Jets soar into second round
Superior display finishes off series with Wild
WINNIPEG • The Winnipeg Jets didn’t want to give the Minnesota Wild any reason to believe they could rally to win this opening-round series.
By scoring 31 seconds into the contest in what became a four-goal outburst in the first period, the Jets cruised to a 5-0 victory over the Wild on Friday to advance to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
The Jets will face either the Nashville Predators or the Colorado Avalanche — the Predators held a 3-1 series lead going into Friday’s game in the Music City.
This was the first playoff series victory in Jets 2.0 history and it came in decisive fashion.
Outside of a 6-2 loss in Game 3, the Jets were in control of the series, playing a sound defensive game while holding a substantial edge in shot attempts, shots on goal and scoring chances.
While it was an obvious benefit for the Jets that the Wild were without top defenceman Ryan Suter for the series and lost forward Zach Parise prior to Game 4, Minnesota didn’t get enough offence out of their key cogs — with the exception of Game 3 when they erupted for six goals in two periods.
There was some intrigue regarding the Jets lineup starting at the morning skate, as defenceman Tyler Myers made a somewhat unexpected appearance and immediately declared himself ready to return to action after leaving Game 3 with an unspecified lower-body injury.
The Jets were already without the services of defenceman Josh Morrissey, who served his one-game suspension for cross-checking Wild centre Eric Staal.
So instead of having rookie blue-liner Sami Niku make his playoff debut, the Jets welcomed back Myers and moved him onto the left side with Jacob Trouba.
“When a new guy comes in, whether he’s played for you or not, you feel a little better about your game. Especially if you come off a win,” said Jets head coach Paul Maurice.
“So we come off a win without him, we know we’re out Morrissey and that’s a hole. Tyler’s a really good player here. Sure, you put a veteran guy back in your lineup, it always makes the room feel good.”
Maurice also explained how he came to the decision of which right-handed shooting defenceman would play on his off-side.
“Comfort. Roles and comfort,” said Maurice, when asked what the determining factor might be in deciding who might play on the off side. “We wouldn’t take a guy who never plays against the other team’s best and ask him to do that just because he shoots a certain hand. We’ve got some forwards who prefer to play on their off side and we’ve got some guys who absolutely don’t want to do it. So it’s all comfort.”
The Jets felt even better after a dominant opening shift that put them in the driver’s seat.
Trouba took a pass from Mark Scheifele and walked into the slot and beat Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk with the first shot on goal of the contest.
Wild forward Jason Zucker was a bit shaken up after blocking a point shot earlier in the shift and he lost Trouba in coverage.
When it came time for the pre-game warmup, Jets winger Nikolaj Ehlers was nowhere to be found and Matt Hendricks suited up for the first time of the series.
With Ehlers as a surprise scratch, Bryan Little got a promotion to the second line and he quickly checked in with his first goal of the series on a nifty redirection after a point shot from Dustin Byfuglien that made it 2-0.
The Jets then scored twice in a span of 49 seconds to take a commanding lead.
When Wild defenceman Jonas Brodin couldn’t handle a pass from Matt Dumba, Jets winger Brandon Tanev pounced on the loose puck and beat Dubnyk with a wrister from the slot at 11:10.
Wrapping up the first-period scoring was Joel Armia, who supplied his first goal of the series on a redirection of his own after a point shot from Byfuglien.
Scheifele rounded out the scoring with a power-play goal that came 32 seconds into the third period.
It was the fourth goal of the series for Scheifele, with two of them coming from nearly the same spot during the man-advantage.