Winnipeg veterans rise to occasion
Leaders stepped up to keep season alive
Paul Maurice has been saying it all season long.
It doesn’t matter if his Winnipeg Jets are a young team because they have a leadership group that makes up for the overall inexperience of the roster.
Never was that more true than in the Jets’ second-round series win over the Nashville Predators.
The Jets won three games on the road, including Game 7, to advance to the Western Conference final for the first time in the city’s NHL history.
And it was the veteran leaders who carried them every step of the way.
Captain Blake Wheeler had two goals and nine assists in the bestof-seven series.
Assistant captain Mark Scheifele had seven goals, an NHL record for road goals in a single series, and four assists.
Assistant captain Dustin Byfuglien had four goals and four assists and churned up tough minutes on the blue-line.
Veteran centre Paul Stastny, a brilliant trade deadline acquisition by GM Kevin Cheveldayoff, had six goals and five assists.
These guys were clutch when the Jets needed them most and they’ve led the Jets into a conference final, where they have home-ice advantage against the expansion Vegas Golden Knights.
“We’ve got really, really good leadership in our room,” Maurice said, repeating a quote he has given almost daily. “They prepared themselves and then came out and did the two things we wanted to do in (Game 7); one was play fast, but also enjoy playing the game. Make plays, play with some confidence and some courage. And we looked like that right from the start.
“And it was like that right through the whole bench. There were a lot of players that didn’t end up on the goals and assists that played huge roles.”
Goalie Connor Hellebuyck was one of those. So was defenceman Tyler Myers, who scored the first goal of Game 7.
As for Patrik Laine, Nikolaj Ehlers and Kyle Connor, the three youngsters who combined for 104 goals this season, they were OK, but they weren’t stars. They didn’t need to be.
It’s almost amazing the Jets have come this far with their three top goal scorers combining for just five goals in 12 games, but when you have the likes of Scheifele, Stastny and Wheeler stepping up like they did, the pressure is off the youngsters.
No one works harder than Wheeler. Few have gone to greater lengths to become elite players than Scheifele. Byfuglien is tough, can score and keeps things light in the room.
Then those three go out and combine for 30 points in a bestof-seven against the supposed best team in the league.
That’s some “wow factor” right there.