The Winnipeg Jets kept the best season in their history alive for at least one more game by defeating the Dallas Stars 4-0 at Canada Life Centre on Thursday night in Game 5 of their Western Conference Second Round series.
A solid defensive effort, Connor Hellebuyck’s goaltending and a dose of puck luck helped the Presidents’ Trophy winners push the series back to Dallas for Game 6 on Saturday night.
The Jets limited the Stars to four shots in the first period, five in the second and 22 overall, several of them after the outcome had been decided. Hellebuyck, the likely winner of the Vezina Trophy as top NHL goaltender in the regular season, didn’t face a ton of rubber but came up big when he had to. He improved to 6-1 at home in this year’s playoffs – as opposed to 0-5 on the road.
And the puck luck? That came in the second period – first when a shot by Mark Scheifele was headed wide, only to hit the leg of Dallas defenseman Thomas Harley and slide past Jake Oettinger, then when a shot by Stars forward Tyler Seguin beat Hellebuyck but rang off the right post.
Oettinger was his team’s best player, finishing with 31 saves and facing many more dangerous chances than Hellebuyck.
Dallas still leads the series 3-2 and will try to advance to the conference final for the third straight year by winning Game 6 at American Airlines Center on Saturday. Game 7, if necessary, will be in Winnipeg on Monday. The winner of this series will face the Edmonton Oilers, who defeated the Vegas Golden Knights in five games to win the other second-round series in the West.
Jets keep their season alive with 4-0 win over Stars in Game 5
The Winnipeg whiteout was waiting to erupt from the opening face-off. But though the Jets dominated play in the first 20 minutes, the period ended scoreless because Oettinger did everything but stand on his head.
The Jets outshot the Stars 11-4 in the first period and had seven of the 10 high-danger chances, according to Natural Stat Trick, but Oettinger was flawless. He gloved a rip by Kyle Connor following the face-off after Sam Steel’s holding penalty at 2:49, robbed him again on a quick shot 10 minutes later, then robbed Ehlers on a solo break-in, stopped Scheifele’s tip and foiled Adam Lowry on a short-handed 2-on-1. Hellebuyck’s best save came with just under five minutes left when he fought off Miro Heiskanen’s power-play wrister.
Hellebuyck made arguably his best save of the series in the first minute of the second period, robbing Harley with his glove on a quick backhander after the Dallas defenseman wound up alone in front.
His poke check on Wyatt Johnston just after the six-minute mark not only broke up a scoring play but led to the game’s first goal at the other end f the ice. The puck came to Jets defenseman Neal Pionk, who carried it into the Dallas zone and fed Connor. He found Scheifele in the right circle for a shot that hit Harley’s leg and went into the net at 6:17 to put the Jets up 1-0.
The Jets capitalized on back-to-back tripping penalties early in the third period to double their lead as Ehlers scored off a quick move from the goal line to the right of Oettinger at 2:20 on Winnipeg’s first 5-on-3 advantage of the series. Vladislav Namestnikov put the game away at 12:07 with another power-play goal, and Ehlers added a short-handed empty-netter with 45 seconds remaining.
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3 takeaways from Winnipeg Jets’ season-saving 4-0 win against Dallas Stars in Game 5
1. Connor Hellebuyck steps up
The home version of Hellebuyck has been considerably better than the road version, and it’s the one the Jets got when they needed a win to save their season.
The soon-to-be three-time Vezina Trophy winner played with the confidence that’s often been missing in the playoffs, extending his home scoreless streak to 143:22 with his second straight shutout at Canada Life Centre. Yes, he did get plenty of help from his teammates, who played physical hockey for a full 60 minutes and rarely let the Stars have room to make plays. He also got some help from the post on Seguin’s second-period shot that caught iron.
But Hellebuyck was clutch when he needed to be. His windmill save on Harley early in the second period of a scoreless game was the kind of stop he hadn’t been making enough of. He was also sharp during a third-period Dallas power play, getting to the left post to stop Matt Duchene and again to deny Mikko Rantanen a few seconds later.
The challenge for Hellebuyck will be to carry that kind of play into Game 6. He’s allowed five or more goals in four of the Jets’ five road games this spring.
2. Jets special teams excel
Winnipeg was No. 1 in the NHL on the power play in the regular season at 28.9 percent and led all teams at home by scoring on 31.6 percent of its chances. But the Jets were just 1-for-18 against the Stars until the third period, when they scored twice to put the game away.
Ehlers’ goal came 20 seconds after Esa Lindell’s tripping penalty put Winnipeg up two men. He took Connor’s pass, spun out and whipped the puck past Oettinger before the goaltender could react. Namestnikov took a perfect feed from Alex Iafallo in the slot and scored after the Jets hadn’t generated much for the first 90 seconds of their fifth and final power play.
The Jets’ penalty-killers, who allowed the Stars to score twice in four tries in their 3-1 win in Game 4, also had a big night, killing off all four Dallas power plays.
3. Stars still in control of series
Despite being dominated for most of the night, the Stars are still in the driver’s seat as they head home for Game 6.
The Stars are 5-1 at American Airlines Center this spring, including five straight wins after losing their first-round opener to the Colorado Avalanche. That includes a 2-0 mark against the Jets after outscoring Winnipeg 8-3 when they won Games 3 and 4.
The Jets have yet to show they can win on the road — they’ve been outscored 25-8 in the five losses and have dropped their past nine postseason games away from Canada Life Centre. Also, the Stars are 33-10-3 (including playoffs) at home this season (including playoffs).
But the Stars will need some of their key offensive players to step up. Duchene has yet to score in the postseason, and Seguin hasn’t scored since Game 3 of the first round. Jamie Benn, Mason Marchment and Evgenii Dadonov each has one goal and none in this round. Jason Robertson, Dallas’ regular-season leader with 35 goals, has been back for five games after missing the first round due to injury but has just one assist.