The Winnipeg Jets may have come out on the short end of a lengthy review by the NHL situation room Sunday in Dallas.
But complaining about what resulted has to be put in the past, because there are far more important things for the Jets to concern themselves with going into Game 4 of their second-round series with the Stars on Tuesday night.
By now, I’m sure many Jets fans are familiar with NHL Rule 49.2 – item two, the one that states, “A kicked puck that deflects off the stick of any player — excluding the goaltender’s stick — shall be ruled a good goal.”
I’m also sure fans are incensed over the league’s explanation that referees Chris Rooney and Graham Skilliter determined that Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck “propelled” the kicked puck by Stars defenceman Alex Petrovic into his own net.
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Yes, it snapped a 2-2 tie in a highly competitive hockey game. But it was one goal.
And as we have seen repeatedly when Winnipeg has faced adversity on the road in the playoffs, they just don’t seem to possess the same mental strength or physical capacity for “parking a goal” — which becomes another goal, and then another, turning what was a game up for grabs into another multiple-goal defeat.
Sunday, a 5-2 loss for the Jets, was the eighth straight version of that recurring nightmare.
The Jets — yes, the same team that led the NHL in road victories this season with a franchise record 26 — are 0-4 in this year’s playoffs. And have been outscored 22-7 in the process.
Add in the unflattering losses at Vegas and Colorado in the two previous years and Winnipeg has been steamrolled 42-13 since the last time it recorded a post-season victory in the series opener versus the Golden Knights in 2023.
So there is that.
And in this series, there’s also a power play that has a single goal to show for 13 opportunities with the extra skater — the power play that was the best in the NHL during the regular season.
The incredible backbone the Jets showed just eight days ago against St. Louis has to become “road resilience” Tuesday night — an out-and-out refusal to allow a ninth straight defeat in a hostile surrounding.
And those grade-A looks with the extra skater must be converted into goals — or the Winnipeg Jets are going to run the risk of winding up only halfway there.
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