Jets HC gives an honest assessment of Connor Hellebuyck's performance in Game 4 loss

Winnipeg Jets coach Scott Arniel gave an honest assessment of goaltender Connor Hellebuyck after the 3-1 loss to the Dallas Stars in Game 4. The loss puts the Jets 3-1 down in the playoff series.

Hellebuyck made 21 saves on 24 shots in the defeat. Mikael Granlund scored a hat-trick for the Stars. Nikolaj Ehlers scored for the Jets, while Jake Oettinger stopped 31 shots.

Arniel said that Hellebuyck likely wants the first goal back, a wrist shot from distance.

"Obviously probably wants the one back — the first one, the wrister coming in," Arniel said. (11:49 onwards)

He praised the team's penalty kill on the fourth goal, calling the last-second shot an impressive effort — well-placed under the bar from the short side.

“But at the end of the day, we got to get him some run support. He’ll do his job. We got to get him some run support. We got to get him a lead. We got to get out in front, make this team chase us instead of us chasing them like we have in the last couple of games,” Arniel said.

Arniel made it clear that Hellebuyck wasn't the main issue in the loss. While he wanted one of the goals back, the coach said that the team needs to do a better job scoring and playing with a lead in front of their goaltender.

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Game recap: Jets 3-2 loss against Stars

Granlund put Dallas on board at midway through the first, beating Neal Pionk with a glove-side shot on the power play. Ehlers then tied for Winnipeg early in the second, firing a sharp-angle shot from the right boards after a power play ended.

Granlund scored again, finishing off a 2-on-1 by snapping a shot over Hellebuyck’s glove from the right circle to make it 2-1 late in the period. He then scored his third goal in the third period on the man advantage, blasting a one-timer from the right circle.

"I thought we played a good hockey game. We had 70 shot attempts and scored one goal. We're not going to, you know, if we can't find more than one goal we're not going to win hockey games especially against this hockey team," Arniel said about the loss.

The Jets face elimination, down 3-1 in the series, as they head back home for the pivotal Game 5 on Thursday.