Time for the Jets to write their own bit of hockey history Strong start has team poised to flip the script from 2018 playoff clash with Vegas By: Mike McIntyre Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Wednesday, Apr. 19, 2023

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 19/04/2023 (871 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

LAS VEGAS — One game does not a playoff series make. Just ask the 2017-18 Winnipeg Jets, who raced out to a 1-0 lead over the Vegas Golden Knights in the Western Conference Final, only to drop the next four and have their season come to an end.

From the thrill of initial victory to the agony of multiple, successive defeats. Life can come at you pretty fast.

Now, five springs later, and the Jets have once again struck the first blow against the Golden Knights in their best-of-seven series following an impressive 5-1 win Tuesday night at T-Mobile Arena. That will no doubt have plenty of fans and pundits wondering if this could be a case of deja vu all over again.

Only a handful of players who were around then are still suiting up for the same teams now. The stakes were much higher then, with a trip to the Stanley Cup Final on the line then rather than just the second round now. Winnipeg was the favoured team over the plucky Vegas underdogs then. Now, the roles are reversed.

“It goes to show that one win is great and you can build off of it, but until you get to four wins, it doesn’t really matter,” is how one of those skaters who was around, Josh Morrissey, described it to me on Wednesday.

“Playoffs, each game is a new challenge, each game is a new chess match.”

It’s impossible to predict how this will play out. If I could, I’d likely be emptying out one of the many sportsbooks here on the Strip. Based on what transpired in Game 1, however, there’s plenty of reasons to like Winnipeg’s odds.

First and foremost, the Jets have quickly got out of the way what was an absolute must as a No. 8 seed playing a No. 1 seed — winning a game in enemy territory. They went 20-20-1 on the road this year, compared with 26-13-2 at Canada Life Centre, so that’s no small feat. Now, the worst case scenario is a Sin City split and what will surely be a raucous welcome home Saturday afternoon in front of a sold-out “Whiteout” inside, and a sold-out street party outside.

Home-ice “advantage” is often misleading in the playoffs, and Tuesday was Exhibit A of that. All four road teams that night drew first blood, after two of four did the same Monday. Winnipeg can’t approach Thursday’s Game 2 like they’re playing with house money, but you can bet they’ll be the more relaxed and comfortable of the two teams. It might not be a must-win for Vegas, at least not technically. It sure feels like a can’t afford to lose.

Secondly, the Jets got the job done despite a depleted lineup, as dynamic winger Nikolaj Ehlers was a scratch due to an upper-body injury. Young phenom Cole Perfetti remains out as well. That’s two of their top nine forwards, a big chunk of potential offence missing. The fact they still put up five goals feels like a bonus, especially knowing both players should be back sooner than later.

Meanwhile, the Golden Knights didn’t get the boost they’d expected from the long-awaited return of captain Mark Stone, who was labouring at times as he played for the first time in three months since back surgery. Nor was there any kind of bump from the long-awaited playoff debut of Jack Eichel, who did his best David Copperfield impression and disappeared for most of the game.

Last, but certainly not least, is how Winnipeg won the game. This was not a Connor Hellebuyck special, where he had to throw on his cape and swoop in to save the day as we’ve seen him do so often. Not even close. Sure, Hellebuyck was on his game, but the Jets held the Golden Knights to just 17 total shots while peppering Laurent Brossoit with 31 of their own.

Most impressive was the third period shot clock, which favoured Winnipeg 10-2. Rather than try to sit on a 2-1 lead and hang on for dear life, the Jets put the pedal to the metal and sped away.

Given the big stage, it was arguably their best, most all-around performance of the season.

There were also numerous encouraging individual performances, with players stepping up as you’d hoped they would. Pierre-Luc Dubois was the force you know he can be, setting up Kyle Connor for the opening goal, then sniping one of his own 62 seconds later.

Blake Wheeler looked like a guy who knows he’s down to maybe his last shot at playoff success, with a a goal and two assists on the night to lead the way offensively.

The legend of Adam Lowry continued to grow, as his shutdown line effectively did their job while also generating plenty of great offensive looks which resulted in a pair of goals for the team’s surprising ice-time leader at forward. Linemate Morgan Barron proved to be a warrior, taking a skate cut to the face, getting more than 75 stitches and not even missing a full period. As coach Rick Bowness said, that gave everyone a boost, and they were still all buzzing about it following Wednesday’s practice.

The two trade-deadline adds, Nino Niederreiter and Vlad Namestnikov, played a pivotal net-front role on Wheeler’s goal which extended the lead to 3-1. General manager Kevin Cheveldayoff is looking smarter with each passing game for getting those two for a pair of draft picks, especially in light of Perfetti and now Ehlers being sidelined.

The blue-line was rock-solid, contributing at both ends of the ice. They didn’t give Vegas’s flashy forwards much time and space while playing physical, in-your-face hockey like you need to at this time of year.

Add it all up, and it’s not surprising Winnipeg stood tall at the end of the night. There was no doubt which was the better team. Now, the big question is whether they can do it again, and again, and again.

“The only thing you know in the playoffs is that every win gets harder to get,” Bowness told me when I asked how the mindset potentially changes after grabbing the first one on the road. “Getting win two will be harder than getting win one. Getting win three, getting win four, it just ramps up every series. Regardless of who wins that first game, getting that second one is going to be tough, same as getting the third, same with the knockout game. We know how tough (Thursday) is going to be.”

You know Vegas will make adjustments, just as they did so well in 2018 when they quickly flipped the script. Winnipeg must be ready to counter. If they can, they’ll ensure hockey history doesn’t repeat itself.

Wouldn’t that be something? A Knight and day difference, you could say.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg