WINNIPEG, Manitoba -- The Jets earned an emotional 4-2 victory over the Devils on Tuesday night in goaltender Connor Hellebuyck's return to Winnipeg for the first time since his trade to New Jersey.
Although he did not play, Winnipeg fans got the chance to show Hellebuyck how they felt. Loud boos rained down from the Canada Life Centre seats when he took to the ice for the Devils' pregame warmup.
The Jets came out energized by the crowd booing and taunting Hellebuyck to express their anger and jumped to a 2-0 lead.
The victory extended Winnipeg's win streak to four games and halted New Jersey's at five games.
Jake Allen started in net and stopped 21 shots for New Jersey, and former Devils netminder Nico Daws, who was included in the Hellebuyck trade, made 19 saves for Winnipeg.
"It was loud. Warmups were crazy. The fans here are awesome," Daws said, according to NHL.com. "They care a lot about hockey here and they care a lot about the team and it's fun. It's fun to be a part of it. It makes you want to battle that extra little bit every night for them."
Dawson Mercer, also a part of the trade, opened the scoring at 7:54 when his snap shot from the faceoff circle beat Allen. Kyle Connor scored during a two-man advantage at 15:06 of the first period when he deflected Cole Perfetti's pass past Allen. Mark Scheifele also assisted, moving him into a second-place tie with Dale Hawerchuk in assists in franchise history with 550.
"[Mercer and Daws] were pretty excited about going against their old team, they were fired up," Winnipeg coach Scott Arniel said. "It wasn't just an average or ordinary game for those two. It was something where they wanted to put their best foot forward. And they both did. They both were outstanding, which is great to see."
The Devils, who trailed 2-0 after the first period, tied the score in the second period with a pair of goals 44 seconds apart. Jesper Bratt scored at 1:14 on a setup from Arseny Gritsyuk from behind the net. Jack Hughes also assisted to extend his point streak to six games.
Cody Glass tied the score at 1:58 when he deflected Johnathan Kovacevic's shot past Daws.
After Mercer gave the Jets a 3-2 lead on a power play at 11:58 of the third period, Connor sealed the outcome with an unassisted empty-net goal.
"A high-emotion game and you want to do better for [Allen] and [Hellebuyck], so it [stinks], but we have to learn from it," Glass said. "Obviously, it was a hostile environment with this crowd and almost a playoff atmosphere, so learn from it, take what we can, but don't make it become a consistent thing."
The Devils said Sunday night that Hellebuyck would not play against his former team Tuesday night, citing a decline in their expected win probability. Hellebuyck has won all five starts he has made since the trade and said he spoke with coach Sheldon Keefe and general manager Sunny Mehta about the situation.
"I'm 14 days into a new team, and they handle their business differently than I'm used to," Hellebuyck said Tuesday, speaking to reporters there for the first time since being dealt to New Jersey on Oct. 23. "When I went in there and said my piece and said I felt it was my duty to play this game and said, 'I want to play,' I had a good conversation with [Keefe and Mehta], and I left that conversation understanding where they're at."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
