NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Right winger Drew Stafford's two goals Tuesday night made him the first star, but even he knew the reason the Winnipeg Jets won was rooted in goal prevention rather than goal scoring.

Specifically, the way that rookie goalie Connor Hellebuyck flat-out frustrated the Nashville Predators.

Collecting a career-high 43 saves, Hellebuyck carried Winnipeg to a 4-1 verdict that pulled it within five points of Nashville for the Western Conference's final playoff spot.

"It seemed like it was quite chaotic in front of him, but he weathered the storm, stayed calm and made some big saves," Stafford said of Hellebuyck. "We didn't exactly have the best start, but he bailed us out."

In improving to 19-19-2, the Jets overcame a whopping 44-18 disadvantage in shots on goal as Hellebuyck (9-4-0) came up big on a spate of Grade A chances. In the first three minutes alone, he stoned right winger Craig Smith on a breakaway and turned left winger Colin Wilson away on a backhander at the goalmouth as a power play ended.

"They were controlling the shots," Hellebuyck said, "but I think any time you make a few stops early, the confidence kind of flows."

Working from a script they've worn out this season, the Predators (19-14-7) fired 10 shots at Hellebuyck in the first 6:39 and 17 in the first period. Another nine shots either missed the net or were blocked.

All it got Nashville was a 1-0 deficit as Stafford drove to the net during a Winnipeg power play at 10:43 and tapped in a centering pass from defenseman Tyler Myers on just the Jets' second shot of the game.

Stafford made it 2-0 at 8:42 of the second period, tipping home a point blast by defenseman Toby Enstrom on the power play for his 14th goal of the season. It was Stafford's fourth two-goal outing of the season and marked only the third time this season that Winnipeg's 29th-ranked power play collected two markers in a game.

"Considering we were 0-for-quite-a-while, that was huge," Stafford said of his team's struggling power play.

Defenseman Ben Chiarot upped the Jets' margin to 3-0 with his first goal at 5:05 of the third period, a wrister from the left faceoff circle that appeared to deflect off the stick of a Predators' defender.

Wilson spoiled Hellebuyck's shutout bid on Nashville's 43rd shot with a wrister from the slot at 13:23, his fourth goal of the season, but Winnipeg center Alexander Burmistrov capped the scoring with an empty-net tally at 19:30.

It was just the Jets' third win in their last 15 road games, but one that improved them to 2-2-0 on a five-game road trip that ends Thursday night in Dallas. Winnipeg then plays nine of its next 10 at home, including two matchups with Nashville.

"We needed all three phases to be strong tonight and they were," Jets coach Paul Maurice said.

Goalie Pekka Rinne (16-12-6) collected 14 saves for the Predators, who were playing their only home game in an eight-game span. They start a four-game road trip Friday night in Colorado.

"They're working hard out there, but they couldn't get it to drop out there," Nashville coach Peter Laviolette said. "Maybe we could have had a little more traffic out front, but the kid played well in net tonight and we hit a couple of posts."

NOTES: Winnipeg G Ondrej Pavelec (knee), who's been idle since Nov. 21, could practice for the first time on Wednesday. Pavelec was injured in a collision with Arizona's Shane Doan. ... Nashville signed C Frederick Gaudreau to a two-year entry-level contract. Gaudreau has nine goals and 15 assists this season for the team's AHL affiliate in Milwaukee. ... The Jets scratched D Adam Pardy, D Paul Postma, and RW Anthony Peluso. ... Predators scratches were D Anthony Bitetto, D Petter Granberg and LW Austin Watson.