It’s official: the Winnipeg whiteout will be making a return again in April.
Needing just a point to clinch a playoff spot, the Winnipeg Jets did one better Tuesday night, edging the Washington Capitals 3-2 in overtime in a battle of NHL heavyweights that lived up to the hype.
Alex Ovechkin tied the game in the final four minutes, but Nikolaj Ehlers scored the overtime winner 88 seconds into the extra period as the Jets won a showdown of the top two teams in the overall standings.
“That was a heavyweight battle right there,” said Jets head coach Scott Arniel. “Even though one’s from the east, one’s from the west – it’s like we play each other eight times a year. There was a lot of trash talking going on. There was some big hits. There was a lot happening and I think both teams recognize that you want to be number one. It was a great game. I just thought punch, counterpunch kinda going on all night.”
Josh Morrissey and Mason Appleton also scored goals for the Jets in the win.
The Jets clinch a playoff spot for the third straight year and seventh time in the last eight seasons.
“At the start of the year our first goal, we have a few goals, but our first goal was to eliminate eight teams and we did that obviously after 60 minutes. So, you have to applaud our players for doing that and would have liked to have done it against Buffalo.
“To win the game and get that extra point is just sorta the cream on the top.”
It’s the first time in franchise history the Jets have swept a season series from the Capitals after also winning their first meeting back in February in overtime. The victory moves the Jets eight points up on the Dallas Stars for top spot in the Central Division and just one point back of the Capitals for first place overall.
“This was a big challenge for us,” said Ehlers. “And I believe they felt the same way in the other room and we played really well I thought. When we got the pucks deep and worked down there, we got some zone time.”
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The Jets played without Gabriel Vilardi as he’s out week-to-week with an upper-body injury. All four of the Jets forward lines were switched up with Alex Iafallo getting promoted to the top line, while Rasmus Kupari appeared in his first game in three weeks.
Winnipeg got on the board first at the 6:50 mark of the first when Morrissey took a drop-pass from Mark Scheifele and one-timed it toward the goal. The shot glanced off Martin Fehervary and past Logan Thompson for Morrissey’s 12th of the season.
The game received a dash of spice with just under three minutes left in the first when Colin Miller sent Andrew Mangiapane hard into the boards, earning him a boarding penalty. But right after the whistle blew to stop the play, Mangiapane decked Miller in the chest with a cross-check, causing a skirmish.
After the offsetting minors expired, Mangiapane got the last laugh. With Washington on a 3-on-2 in transition, Mangiapane had a give-and-go with Jakob Chychrun that Mangiapane finished off with a bit of a knuckler that floated past Connor Hellebuyck to level the score after 20 minutes.
Washington controlled the play for the bulk of the second period, in part because of a pair of power plays but at even strength they were the better team for most of the 20 minutes. Winnipeg managed just two shots on goal through the first 17:30 of the second before a late-period power play helped to change their fortunes.
With just a handful of seconds left in the period, Cole Perfetti rushed the puck up the ice and into the Washington end, dropping it off to Nino Niederreiter near the point. Niederreiter sent a cross-ice pass to Appleton, who was promoted to the second PP unit because of the injury to Vilardi.
Appleton took a moment to settle the puck before roofing it over the glove of Thompson for his ninth of the season with just 12 seconds left in the period, a few moments after the power play expired.
The Capitals wound up outshooting the Jets 12-7 in the middle frame for a two-period total of 18-15 in Washington’s favour.
Where it mattered most, however, Winnipeg had the 2-1 lead, and the Jets entered the night with an NHL-best record of 36-0-1 when leading after two.
The Jets’ sputtering power play was given a chance to extend Winnipeg’s lead when Taylor Raddysh was called for interference with 13:31 left in regulation. Having gone two-for-17 in their previous seven games, the PP needed a spark but they couldn’t find it, managing just one shot on goal in two minutes.
Winnipeg held onto their 2-1 lead for most of the period before the many Washington fans in attendance got exactly what they wanted.
Aliaksei Protas won a puck battle along the wall in Winnipeg’s end and sent a pass to the far faceoff dot, also known as the office of one Alexander Ovechkin. The sniper took the pass and ripped a wrister through Hellebuyck to tie the game with his 889th career goal.
When the horn sounded at the end of the third period, the Jets had officially punched their ticket to the playoffs. A short video played on the big screen showing the word ‘clinched’, prompting a big cheer from the sold-out crowd.
But there was still business to take care of, and it looked like Washington might find a way to steal the game as they held possession of the puck for over a minute to start overtime. Their best chance came early in OT when Protas rang a shot off the outside of the post.
The Jets finally gained possession of the puck when the Capitals mishandled a pass, prompting the Caps to make a line change. Dylan Samberg collected the puck behind Winnipeg’s net and noticed Ehlers sprinting up the ice despite having been on since the start of OT. Samberg banked a pass off the boards right to the tape of Ehlers as he sped into the Washington end and wired a shot past Thompson, an electric end to a fantastic hockey game.
Hellebuyck made 27 saves to earn the win while most of the NHL will be more focused on the goal chase of Ovechkin, who now needs six more goals to pass Wayne Gretzky’s record for most career goals all-time.
The Jets will look to make it two wins in a row when they host New Jersey Friday night. Puck drop is just after 7 p.m. with pregame coverage on 680 CJOB beginning at 5 p.m.
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