Feisty Jets end season in style

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This article was published 08/04/2017 (3161 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Meaningless games? Maybe.

But if the Winnipeg Jets are to be judged harshly for missing the NHL post-season for the fifth time in six seasons, you can also say they didn’t tank when that would’ve been the path of least resistance.

The Jets won their last seven regular-season games, including a rousing come-from-behind 2-1 effort over the Nashville Predators in Saturday’s season finale at the MTS Centre. Winnipeg finished the regular season at 40-35-7 and the winning streak established a franchise record.

Captain Blake Wheeler added some drama in the third period, scoring the short-handed game winner on a 2-on-1 break after a perfect feed from Mark Scheifele with 45 seconds left. It was Wheeler’s 26th goal of the season.

‘The last stretch of games that we put together we could’ve folded over an died. But it was about us in here and kinda the way we wanted to leave the season, even though it wasn’t as rewarding as we hoped. These guys, they pushed. Our big guys stepped up, our young guys did the same. Everyone followed — it’s a great group’

-Jets winger Chris Thorburn 

“It’s been an up-and-down season, obviously, and there’s been a lot of frustrations but you look at the guys we have in our room, the amount of talent we have on the ice now, you just have to think our group is knocking on the door,” said Wheeler. “The city of Winnipeg should take a lot of pride in the fact our team didn’t quit. There are teams in this league that gave up down the stretch when they were out of it and we certainly did not.

“That means more than the wins. I mean the (wins) were great, they made it enjoyable to come to the rink in a bad situation but just being involved in games and just being in the fight with that group of guys, that’s what you start building the right things with.”

A furious finish by the Jets served as a preview of the battle for jobs next season (hint: it’s already underway) and as a referendum on their willingness to play hard for head coach Paul Maurice (hint: he appears to have their commitment).

Winnipeg’s penalty-killing unit, a sore point for most of the season, continued its strong play again Saturday. The Jets killed off six Preds power plays, including a 5-on-3 lasting 1:12 in the second period, and went 18-for-19 in their last eight games overall. 

The Predators, who completed the regular-season with a 41-27-12 record, will finish with the final Western Conference wild-card playoff berth. The Preds will meet the Central Division champion Chicago Blackhawks in the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Midway through the second period, Preds defenceman Ryan Ellis intercepted Bryan Little’s cross-ice pass and tucked the puck past Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck on a short-handed breakaway to give Nashville a 1-0 lead.

The visitors thought they had 2-0 edge at 15:25 of the second when Viktor Arvidsson punched the puck past Hellebuyck during a goal-mouth scramble. Officials waved the goal off for goaltender interference (Arvidsson collided with Hellebuyck in the crease) and a subsequent coach’s challenge by Nashville’s Peter Laviolette was denied.

Rookie left-winger Kyle Connor, returning to the Jets lineup for the first time since being demoted to the AHL’s Manitoba Moose on Nov. 29, tied the game at 10:47 of the third period when he took Adam Lowry’s nifty setup to snap the puck past Preds goaltender Pekka Rinne. It was Connor’s second goal in 20 NHL starts.

“Right away, he’s showing that his first year pro was good for him,” said Maurice. “He was on the puck, didn’t come off it once in battles, won some loose pucks. And that is the area of growth.”

Rinne finished with 34 saves. Hellebuyck, who stopped 33 shots, confirmed following the game he will play for Team USA at the world championship in Paris and Cologne next month.

“You know what, these games are hard to get into but it says a lot about this locker room, that we care,” said Hellebuyck. “We care about every single game, no matter what the circumstance. When the fans got into it in the third, it was just a special feeling.”

Veteran Jets forward Thorburn was emotional when he met with reporters following the game.

 “We’ve been through a lot. We’ve fought adversity,” said Thorburn, who will become an unrestricted free agent in the off-season and may have played his final game in a Winnipeg uniform.  “The last stretch of games that we put together we could’ve folded over an died. But it was about us in here and kinda the way we wanted to leave the season, even though it wasn’t as rewarding as we hoped. These guys, they pushed. Our big guys stepped up, our young guys did the same. Everyone followed — it’s a great group.”

The Jets will empty their lockers this morning and prepare for a lengthy off-season.

NOTEWORTHY

Right-winger Patrik Laine captured the season-ending Three Stars Award while another rookie, defenceman Josh Morrisssey, earned recognition as the club’s most community-minded player with the Wawanesa Insurance Community Service Award. 

Centre Bryan Little, meanwhile, was named winner of the Dan Snyder Memorial Award, given to the player who “best embodies perseverance, dedication and hard work without reward or recognition, so that his team and teammates might succeed.”

Last month, Little was also voted Winnipeg’s nominee for the NHL’s Bill Masterton Memorial Award by the local chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers Association…

The Jets, who went 0-for-2 Saturday, were 10-for-40 on the power play in their last 13 games.

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca  Twitter: @sawa14