Jets’ season will be judged on Game 7 outcome: ‘We’re focused on the present’

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WINNIPEG — At the end of last year’s playoffs, Josh Morrissey spoke the words that Winnipeg Jets fans badly needed to hear.

“We have levels that we need to find this offseason. I hope it stings for all of us into the summer and we use it as motivation,” he said, still sweating, shortly after the Jets’ first-round loss to Colorado.

Those words caught fire, inciting multiple stories about how the Jets had finally found their way after two straight quality regular seasons were followed by disappointment in the playoffs. Morrissey’s teammates committed publicly to offseasons spent on self-improvement, and that commitment translated to the best season in franchise history.

But Morrissey doesn’t think about those words anymore. He doesn’t think about the President’s Trophy, the Jets’ new records for most wins and points, or any of Winnipeg’s regular-season accomplishments, nor has he considered that, for many observers, Winnipeg’s season will be measured by whether the Jets make it out of Round 1.

“The past is the past,” Morrissey says. “We’re focused on the present right now.”

It just so happens that the present moment is the biggest game in Jets history: Winnipeg hosts St. Louis in Game 7 Sunday night. If the Jets win, they will earn a second-round matchup with the Dallas Stars. And yes, the Jets have made it further than this, including a Game 7 win against Nashville in 2018, but that Jets team was thought to be on a meteoric rise. This one is looking to prove itself after successive playoff heartbreaks.

If they lose, the Jets will face judgment, doubt, and an offseason spent wondering if this core truly found that “next level” — or whether it can achieve it at all. The result will forever have a disproportionate impact on how Winnipeg’s regular-season accomplishments are viewed. If the best regular-season team in the NHL — coached by a Jack Adams Award finalist, backstopped by a Hart Trophy finalist and built so deeply it gave up the fewest goals in the NHL this season — can’t win a first-round series, can we still believe the answers are in the room?

The question is not entirely fair, but it’s one Jets fans have been grappling with since Winnipeg’s Game 6 implosion. NHL history is full of teams that pushed themselves as far as they thought they could go only to be beaten by a better team at the critical hour. Wayne Gretzky tells the most famous version of this story: When the upstart Edmonton Oilers were swept by the dynasty New York Islanders in 1983, Gretzky experienced the moment he says taught him what winning was all about.

“We walked by their locker room in the corridor and saw after they won, they were too beat up to really enjoy it and savor the victory at that moment,” Gretzky has said. Some of that lore is debated, but Gretzky’s point is clear: Even perhaps the greatest dynasty in NHL history needed to experience great loss to understand how to attain great victory. This story is still relevant — the defending Cup champion Florida Panthers made it to the final and lost right before winning it all.

But there are multiple levels between a first-round exit and a Stanley Cup final appearance.

Winnipeg’s President’s Trophy win is an accomplishment. These Jets took multiple steps forward from last year and deserve to play Game 7 in front of their raucous home crowd, with the streets outside Canada Life Centre as loud as the thunderous crowd within.

How will the first home Game 7 in Winnipeg Jets history end? (Cameron Bartlett / Getty Images)

It would be difficult to believe that the Jets made the most of their breakthrough season if it ends Sunday night. They overcame adversity to win Game 5 after losing two in St. Louis. They’ve battled through injuries, with Gabriel Vilardi and Nikolaj Ehlers returning to the lineup and Mark Scheifele a “game-time decision,” per Scott Arniel. Depth players like Vladislav Namestnikov and Alex Iafallo have stepped up, while stars like Scheifele and Kyle Connor have produced points.

But it takes two months of this kind of battle to win the Stanley Cup. If there really are championship lessons to be learned in this city — and more levels to attain — then this core needs to burst through the Round 1 ceiling right here, right now. Playoff lore is determined by lessons learned while battling for championships, not for a single series win.

So yes, Connor Hellebuyck needs to find himself in time to save the series. Winnipeg’s defence corps needs a bounce-back game after contributing directly to Friday’s implosion in St. Louis. Hellebuyck, Gabriel Vilardi, Nikolaj Ehlers, and Cole Perfetti need to keep pressing in all three zones, while Winnipeg’s bottom six needs to play a disciplined game and find itself on the scoresheet again.

We’re also still waiting for Morrissey’s signature moment. He has three assists in six games so far, but Morrissey has not been his best self, including during Game 6, when he contributed directly to Nathan Walker’s goal to make it 2-1.

“I want to find an elite level and be a positive difference maker (for) us,” Morrissey said. “That’s what the playoffs are all about. It’s exciting when you get into those moments to try to take advantage of them and step up for your teammates.”

Is there someone in Winnipeg’s room who can find the right words before Game 7, like Morrissey did after last season had ended?

“Those things happen authentically,” Morrissey said. “Those moments aren’t as rare, perhaps, as people think because of the nature of not having a live feed to the locker room all the time. There are moments in games and series where emotion comes out.”

NHL Game 7 history

Winnipeg and St. Louis are playing in the NHL’s 200th Game 7.

Here are the vital stats from the previous 199 games, including Dallas’ 4-2 comeback win against Colorado on Saturday:

• The team that scores first is 150-49 (.754)
• Home teams own a 117-82 (.588) edge
• 103 of the 199 Game 7s (51.8 percent) have been decided by a one-goal margin, including all four in 2024
• 49 Game 7s have required overtime (24.6 percent). Home teams have a 26-23 edge in those contests (1-0 in 2024)

Winnipeg Jets Game 7 history

This is Scott Arniel’s first Game 7 as head coach. He’s won three and lost three as an assistant and associate coach.

“You put a lot of work in over the course of the season to build to this moment,” Arniel told reporters in Winnipeg on Saturday. “And then, you go out and take advantage of it, enjoy the moment. Enjoy it, live it, be the best version of yourself.”

Here are Winnipeg’s player stats:

As mentioned, this is the first Game 7 in the Stanley Cup Playoffs to be played in Winnipeg. The Jets beat Nashville 5-1 in the second round of 2018 in this franchise’s only other Game 7 appearance. The original Jets franchise played in two Game 7s, both on the road, losing to Edmonton in 1990 and Vancouver in 1992.

Hellebuyck is 1-0 in Game 7s and stopped 36 of 37 shots in that 2018 win in Nashville.

The Blues, meanwhile, have won four game 7s in a row, including the 2019 Stanley Cup final against Boston with Jordan Binnington in net.

Arniel himself has acknowledged that this season will be judged by what happens in the playoffs.

Heading into Sunday’s game, he was asked about coaching the team’s first Game 7 at home.

“Hopefully it has a great ending to it,” he said. “All year long, we’ve put our work in to build towards this. We’ve talked about these situations and certain things that have happened over the course of the year that we don’t know when it’ll rise in the playoffs but now it’s here. Now it’s here. It’s Game 7. We’ve gone through building blocks to get here. To get to this moment. Whether that was through the 82 games, or the six games we have just played, these are all things that now (we) put it on the line here for Game 7 and I’d like to think our group’s prepared. Now we go out and do what we do best.”

The last word goes to Hellebuyck, who will be judged as much by this outcome as any other player, despite the fact that hockey is a team sport.

Let’s go back to a one-on-one conversation outside the Jets dressing room during one of the last times he struggled at length, in 2023.

“Imagine, just imagine, a team that has the whole city behind their back … How good they’re gonna feel. And how much easier it is to come out of bad weeks or bad years and to work on themselves, not only as people but as hockey players,” Hellebuyck said.

The Jets have that city — and province — behind them now with their season on the line. What better place than here?

(Top photo of Cole Perfetti: Connor Hamilton / Imagn Images)

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