WINNIPEG – For the first time in franchise history the Winnipeg Jets have advanced to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Jets struck for four goals in the first period and cruised to a 5-0 victory over the Minnesota Wild in game five on Friday at Bell MTS Place. The 12th straight home victory by the Jets eliminated the Wild four games to one. It’s the first time a Winnipeg Jets team has won a playoff series since the Jets 1.0 beat the Calgary Flames in six games in 1987.
“It’s a great step.” Blake Wheeler said.
“It’s not time to dwell on that but at the same time I think we’re proud of the work we put in. Minnesota is a great team. To advance in the playoffs is a big accomplishment.”
Jacob Trouba, Bryan Little, Brandon Tanev and Joel Armia scored goals in the span of less than 12 minutes in the opening period.
“If there’s a way to start the game, I guess that’s the way.” Dustin Byfuglien said.
“We didn’t do anything fancy, we just got pucks deep, pucks on the net and we never let off.”
“I think we didn’t sit back.” Paul Stastny said. “We knew that if we played our game, we got a couple goals early then in their back of their minds we could try to make them crack.”
“That first period was awesome for us.” Mark Scheifele said.
“We got on the puck early, we got in front of (Devan) Dubnyk and made some good shots. It was definitely a huge start.”
Connor Hellebuyck posted 30 saves for his second consecutive shutout. He’ll enter the second round of the playoffs with a shutout streak of 121 minutes and 37 seconds.
“I guess I did my job, right.” Hellebuyck said. “I didn’t let any in. I thought the team was great in front of me.”
The Wild outshot the Jets in the series clincher 30-26. Mark Scheifele closed out the scoring in the third period.
The original Jets only ever won two playoff series (1985, 1987) and they were swept both times in the second round by the Edmonton Oilers.
“The last couple years you could just tell this team was forming to be an elite team and a team that could do special things.” Little said. “We had the great season the way we did and now I really feel like there’s a lot of belief and confidence in this room.”
Jets forward Joel Armia left the game after the first period with an upper body injury.
The Jets will next face the winner of the series between the Nashville Predators and the Colorado Avalanche.
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Bell MTS Place was rocking for the pre-game introductions and then the fans in the building really exploded just 31 seconds into the contest. Scheifele sent a pass to Trouba and he stepped into the face-off circle before beating Dubnyk for his first goal of the post-season and the Jets had the early upper hand.
Just five minutes later and right off the face-off, Byfuglien’s point shot was tipped in by Little for his first of the playoffs. Paul Stastny also picked up an assist as the Jets zoomed out to an early two goal advantage.
The Jets extended their lead at the 11:10 mark of the first. Tanev stripped the puck from Jonas Brodin and beat Dubnyk for the Jets’ third goal. It was unassisted.
Just 49 seconds after that one, Byfuglien one-timed a blast towards the net and it hit Armia before deflecting past Dubnyk. Andrew Copp had the secondary assist and the Jets had a commanding four goal lead. That was the end of the line for Dubnyk as he was replaced by Alex Stalock after allowing four goals on 10 shots.
Neither team could light the lamp in a scoreless second period. Minnesota outshot Winnipeg 10-7 in the middle frame.
Just 32 seconds into the third period, the Jets added a fifth goal on the powerplay. Scheifele finished off the tic-tac-toe with Stastny and Wheeler earning the assists. Scheifele’s fourth goal of these playoffs had the Jets up by five and they hung on to eliminate the Wild.
Matt Hendricks made his first appearance of the playoffs for the Jets after missing the last five weeks with an injury. He replaced Nikolaj Ehlers in the lineup who was a surprise late scratch. After the game head coach Paul Maurice said he just wasn’t feeling right.
“We didn’t put him in.” Maurice said. “He skated yesterday, he skated today, wasn’t quite where we wanted to be. Would have made a different call at 2-2 or 3-3 probably, but at 3-1 wanted to be real sure.”
Jets defenceman Josh Morrissey missed the game while serving his one game suspension. Toby Enstrom, Dmitry Kulikov and Mathieu Perreault all sat out with injuries. Shawn Matthias and Marko Dano were both healthy scratches.
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