Tuesday evening in Dallas, the Winnipeg jets played their best route on the road to the Stanley 2025 Cup qualifiers.
They have always lost.
Jake Oettinger was brilliant in order, while Mikael Granlund scored a hat-trick while the Dallas stars shot the 3-1 jets to take a 3-1 lead in their second round series.
The jets were more likely, more shooting and more sure, but the stars led the only category that really counts with three goals in the victory of match 4.
“I thought we had played a good hockey game,” said head coach Scott Arniel. “We had 70 shooting attempts and scored a goal. If we cannot find more than one goal, we are not going to win hockey matches, especially against this hockey team. So, I really liked what we did 5 against 5.
“We just didn’t put the washer in the net and that is the net profit.
For the first time in the playoff series, Connor Hellebuyck gave less than five goals in a game on the road, but he abandoned a goal in the first period on a long time.
“It was a damn perfect blow, just above my stamp, under my glove,” said Hellebuyck. “I do my best. Sometimes it’s a sorrow, but everything you need is a little change, a small rebound, and things can start to go in our direction. And we are a good team, so we can really accumulate them, but we just have to worry about one at a time.
“We are going to do it as a team and we have not yet left it.”
The jets scored their only goal just after the expiration of a penalty, but are only 1 for 16 on the advantage of the man in the series.
“I think that at the end of the day, we were able to score on our chances,” said striker Nikolaj Ehlers who scored their only goal. “It’s as simple as that.”
The jets were the best NHL road team in the regular season, but are still without victory on the road for the whole series. They have lost nine consecutive games on the road in the playoff series in total and the five in the playoffs to be upgraded 25-8.
“If I had the answer to why, we would have obtained one at some point,” said Ehlers.
Get daily national news
Get the best news of the day, the titles of political, economic and current affairs, delivered in your reception box once a day.
Arniel has made changes to her four lines before match 4.
“I thought it was great,” he said. “We worked well. We behaved well. All lines had zone time. “
Jets have now lost five consecutive games for the Stanley 2021 Cup qualifiers and are now in an essential situation for match 5 on Thursday in Winnipeg.
“Don’t lose your last game,” said Arniel. “Really simple – don’t lose your last game.
“We are going to have to go home and win the next one to see here. So we were able to do the job, focus on this next game. Match 5 is what it is.”
The jets had some decent early chances before Dylan Demelo took a badly advised penalty for having kept the Granlund stick in the neutral area and the stars made the remuneration of Winnipeg.
The jets cleared the washer on the ice after the game that followed, but Granlund gathered the washer of its own end, patinated through the neutral area and cut the end of the jets before sending a low Wrister to the goal of the high slit that escaped Hellebuyck to open the score at 8:36.
It was the kind of shot that Hellebuyck should have stopped, but instead, the jets fell behind the eight bullets as they so often have in their previous matches in the playoff series.
Winnipeg brought most of the game for the first 20 minutes, surpassing the stars 10-5, but could not have one in front of Jake Oettinger.
The jets started the second period with a minute to play on a Tyler Seguin penalty, and a few moments after the expiration of the penalty, Winnipeg went up to the board.
Kyle Connor obtained the ehlers washer on the half-world before Ehlers sends a shot to the goal which surprised Oettinger and beats the caretaker’s goalkeeper to equalize the 62 seconds match as part of the middle.
Each team would fail on a powerful play look later in the period while the game was deadlocked, each team in turn controlled the game.
Winnipeg had a great chance to take the latest lead on a rush to the bizarre man while Alex Iafallo wore the washer under the goal line before sending a pass in front of Connor, but the sniper of the jets pulled the washer in the left cushion of Oettinger.
It turned out to be a huge moment because the stars found their heads exactly a minute later.
After Neal Pionk pinched the blue of stars, Nino Niederreiter covered the point for him, but he failed to put the washer in depth, by turning it to Mikko Rantanen. He sent the puck to Granlund to relaunch a 2 against 1 that Granlund finished laughing at the top in front of Hellebuyck to do 2-1 with 2:08 to go in the second.
Winnipeg has maintained their advantage in penalties after 40 minutes, exceeding Dallas 20-13.
The stars had a golden opportunity to store the game at only 3:26 in the third when Haydn Fleury received a double minor for a sticking after caught Roope Hintz in the mouth.
Winnipeg ended up with a superb look about two minutes after the start of the penalty when Connor was arose on a partial breakaway, but he could not get much on his shot when he got out of Oettinger’s Pad.
With only a few seconds to go into the double minor, Matt Duchene rang a transverse bar and it seemed that Winnipeg would be death, but after the washer struck the crossbar, she landed on the stick of Miro Heiskanen at the point. Playing in his first game since January, Heiskanen slipped the washer to Granlund for a single timing from the game to the left of Hellebuyck and he beat Hellebuyck to reach 3-1 with 12:37 to play.
It was the first round of hat in playoffs for Granlund, which had only scored one goal in ten games in playoffs in the evening and 12 goals in 69 playoffs dating from 2014.
Hellebuyck made several backups on the third section to keep her team in it, leading to a huge power game with 4:53 to do. But Winnipeg failed to record a shot in the luck of two minutes, the best look after the expiration of the penalty when Pionk was stopped on a low percentage look high in the slit.
Before the game that followed with 2:51 to play, the jets pulled Hellebuyck for an additional attacker, needing to resume magic 6 against 5 who kept them alive in match 7 of their first round series with St. Louis.
But the jets have never really threatened to score while the chronometer passed on another loss of road in the playoffs.
Oettinger has ahead of Hellebuyck in this duel of the best American guards, the Dallas goalkeeper turning 31 shots while Hellebuyck made 21 stops on defeat, although it was the first time that Hellebuyck was the first time that Hellebuyck de Winnipeg.
The special teams also remain a problem for jets, which went 0 for 3 on the power game, while Dallas marked twice with the advantage of man.
The jets will try to save their season Thursday evening in match 5 of the series in Winnipeg. The washer will fall around 8:50 p.m. with a pre-match cover on 680 CJOB from 6:00 p.m.
