WINNIPEG — If this is the end, then it’s time to rethink the myriad season-long moments that made Winnipeg seem like a team of destiny.
The Jets started their season by winning 14 out of their first 15 games. They finished with the best record in the NHL. Their goaltender was the best in the league, playing behind a team defence that somehow got better under Scott Arniel after improving with Rick Bowness. The Jets’ power play was the best in the league, too; for a little while, it even looked like it might set an NHL record as the best of all time. Kyle Connor, Mark Scheifele, Gabriel Vilardi and Cole Perfetti set new career highs in points.
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All of that is at stake now: the Presidents’ Trophy, the division title and the individual hardware expected in June. It still belongs to Winnipeg, but the Jets would likely trade it all for an escape route, a way back from 3-1 in Round 2.
There was Scheifele scoring against Minnesota with Connor Hellebuyck pulled and 0.7 seconds left in the first period. Vilardi stickhandling in mid-air, then playing catch with Ehlers to score a beautiful goal against New York. Connor’s natural hat trick — all scored in just 6:38 — against Vancouver. Innumerable Josh Morrissey attacks from the offensive blue line. Dylan Samberg breaking his foot blocking Steven Stamkos’ shot and then finishing his shift all the same. Midseason extensions for Vladislav Namestnikov, Alex Iafallo and Neal Pionk — finally, a group of veterans who, like Hellebuyck, Scheifele, Morrissey and Adam Lowry before them, chose Winnipeg as their long-term home.
The culmination of three years’ worth of transformation to the Jets’ leadership group. Eric Comrie calling Matt Prefontaine the “Connor McDavid” of video coaches. That time two different groups from Chur Switzerland, came to see Nino Niederreiter play — only realizing the other was there when they noticed each other’s jerseys at Canada Life Centre.
There was also the case of the first-round series Winnipeg was supposed to lose, but that moment was met by Ehlers’ fanned puck, Lowry’s push to get it back to him, Ehlers’ rocket pass to Connor, Connor’s desperate pass into the slot and Perfetti scoring what was, in that moment, the biggest goal in franchise history. There were the shots of fans’ jubilation in the building, on the streets, throughout the city — and of Jordan Binnington despondent, Hellebuyck victorious, despite the 2019 playoffs and despite the 4 Nations Face-Off championship.
WITH 1.6 SECONDS TO GO. 🤯
COLE PERFETTI‼️ pic.twitter.com/kgZU95vurH
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 5, 2025
That was only 10 days ago.
The “Manitoba miracle” got the Jets through Game 7, but the Dallas Stars have earned the opportunity to turn it all into a memory.
The Jets face the prospect of three straight elimination games, starting at home on Thursday. Win that and the Jets earn the opportunity to overcome their nine-game playoff road losing streak on Saturday in Dallas. Win that and there’s the matter of Pete DeBoer’s 9-0 record in Game 7s.
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Arniel told reporters in Winnipeg on Wednesday that all of the moments that came before this one were lessons the Jets can lean on now.
“I know the regular season is a different animal than what it is in the playoffs, but we’ve gone through it,” Arniel said. “We went through it in St. Louis, losing the games down there, Game 4 down there, and coming home big at (Game) 5. Losing Game 6, coming home here for Game 7. These are all just lessons. You’ve been through it. Maybe this is a little different, because it is elimination games from this point forward. But it’s still lessons learned.”
Arniel then pointed to Winnipeg’s advantage on home ice. The Jets control the matchups in Game 5 against Dallas. They can give Roope Hintz and Mikko Rantanen the heavy helping of Lowry that they did in Games 1 and 2. The coaching staff can continue their cat-and-mouse game with DeBoer and company that led to such a decisive Game 2 win.
The Jets can feed off of their home crowd — and, more importantly, they can give that crowd the gift of extending their season.
“They’re at three, we’re at one. It can’t be more simple than that. We need to win,” Ehlers said on Tuesday. “With the crowd that we have at home, the amount of energy that they give to us every single game, we want to repay that by playing another few games in Winnipeg.”
Repay. It is a powerful word. The Jets and their fans are connected, as Hellebuyck reminded us before Round 2 began, and there is classiness in Ehlers’ homage to Jets fans now. But good feelings alone do not win an elimination game, nor are the Jets’ opponents devoid of their own good feelings up 3-1 as they are right now.
Game 5 could be Winnipeg’s last home game of the season or the beginning of something truly magical. The list of things that need to go right is exhaustive, starting with Hellebuyck, continuing through the power play, the penalty kill and a return to the elite finishing the team was known for all season long.
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The odds are low, but every day Winnipeg wakes up with a playoff game on its schedule is a day the Jets can win.
“Now, our backs are against the wall and we’ve got to win our next game,” Arniel said. “We have to step up and be at our best and learn from the lessons that we’ve had.”
(Photo: Cameron Bartlett / Getty Images)
This news was originally published on this post .
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