Granlund’s hat trick grounds Jets

DALLAS — Winnipeg Jets owner Mark Chipman paced back-and-forth in the hallway as team trainers scurried to load equipment bags on to a waiting truck. General manager Kevin Cheveldayoff and assistant Larry Simmons stood silently nearby with grim expressions on their faces. You could tell this one hurt. A lot.

Inside the visiting locker room at American Airlines Center, players shuffled past each other, save for goaltender Connor Hellebuyck and forward Nikolaj Ehlers who were called upon to stand in front of a media horde. As the questions flowed their way, long pauses often followed in their search for adequate answers.

Who are these Jets?

They’re certainly not the powerhouse squad that took the NHL by storm during the regular season, with a deadly power play, no shortage of primary and secondary scoring, terrific defending, poise under pressure and world-class goaltending that all contributed to winning the Presidents’ Trophy.

Instead, they appear to be an emotionally fragile group that is wilting under an intense spotlight, one simply unable to win a game away from the comforts of home now facing an unceremonious end to their Stanley Cup dreams.

A 3-1 loss on Tuesday night to the Dallas Stars leaves the Jets in a 3-1 deficit in their best-of-seven series. They face the daunting task of needing to win three straight elimination games, starting Thursday at Canada Life Centre.

“This is pretty raw. It’s playoffs and it’s been, I don’t know, maybe five minutes since the end of the game. Every loss is frustrating,” said Hellebuyck, who along with his teammates has now lost nine straight playoff games on the road spanning three years and four different opponents.

Winnipeg has been outscored a staggering 45-14 in that span, including 25-8 in five straight defeats in enemy territory this spring.

“If I had the answer to why, we would have gotten one at some point,” said Ehlers, who scored Winnipeg’s lone goal in this one. “I don’t know. I actually thought we played a really good game.”

That might be the most puzzling thing of all for the Jets. They actually did control large segments of play, put up a whopping 72 shot attempts (compared to just 45 from Dallas) yet still came out on the wrong end of what felt like a “must win” game.

So where did this all go wrong?

GOALIE WOES CONTINUE: The good news is Hellebuyck stopped the first shot he faced — something he’d only done six times in 10 previous playoff games this spring. The other four times ended with the red light going off behind him.

However, the fourth one of the night beat him — and it’s another example of one you’d expect Hellebyyck to make. With Dallas on the power play, Mikael Granlund skated into the Winnipeg zone and, using defenceman Neal Pionk and a subtle screen, ripped a wrister that beat the five-time Vezina Trophy nominee just 8:36 into the game.

This was the 11th goal to elude Hellebuyck from outside 30 feet already in these playoffs. That’s an average of one per game, which is alarming to say the least. He simply hasn’t been good enough.

“I had a clean enough look. It was just a damn perfect shot, just above my pad and below my glove,” Hellebuyck explained. “I don’t know, I need to review it. I need to review it, see it again.”

Granlund’s second goal of the night may not have had the same foul odour, but it’s another one Hellebuyck likely wants back. The veteran Finnish forward fired from just inside the faceoff circle to Hellebuyck’s left during a two-on-one rush, restoring the Dallas lead at 17:52 of the second period.

Nino Niederreiter had turned the puck over a few seconds earlier, leading to the odd-man rush. Like his goaltender, he also needs to be better.

The third and final goal of the game came at the tail end of a four-minute power play for Dallas at 7:23 of the final frame, with Granlund once again doing the damage. This time, Hellebuyck had no chance on his bar-down blast. It came shortly after Kyle Connor was stopped on a shorthanded breakaway.

“Probably wants the one back, the first one, the wrister coming in,” Jets head coach Scott Arniel said when asked for an assessment of his goaltender’s play.

“But at the end of the day, we’ve got to get him some run support. He’ll do his job. We’ve got to get him some run support. We’ve got to get him the lead, we’ve got to get out in front. Make this team chase us, instead of us chasing them like we have in the last couple of games.”

JUGGLING ACT: Arniel did an extreme makeover with his forward lines, making tweaks to all four in an attempt to generate more offence.

Alex Iafallo moved up to play with Kyle Connor and Mark Scheifele, while Gabe Vilardi dropped down on a new-look second line comprised of captain Adam Lowry and Ehlers. Cole Perfetti and Vlad Namestnikov skated on a third trio with Niederreiter, while Mason Appleton was bumped to the fourth line beside Morgan Barron and Brandon Tanev.

Arniel also made one change on the blue-line, inserting veteran Luke Schenn on the third pair with Haydn Fleury while making Colin Miller a healthy scratch.

“I thought it was great. It worked out good. It matched up well. All the lines had zone time,” said Arniel.

Except, of course, for finding the back of the net. It certainly doesn’t help Hellebuyck’s case that Jake Oettinger was once again the best goaltender on the ice, stopping 31 of 32 shots that came his way. Hellebuyck finished with 21 saves.

“If we can’t find more than one goal, we’re not going to win hockey games, especially against this hockey team,” said Arniel.

“We’ve got to get more than one goal off of those (shot attempts). Maybe that’s get driving harder than that. Finding those rebounds, screening, whatever it is. We’ve done it, we’ve done it in the past and we’ve got to find a way to do it the next game.”

NEVER A BAD IDEA TO SHOOT: Ehlers has never met a puck he didn’t want to shoot — a mindset that would benefit some of his pass-happy teammates to adopt at times.

The latest example of why that’s never a bad idea came early in the second period, just as a Winnipeg power play had expired. Ehlers made a great play in the Dallas offensive zone to keep the puck in, then seemed to catch Oettinger by surprise with a sneaky shot from a tough angle that tied the game 1-1.

Ehlers began these playoffs with just four goals in 40 career postseason games. The pending unrestricted free agent now has three in his last three outings.

KEY PLAY: Granlund’s third of the night was the dagger. He’s now the second Finnish trade addition to burn the Jets for a hat trick in this series, with Mikko Rantanen accounting for all three goals in the Game 1 victory in Winnipeg.

THREE STARS:

1. DAL C Mikael Granlund: 3 goals

2. DAL G Jake Oettinger: 31 saves

3. WPG LW Nikolaj Ehlers: 1 goaL

EXTRA, EXTRA: The Stars welcomed back No. 1 defenceman Miro Heiskanen, who had been sidelined since late January with a knee injury. He was eased back in, playing just 14:52 while managing the primary assist on Granlund’s third goal.

Winnipeg went 0-for-3 on the power play and are now just 1-for-16 in the series. Dallas went 2-for-4 as the Jets continue to be second-best in the special teams battle.

The Jets flew home following the game and will now get ready for their next biggest game of the year.

“Real simple. Don’t lose your last game,” Arniel said of the message to his group.

“We’re going to have to go home and win the next one so we come back here. We’ve got to get the job done, focus in on this next game. Game 5. That’s what it’s all about. Work to make sure that we get ourselves back here to Dallas for a Game 6.”

Added Hellebuyck: “Just win one game. Leave it all out there. I leave it all out there every night. I’m doing my best. Sometimes it’s a heartbreak, but all it takes is one little change, one little bounce and things can start going our way. We’re a good team, so we can really rack (the wins) up, but we’ve just got to worry (about) one at a time.”

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

X and Bluesky: @mikemcintyrewpg