spot

WINNIPEG — Connor Hellebuyck made 42 saves to backstop the Winnipeg Jets to a 4-0 shutout of the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday.

It was the netminder's fourth shutout of the season and 28th of his career.

Nikolaj Ehlers and Mark Scheifele each had a goal and assist for Winnipeg (30-24-10). Pierre-Luc Dubois and Neal Pionk also scored, and Blake Wheeler and Kyle Connor each contributed a pair of assists.

The injury-riddled Golden Knights dropped to 34-28-4, and extended their road losing skid to seven games and two shutouts in a row.

Playing in back-to-back games, goalie Logan Thompson stopped 22 shots for Vegas. He was also in net for the team's 3-0 loss to Minnesota Monday night.

The Jets were starting a four-game homestand and a stretch of six games in 10 days.

Winnipeg now sits two points behind Vegas for the Western Conference's second wild-card spot, but the Dallas Stars lingered one point behind the Golden Knights prior to hosting the Edmonton Oilers in a game later Tuesday night.

A recent trend of taking a while to get their first shot on goal reared its head again for Winnipeg in the opening period.

The Jets didn't fire a puck on Thompson until 15:06, when Ehlers made the netminder work and the crowd gave a rousing Bronx cheer.

Paul Stastny used the Ehlers' rebound to notch his team's second shot. Vegas had 11 shots at that point.

The slump in shots included 61 seconds of power-play time for Winnipeg, plus a short span before the Vegas penalty was called when Hellebuyck was pulled for an extra skater.

Vegas forward Paul Cotter was called for hooking at 13:27, followed by Jets captain Wheeler getting dinged for the same infraction at 14:28.

Hellebuyck's work at the other end of the ice included staying alert