With their backs against the wall, the Winnipeg Jets rose to the occasion to live to fight another day.
Connor Hellebuyck stopped all 22 shots he faced and the Jets scored a pair of power play goals in a 4-0 Game 5 win over the Dallas Stars Thursday night in Winnipeg, cutting the Stars’ lead in the second-round series to 3-2.
The Jets took the lead six minutes into the second period on a lucky bounce and Nikolaj Ehlers scored twice in the final frame as the Jets put in a complete 60 minute team effort.
“That was everybody,” said Jets head coach Scott Arniel. “That was our whole roster stepping up and knowing what the challenge was in front of us and putting their best game on the ice.
“It was everybody stepping up, not wanting to be eliminated tonight. You could see it right from the puck drop, the opening shift, and we didn’t take our foot off the gas.”
Mark Scheifele and Vladislav Namestnikov also scored for Winnipeg in the win.
The Jets were just 1-for-18 on the power play in the series heading into the third period, but they scored twice on the man advantage to seal the victory.
The Jets badly outshot the Stars in both the first two periods. The shots were 11-4 for Winnipeg in the first and 11-5 in the middle stanza.
“I think it’s everybody just taking it up a notch – winning their battles,” said Jets forward Kyle Connor. “So, I think it’s just a combination of everybody having that extra gear and that fight and just being dialed in.
“It’s the toughest time of year. I thought we stepped up, but obviously job is not done.”
Winnipeg is now 6-1 on home ice in the playoffs.
Hellebuyck has been heavily criticized for his play on the road, but he recorded his second shutout of the series on home ice in Game 5.
“It’s unfortunate that we got into this position, but I believe in this group,” said Hellebuyck. “I believe in myself.
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“We’re gonna continue to compete and leave it all out there and that’s all we can ask for.”
Ehlers is clearly running at 100 per cent again after missing the start of the playoffs. He has five goals in the first five games of the series.
“Overall I got my legs going,” he said. “And I get them going early and obviously that’s a huge part of my game, so that’s something that I want to continue doing.”
The Jets are now 3-7 all-time in elimination games. They’ve never won a series when trailing three games to one, but they’re now just one road win away from a Game 7 back at home.
“We’re going to have to do a carbon copy of that on Saturday,” Arniel said. “Exact same thing is going to have to happen.”
Winnipeg got a great early chance to get something going when Sam Steel was called for holding 2:49 into the game. The Jets got three shots on goal during the power play but were unable to sustain any real zone time.
Just over a minute after Steel returned to the ice, Adam Lowry was called for cross-checking but Winnipeg got the kill, just like they did when Cole Perfetti took an interference penalty later in the period.
Overall, the Jets were the better team in the first, outshooting the Stars 11-4 but they were unable to beat Jake Oettinger.
Hellebuyck had to make multiple high-quality saves early in the second, including a flashy glove stop on Thomas Harley in close.
Just over six minutes into the second, it was Harley who proved to be in the wrong place at the wrong time as the Jets got on the board first.
With the teams playing 4-on-4, Neal Pionk carried the puck into the Stars end before passing to his left to Connor. He then hit a trailing Scheifele, who faked a shot and held onto the puck before sending it towards the crease where it banked off Harley’s skate and into the net.
Winnipeg went into lockdown mode as they tried to hold onto their slim lead. Dallas nearly cracked the code with just over three minutes left in the second but Matt Duchene rang a shot off the connection of the post and crossbar over Hellebuyck’s glove.
The Jets got their second power play chance of the game with 2:31 to go in the middle frame when Mason Marchment was given a questionable holding penalty.
The ensuing power play was easily Winnipeg’s best in a while as they held the puck in the zone for nearly the full two minutes, getting all kinds of pressure on Dallas. The puck did wind up in the net at one point but it was immediately waved off because Scheifele propelled a fluttering puck into the net with his glove, prompting Jets’ fans to chant “should have kicked it,” in reference to Alex Petrovic’s controversial game-winning goal in Game 3.
Winnipeg continued to maintain a strong edge in shots on goal, outshooting the Stars 10-5 in the second for a two-period edge of 21-9. Dallas managed just one shot over the final 14:34 of the period and had only 23 shot attempts through 40 minutes, their fewest through two periods all season.
Just 1:39 into the third, the Jets got their third power play chance of the night when Petrovic tripped Mason Appleton in the Stars’ zone, and just 12 seconds later, Scheifele was tripped by Esa Lindell in almost the exact same spot below the goal line, giving Winnipeg a lengthy 5-on-3.
It was exactly what the doctor ordered for the Jets to finally break through against the stout Stars penalty kill.
Winnipeg won the ensuing faceoff leading to a Scheifele slapshot that caught Oettinger high. Dallas then cleared the puck down the ice but the whistle blew at the same time because Oettinger’s mask came off, a big break for the Jets as it kept the faceoff inside the Dallas zone.
Off that faceoff, the puck came back to the point where Scheifele whipped a pass across to Connor. He then sent it down low for Ehlers, who made a quick move to the front of the net before sliding it past Oettinger to make it 2-0 with Winnipeg’s second power play goal of the series.
Dallas got their own power play look with just over six minutes gone in the period. They were in desperate need of an offensive spark with just 12 shots on goal to that point, but Hellebuyck turned aside both Stars shots in the two-minute minor as Winnipeg got their third kill of the night.
A fifth power play opportunity for the Jets came just past the midway point when Lian Bichsel was called for roughing and late in the man advantage, the second unit put the game on ice. Alex Iafallo found Namestnikov in the slot and he roofed it past Oettinger to make it 3-0 with 7:53 to go.
Things got feisty just over a minute later when Scheifele and Jamie Benn got tangled up near the Dallas bench. It led to Benn sucker-punching Scheifele in the face, dropping the Jets’ star to the ice. Brandon Tanev jumped in to Scheifele’s defence which wound up putting the Jets shorthanded, but Winnipeg killed it off to complete an exceptional night of special teams execution.
Dallas pulled Oettinger for an extra attacker with over 3:30 remaining but after some strong defending, Ehlers tracked down a loose puck and put it into the empty net to eliminate any doubt.
Winnipeg would finish the game with a 35-22 edge in shots on goal.
The Jets will have to win a road game for the first time all postseason if they hope to host a Game 7. Game 6 goes Saturday evening in Dallas at 7:00 p.m.
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