The Winnipeg Jets staved off elimination Thursday night with a near-perfect 4-0 shutout victory at Canada Life Centre over the Dallas Stars in Game 5.
They face elimination again Saturday as the series shifts back to Dallas. Here, we’ll dive into four keys to the Jets pushing the second-round series to Game 7.
1: Better Start on the Road
The Jets’ road woes in both this and previous postseasons and are well documented. They fell to 0-5 this postseason after Game 3 and 4 losses at American Airlines Center and have lost their past eight playoff games away from downtown Winnipeg since the 2023 postseason.
The Jets have been outscored a combined 25-8 on the road in these playoffs and only scored the first goal in one of those games (Game 4 of the first round against the St. Louis Blues.) They have never entered the first intermission with a lead, and have entered it trailing four times.
The Jets cannot afford to be chasing early in Game 6. They need to stay in structure, and while they should do their best to create offense off turnovers and on the rush, if getting into the intermission tied means lowering their risk profile to prevent shots and keeping things to 0-0 through 20, that’s what they should do.
The Jets obviously are capable of being road warriors as they captured an NHL-high 26 victories abroad in the regular season. It’s now about finding the strength of character to do what they’ve done well in front of their fans in the playoffs in hostile territory.
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“We’ve got win a road game. We haven’t played well on the road at all this playoffs. So, no better time than now to start,” Jets’ captain Adam Lowry said postgame.
2: Win the Special-Teams Battle
The Jets’ power play limped into the elimination game having gone one for 16 in the series and six for 28 in the postseason overall (15.8 per cent) despite finishing first in the NHL in power-play percentage (29.90) in the regular season.
They finally made some strides in Game 5, tallying two timely third-period goals on the man advantage to turn a tenuous 1-0 lead into a more-secure 3-0 advantage.
There is no legitimate excuse for them to not convert — or at least build momentum — during Game 6 opportunities. Top-unit mainstays Nikolaj Ehlers, Josh Morrissey, Mark Scheifele, and Gabriel Vilardi — who all missed time with injury this postseason — have all been back in their regular roles since Game 2.
Meanwhile, the penalty kill went a perfect four for four in Game 5, with the units doing a good job keeping the Stars’ chances to a minimum and Connor Hellebuyck standing tall to stop the chances that did come through. It was a welcome performance as the Jets allowed two power-play goals in Game 4 and the Stars boasted a 32.4 per cent efficiency on the postseason (11 for 34) coming into the contest.
The Jets also won the special-teams battle in their Game 2 4-0 win, going one for five on the power play and three for three on the penalty kill. They lost it in all three defeats by giving up at least one power-play goal in each game while scoring none.
3: Stay Cool Despite Odd Officiating
Game 5 got extremely chippy in the back half of the third, with a lot of post-whistle extracurriculars and scrums. Most notably, Stars’ captain Jamie Benn sucker-punched Scheifele near the benches; Scheifele was seeing red after and needed to be tackled by the linesmen.
Referees Wes McCauley had T.J. Luxmore had clearly and completely lost control of the game by then (McCauley often seems more focused on being the NHL’s “celebrity” referee and acting dramatic than the actual game) and the fact the Jets ended up with the extra penalty out of the altercation was an textbook example of “game management.” Not surprisingly, Benn was only slapped with a $5,000 fine by the Department of Player Safety because what warrants a suspension in the regular season rarely does in the playoffs.
The Jets need to leave all that behind, though, and rise above any urge for retribution or to stoop to Benn’s level. Their blueprint for success doesn’t involve running around and playing dirty, but beating teams on the scoreboard. Facing elimination means they must avoid cutting ruts to the box and allowing the Stars’ strong power play to cook.
The Jets also need to consider that just about every high-profile decision has gone against them in the series, from Mason Marchment not receiving a penalty or any supplemental discipline for slashing referee Graham Skilliter in Game 3, to the kicked-in goal that was allowed to stand that same game, to the high-sticking double minor in Game 4 to Haydn Fleury that was upheld after being reviewed for a follow through, to now Benn not being suspended.
4: Get Clutch Play From Big Guns
The playoffs, and elimination games in particular, are when a team’s highest-paid players need to earn their money.
The Stars have gotten a couple “team-on-their-back” type performances this series that powered them to wins: Mikko Rantanen’s Game 1 natural hat trick, Mikael Granlund’s Game 4 hat trick, and Jake Oettinger’s heroic 31-save Game 4, to name a few.
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The Jets haven’t gotten that type of other-worldly clutch performance from any of their top-six guys yet (though Ehlers does have two multi-goal games.)
The top line of Kyle Connor, Scheifele, and Vilardi needs to produce: they have just two goals and five points combined in the three losses. The second line other than Ehlers needs to create more as well: Vladislav Namestnikov had been held off the scoresheet before putting up a goal and an assist in Game 5 and Cole Perfetti registered his first point of the series in Game 5 as well.
Hellebuyck needs to find the form that has him nominated for the Vezina and Hart Trophies and allowed him to capture two shutouts this round, and leave his road playoff form in the rearview mirror. That won’t be easy as he’s lost nine-straight road playoff games and given up three-plus goals in all of them (and five-plus six times). He cannot allow the first shot in as he’s done four times in 12 games and cannot allow goals from 30-plus feet out as he’s done 11 times.
“We’ve got to make sure our details are right and we bring it,” Hellebuyck said after Game 5. “Our back’s against the wall.”
Puck drop for Game 6 is 7 p.m. CT Saturday.
