WINNIPEG, Manitoba -- After being blown out in their first two games of the season, the Winnipeg Jets have found their defensive chops, defeating the Carolina Hurricanes 2-1 on Saturday night for their third win in a row.

Left winger Nikolaj Ehlers scored the winner early in the third period -- his team-leading fifth goal of the season -- and Connor Hellebuyck stopped 28 of 29 shots in net to secure his third victory in the past six days.

Center Bryan Little got the Jets on the board with his first goal of the season in the first period.

Scott Darling stopped 19 of 21 shots at the other end of the ice for Carolina (1-1-1). Left winger Jeff Skinner scored the lone goal for the visitors, his second of the season, less than minutes after Little.

Ehlers, who potted a hat trick in Edmonton earlier in the week just days after signing a seven-year, $42-million contract, said he's enjoying the best groove of his young career. The 21-year-old Dane was quick to share the credit with his linemates, center Mark Scheifele and right winger Blake Wheeler.

"It's going the right way. I'm feeling good. I feel comfortable out there and I'm using my speed as much as I can," Ehlers said. "I'm playing with two great players, they're making it easy for me.

"We played together in my first year so we've been able to build some chemistry the last two years playing on and off with each other. (Scheifele) is doing such a big job for us, making great passes and opening up plays for me and Wheels. Wheels is so experienced. He sees things that aren't really there but they are."

That speed wasn't on display much on this night but it was when it counted. On one of the few instances all night long where a player found an open space, Ehlers picked up the puck in neutral territory early in the third period and raced in down the right side and behind the Canes' net. He dished off to Wheeler, who found Ehlers suddenly alone in the slot, and his quick wrister beat Darling high to the blocker side at 6:03.

Scheifele didn't make it on to the scoreboard but he was more concerned with not straying from the game plan for 60 minutes, as Winnipeg had in a 7-2 drubbing to the Toronto Maple Leafs and a 6-3 loss to the Calgary Flames in the first two games of the season.

"We've been battling hard. We've kept it simple, that's the biggest thing," said Scheifele. "There's not much ice. (Carolina) has good sticks, they work hard and they've got a solid back end. It's the first team to break that's going to get in trouble," he said.

Scheifele, who was given an "A" last season, said he also relished the added responsibility of playing in crucial situations against the opponents' top line.

"I want that challenge. I want to be that guy that's reliable on both sides of the puck and plays good D and also generates offense," he said. "Tonight was a prime example, there wasn't a lot going on offensively and all of a sudden we put together a few simple chips and Nicky scores the game winner."

There wasn't much action to get the pulses of the sold-out crowd going and Jets coach Paul Maurice wasn't surprised. He knew during the morning skate that the game wasn't going to be pretty.

"We were dragging ourselves around. We knew it was going to be that sort of game. I don't think we made enough 10-foot passes to open anything up, except a can of worms," Maurice said.

"We still found ourselves in the right spots. We collapsed to the front of our net really well and picked up a lot of pucks. With 20 minutes left in the game, we had enough left in the tank. Some nights, you've just got to find a way to be good enough."

Carolina coach Bill Peters didn't make any excuses and disputed any description of the game being a hard-luck loss.

"I don't think there was a lot of luck involved. I think they were better than us for the most part and we didn't make enough plays. We didn't get the puck to the net, we didn't get enough bodies to the net," Peters said.

"It's a race to three (goals) in the National Hockey League. You've got to be able to get to three to get a point, if not two points, and we didn't do that here. We need to be better offensively and harder offensively."

It took the Jets 54 games and nine two-game winning streaks to win three consecutive games last season, and the previous season it took 81 games. Scheifele said nobody in the locker room concerns themselves with such statistics.

"We don't really care about win streaks. We want to win every game," he said. "If something goes wrong and we don't, we hit the reset button and we go back to work. That's what good teams do. They have short memories."

NOTES: Jets D Dustin Byfuglien returned to the Jets' lineup after missing two games with a lower-body injury. ... Jets D Dmitry Kulikov and C Mathieu Perreault left the game in the third period with undisclosed injuries. ... Former referee Bill McCreary took in the action tonight. Now working for the NHL in an off-ice capacity, he evaluated the officiating crew. ... According to QuantHockey.com, tonight's game featured the NHL's two youngest rosters this season. ... Hurricanes C Jordan Staal was fifth in the NHL last year with a faceoff winning percentage of 59.1. ... Jets coach Paul Maurice spent 920 games during two stints as the head coach of the Carolina Hurricanes -- and the Harford Whalers before they relocated 20 years ago -- from 1995-2004 and 2009-2012. ... Several Whalers jerseys -- the most popular defunct NHL brand -- were spotted in the crowd.