One point away, Jets chalk out path to playoffs with 6-2 victory over Sharks

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This article was published 10/04/2023 (929 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Third time was the charm for the Winnipeg Jets when it came to those pesky San Jose Sharks. And a dominant 6-2 victory over the sad-sack squad on Monday night now has them on the cusp of punching their ticket to the playoffs.

“One point,” Jets forward Mason Appleton said in the locker room at Canada Life Centre. “Obviously, you can kind of get help from other teams but you want to control your own destiny and that’s where we are right now.”

Indeed, Winnipeg now just needs to get a single solitary point out of their final two regular-season games — tonight in Minnesota against the Wild and Thursday night in Colorado against the Avalanche — to be able to compete for Lord Stanley. There’s also a scenario in which they drop both in regulation but get some help on the out-of-town scoreboard.

“We’ve been preaching the last little while to stay aggressive, stay aggressive. We’re going for it. And we’re going to stay aggressive,” Jets coach Rick Bowness said of the mindset.

“The last couple games here, we’ve been very aggressive. We’ve been setting the tone, setting the pace. And that’s when we’re at our best. And that means both sides of the puck, that means not giving up a lot of chances and pressuring the other team all over the ice. That’s Winnipeg Jet hockey when we’re doing that.”

The Jets slayed some demons by finally getting some pucks past San Jose goaltender (and Manitoba product) James Reimer, who had stopped 77 of 79 shots in a pair of head-to-head victories earlier this year.

Six different scorers lit the lamp behind Reimer, and seven players recorded multi-point games, giving the crowd of 13,428 plenty to cheer about.

Winnipeg improves to 45-32-3. San Jose drops to 22-42-16.

Let’s go to the tape:

1 Winnipeg’s victory created a juicy situation in Alberta on Monday night, with the Calgary Flames hosting the Nashville Predators in a true elimination game. The game was still going at press time.

The winner would still have a faint pulse, but would need to run the table the rest of the week. For Calgary, that would mean beating San Jose on Wednesday. For Nashville, it would mean defeating Minnesota on Thursday and Colorado on Friday.

And none of that would matter if the Jets get just a single, solitary point against either the Wild or Avalanche. They certainly helped the cause by going 4-1 on this five-game homestand.

“We’ve been dealing with the noise since January, right?” said Jets defenceman Josh Morrissey, referring to how the team was once flirting with first place in both the Central Division and Western Conference only to take a prolonged tumble.

“It’s a change of perspective now. At that point when we came back (for the homestand), we had seven games left and we just have to go after it. There was no time to wait now or anything like that. So, we’ve been battling all year and we got a huge two points. Obviously, we still control our own fate and we’re going to take our business into this road trip. We’re playing free and confident.”

2 This pivotal game didn’t start off very well, with the great Erik Karlsson beating goaltender Connor Hellebuyck on the first shot of the night, just 20 seconds into the first period.

“There was 59 minutes and 40 seconds left to go, so I don’t think there was really much of a letdown or anything like that,” Morrissey said of the early adversity. “We know we’re playing great hockey right now and we’re a confident team and we just got back on the horse.”

Pierre-Luc Dubois tied it on the power play just 51 seconds later — on Winnipeg’s first shot of the night — and the track meet was on.

“We’ve been preaching a lot to stay in the moment. We had one player make a mistake and they got an early goal, but we came right back with the power play goal. So there was no panic,” said Bowness.

Adam Lowry and Kyle Connor scored before the period was over, and the Jets were starting to run away.

After a scoreless second period, Appleton erased any chances of a collapse when he scored just 16 seconds into the final frame.

Karlsson struck again at 3:42 — becoming just the sixth defenceman in NHL history to hit 100 points in a season, and the first since Brian Leetch did it in 1991-92 — but Morrissey and Mark Scheifele, also on the power play, turned it into a rout.

Morrissey had three points on the night (one goal, two assists), while Lowry, Connor, Appleton and Scheifele each had a goal and an assist. Nino Niederreiter and Dylan DeMelo each had two assists.

“Twenty seconds in, to give up a goal like that, it’s not an ideal start,” said Appleton. “But the way we answered was unbelievable. We were relentless all night. For the first time all year, we beat Reimer. He’s hard our number both games. Finally, it fell tonight and it feels good.”

3 This season was home, sweet home for the Jets. They finished with a record of 26-13-2 at the downtown rink, which is their second-best 41-game effort in the 2.0 era. Only a stellar 32-7-2 record in the 2017-18 campaign was better.

Winnipeg has struggled at times on the road, with just a 19-19-1 record with two games remaining.

“There’s only two games left, we need a point,” said Bowness.

“All we’ve got to do is focus on that game (Tuesday) night. We know the importance of that game, we know the importance of the next game. Right now we’re feeling good about ourselves.”

4 In addition to Karlsson joining Club 100, there was another nice story that played out for the visitors on Monday.

Tristen Robins, the pride of Clear Lake, was called up from the American Hockey League to make his NHL debut. The 21-year-old, who was drafted in the second round (56th overall) in 2020, is in his first year of pro hockey after a great junior career with the Saskatoon Blades. He has 38 points (17 goals, 21 assists) in 63 games with the San Jose Barracuda this year.

He played 15:36, with two shots on goal, one hit and went 5-for-11 in faceoffs. Robins had a huge contingent of family and friends on hand to witness his special night.

5 The Jets handed out some year-end hardware prior to the game.

Hellebuyck won the “Three Stars” award, the fifth time in six years he’s captured the honour. He stopped 19 of 21 shots Monday as he made his league-leading 63rd start of the season, and 12th straight.

Blake Wheeler won the Community Service Award for his charitable work, which includes raising money for CancerCare, donating to the Christmas Cheer Board and Children’s Hospital, and being an ambassador of the True North Youth Foundation.

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Lowry was given the Dan Snyder Memorial Award, which is given to the player who “embodies perseverance, dedication and hard work without reward or recognition, so that his team and teammates might succeed.”

UP NEXT: The scene shifts to St. Paul, where the Jets will have the chance to pop some champagne.

“One point gets us in and we’re going to head to Minny expecting to win and we’re going to play a winning hockey game,” said Appleton. “We know where we are in the standings. Calgary knows where they are. Nashville knows where they are. It’s a dogfight and it’s the best time of the year. We’re excited.”

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg

Mike McIntyre
Reporter

Mike McIntyre is a sports reporter whose primary role is covering the Winnipeg Jets. After graduating from the Creative Communications program at Red River College in 1995, he spent two years gaining experience at the Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in 1997, where he served on the crime and justice beat until 2016. Read more about Mike.

Every piece of reporting Mike produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.