Morrissey breaks Jets' single-season record for points by a defenceman in win over Rangers
Winnipeg's Hellebuyck sensational with 50 saves in victory
Mark Scheifele scored twice and Connor Hellebuyck made 50 saves as the Winnipeg Jets beat the surging Rangers 4-1 in New York on Monday night.
The 27-year-old Morrissey broke Dustin Byfuglien's franchise record for points in a season (56) by a defenceman with his first assist. The current Jets franchise history includes 11 years as the Atlanta Thrashers before the team relocated to Winnipeg for the 2011-12 campaign.
"We needed this win tonight," Dubois said. "Results matter more than anything else."
WATCH | Scheifele helps lead Jets over Rangers:
Hellebuyck, playing on back-to-back nights after a 4-2 loss at New Jersey on Sunday, stopped all 20 shots he faced in the first period and 30 more the rest of the way to improve to 26-16-1.
"It was a good clean game, a good team game," Hellebuyck said. "We'll take wins any way they come."
Vincent Trocheck scored for the Rangers, who lost in regulation for the first time since Jan. 19 when they fell 4-0 at home to Boston. New York was 8-0-2 in their previous 10 games. Igor Shesterkin finished with 17 saves.
Dubois opened the scoring on the power play at 5:12 of the first, deflecting a shot by Morrissey past Shesterkin for his 24th goal.
Scheifele made it 2-0 with 3:28 left in the opening period, poking the puck past Shesterkin.
'We needed timely saves and we got them'
The Rangers outshot the Jets 20-9 in the first period and finished with a 51-21 edge. Hellebuyck made two dazzling saves on Rangers forward Chris Kreider in the third period, including a sterling glove stop with just over eight minutes remaining.
"He was outstanding tonight," Jets coach Rick Bowness said. "We needed timely saves and we got them."
In the second, the Rangers failed to convert on two early power-play chances before the Jets increased the lead to 3-0 when Connor scored his 26th goal at 6:04.
"They capitalized on their chances and we just didn't put ours in," said Rangers captain Jacob Trouba, who played six seasons for Winnipeg before he was traded to the Rangers in June 2019. "It was just one of those games."
Morrissey, who also had an assist on Connor's goal, is second on the Jets with 58 points and third in scoring among NHL defencemen behind San Jose's Erik Karlsson and Buffalo's Rasmus Dahlin.
The record breaker 🚀 <a href="https://t.co/xqvUdkWl18">pic.twitter.com/xqvUdkWl18</a>
—@NHLJets"To do this here at Madison Square Garden is special," Morrissey said. "It's a function of us having a great team and great players here."
Scheifele scored his second goal of the game and team-leading 34th of the season with a backhand with 4:31 left in the third. Scheifele also scored twice in the previous game between the teams this season, a 4-1 Jets victory in Winnipeg on Oct. 14.
"We had 50 shots. Overall we played a good hockey game and didn't win," Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said. "Hellebuyck was great. You've got to give the other team credit."
