Trailing Western 2nd Round series 3-1, Winnipeg avoids elimination with shutout of Dallas
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WINNIPEG — The odds are still against the Winnipeg Jets. But now, if they can win a road game, they will like their chances to come back and win in the Western Conference Second Round.
Facing elimination, they dominated the Dallas Stars in a 4-0 win in Game 5 at Canada Life Centre on Thursday, cutting the Stars’ lead in the best-of-7 series to 3-2.
Game 6 is at American Airlines Center in Dallas on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; ABC, ESPN+, SN, TVAS, CBC).
“We don’t want to be done playing hockey, and I think today showed that,” said Jets forward Nikolaj Ehlers, who scored two goals. “We’ve just got to take that into the next game.”
Of the 354 teams to fall behind 3-1 in a best-of-7 series in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, 32 have come back to win the series. That’s nine percent.
The Jets are 0-5 on the road in these playoffs and have lost nine straight playoff games away from home dating to 2023.
Even if they do win Game 6 in Dallas, Stars coach Pete DeBoer is 9-0 in Game 7s. No other coach has won as many Game 7s in NHL history.
But if you’re the Jets, you’ve got to look at it like this: Are you really going to lose 10 straight road playoff games? Is DeBoer really going to win 10 straight Game 7s?
Dallas does not want to come back to Winnipeg. The Stars have lost each of their past two games at Canada Life Centre 4-0 and haven’t scored a goal in this building in more than seven periods. The Jets are 6-1 at home in the playoffs.
“I think we’ve been building our game all season long,” Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck said. “It’s unfortunate that we got into this position. But you know what? I believe in this group, I believe in myself, and I believe in all of our fans, so we’re going to continue to compete and leave it all out there.”
Stars at Jets | Recap | Round 2, Game 5
In Game 5, the Jets looked like the team that won the Presidents’ Trophy as the NHL’s top regular-season team and led the NHL in fewest goals against per game (2.32).
They outshot the Stars 35-22. Through two periods, they were outshooting them 22-9, and the Stars had only five shots from forwards.
“We talked about if we could get back to defending how we have all year, if we could get back to that fast transition, get puck support all over the ice, we’d put ourselves and [Hellebuyck] in a much better position to be successful,” Jets captain Adam Lowry said. “I thought we did a real good job of getting that, and I think that goes down to the belief in our structure, belief in the coaches’ strategy and the belief in one another — that when the chips are down, guys are going to show up.”
Hellebuyck made 22 saves, including a huge one 39 seconds into the second period, grabbing a backhand shot by defenseman Thomas Harley with his glove to keep the score 0-0.
Then the Jets got a bounce. Two, actually. In a 4-on-4 situation, center Mark Scheifele fired a shot from the right circle that deflected off the stick of Stars center Wyatt Johnston, then ricocheted off Harley’s right skate and into the net at 6:17 of the second.
Winnipeg’s power play entered the game 1-for-16 in the series after leading the NHL (28.9 percent) in the regular season. The Jets got back on track by going 2-for-5. Ehlers scored 5-on-3 at 2:20 of the third, and center Vladislav Namestnikov scored 5-on-4 at 12:07.
“We had everyone,” Hellebuyck said. “Everyone was doing the same things. You know they’re going to have a big pushback next game, so we’ve got to make sure our details are right and we bring it. Our backs are against the wall, and it’s time to play Jet hockey.”
The numbers aren’t pretty for Winnipeg on the road in these playoffs. The Jets have been outscored 25-8. Hellebuyck is 0-5 with a 5.84 goals-against average and .793 save percentage.
But the Jets led the NHL with 26 road wins in the regular season, including a 4-0 win at Dallas on April 10. Hellebuyck has won the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s best goalie twice. This season, he is a finalist for the Vezina and the Hart Trophy, which goes to the NHL’s most valuable player.
If they get it to Game 7, if they get back home to the whiteout, look out.
“We don’t want our season to be done,” Lowry said. “We believe in this group. We believe what this group can accomplish. Just get the next one. That’s kind of what we talked about. Live to fight another day. Thrilled with the result tonight. Thrilled we’re going back to Dallas. Rest, recover, get ready, and there’s another big one in front of us.”
