The Winnipeg Jets are on the verge of doing something they’ve never done before.
Thanks to yet another exemplary performance in a 4-0 win in Dallas Thursday night, the Jets need to pick up just one more point in their final three games to clinch both a division and a conference title for the first time in the history of NHL hockey in Winnipeg.
Kyle Connor scored a pair of goals and Connor Hellebuyck made 25 saves for his eighth shutout of the season as the Jets moved six points clear of the Stars for top spot with a defensive masterpiece.
“They haven’t left our rearview mirror all year long,” said Jets head coach Scott Arniel. “We had to be good early and I thought our first period was really strong and then we built off of that. But, yeah, just throughout our lineup, there was a lot of guys doing what they needed to do to help us have success.”
Winnipeg extended their franchise record with their 54th win of the campaign and the Jets now have 112 points on the season, which is just two points shy of the team record.
The Jets registered a season-best 44 hits in the victory to take three of four games from the Stars in the season series.
“We’ve been trying to kinda fight them off all year,” said defenceman Josh Morrissey who had a pair of assists. “It was a big four point game. So, still hockey left to be played obviously for us to kinda accomplish our short term goal of winning the division, but it was a big game.
“Having our game right for this time of year and obviously game 83 is on the horizon.”
Both Connor and Mark Scheifele surpassed their career-highs for points in a season in the victory.
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Hellebuyck broke his own franchise record with his career-best 45th win of the season, which is the sixth most in NHL history and only three wins shy of the league record which is shared by Braden Holtby and Martin Brodeur.
“It seems every night, the last month or so, he’s been accomplishing a new record of some kind,” said Morrissey. “Honestly, you can’t put into words how important he is to our team.
“What he’s doing this year is special and definitely deserves to be talked about cause it doesn’t happen very often.”
Both Nikolaj Ehlers and Neal Pionk returned to the lineup from injuries in the win and Ehlers got into a third period fight with Sam Steel as he had two shots on goal in just under 20 minutes of ice time.
“He sticks up for himself,” Arniel said. “I’ve seen him in a few fights now. He’s a tough scrappy kid. When you have sorta elite top-six players like that, that are extremely competitive like he is, and doesn’t give up an inch, and that’s just the competitive side of him, and you love to see it.”
Both teams had a few chances to score during a fast-paced, physical first period before the Jets broke the ice with less than two minutes to go.
As the Jets broke the puck into the Dallas end, Adam Lowry dropped the puck off to Morrissey for a one-timer that Nino Niederreiter deflected past Jake Oettinger, opening the scoring at the 18:37 mark of the first.
Winnipeg wound up outshooting the Stars 13-10 through 20 minutes.
The Jets doubled their lead at the 3:37 mark of the second. After the Winnipeg were called for icing, they were able to corral the puck off the ensuing faceoff and their fourth line broke the puck out up the ice.
Morgan Barron made a move at the Dallas blue line to elude Lian Bichsel, creating space to drive the net and beat Oettinger on the blocker side, reminiscent of the goal he scored to open the scoring against the Blues on Monday.
Winnipeg carried the 2-0 lead into the third period as Hellebuyck turned aside all seven shots he saw in the middle frame.
The Jets had to begin the third period shorthanded as Ehlers was called for the game’s first penalty in the dying seconds of the second but Winnipeg got the kill.
A great backcheck by the Jets’ top line led to the backbreaker with just over six minutes gone in the third.
After Connor turned the puck over near the Dallas blue line, he helped break up a play in the defensive zone, leading to a bad pass that was intercepted in the slot by Alex Iafallo. He sent the puck up the ice where Scheifele raced to it, chipping it past Bichsel and into the Stars’ end where Connor was first to it before deking out Oettinger and sliding the puck into the net to make it 3-0 with 13:40 remaining.
The assist for Scheifele was his 85th point of the season, setting a new career-high while Connor matched his career high with his 93rd point of the campaign.
A few minutes later, Connor set a new career-high in points, scoring his 40th goal of the season thanks to a great setup from Morrissey and Jaret Anderson-Dolan, who let the pass from Morrissey go through his legs and right to Connor alone in front of Oettinger.
From there, the Jets allowed very little to get through to Hellebuyck, who only had to make seven saves in the third.
While one more point by the Jets would clinch the division, any more losses by Dallas would also guarantee the division title for the Jets, which technically would not be the first in franchise history as the Atlanta Thrashers won the Southeast in 2007 before getting swept in the first round by the Rangers.
The original Jets did not win a division title in 17 seasons before moving to Arizona.
The Jets get their first crack to seal the deal Saturday evening in the Windy City against the Blackhawks. Pregame coverage on 680 CJOB starts at 4 p.m. with the puck dropping just after 6 p.m.
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