Game 6: Winnipeg Jets at Dallas Stars

DALLAS – An additional emotional component has been added to the mix as the Winnipeg Jets try to extend their season.

As they made their way to the rink in Texas for the Saturday morning skate prior to Game 6 against the Dallas Stars, word trickled down that Mark Scheifele’s father, Brad, had passed away during the night at the age of 68.

Jets head coach Scott Arniel addressed the team at the rink before returning to the hotel to spend some time providing support for Scheifele.

When Arniel returned to the rink to speak with reporters on Saturday afternoon, he confirmed that Scheifele would suit up in Game 6.

“Mark will be playing. As he said, (those) would be the wishes of his dad. He would want him to play,” said Arniel. “(Brad) has been pushing hard here. We got to see him (in Winnipeg) earlier in the St. Louis series. He’s with us and Mark really wants to play for him.”

Scheifele let Arniel know this morning that he would be ready to go.

“Mark expressed quickly that he wanted to play for his dad and that this was what his dad would have wanted,” said Arniel. “When (the Jets players) heard that, for them, they were glad to hear that and glad they can help get through this situation.”

Scheifele walked into the arena with close friend Josh Morrissey, who lost his father Tom to cancer in 2021.

“As good as to be expected,” said Arniel, asked how Scheifele was holding up. “It’s great that he got to talk with his family, got back to the meal room and talked to the players and give them a hug. It’s part of what we’ve been preaching here. We’re one big family.

“He needs us now and we’re there for him.”

Arniel lost his own father, Doug, three years ago.

“It hits home,” said Arniel. “I’ve actually been through this experience once before in hockey. It’s not a good feeling. With this group, the thing about them is that winning a hockey game or losing a hockey game or something as serious as this, we’ve got a game to play and we’re going to play hard for Mark. That’s pretty much the chatter that’s happening. Everyone wants to make sure that we don’t let him down.”

The Jets are looking to build on a 4-0 victory in Game 5, but they’re also acutely aware of the emotional toll of the situation Scheifele is sorting through.

“Having such a tight-knit room, close bond with everyone, the support, if he wants to open up about it, be there to listen, but be there to take his mind off things. It’s not an easy thing to navigate, especially with the magnitude of the day in terms of our playoff lives,” said Jets captain Adam Lowry. “It’s important that we’re there for him in just whatever capacity he needs. He needs to know everyone in that room is there to support him, to be whatever he needs us to be. It’s one of those things that you don’t wish upon anyone.

“Just really hope that he’s got the family strength, the great support system around him that helps ease this pain because that’s such a big loss. That’s your mentor, that’s the person you looked up to growing up. It’s the person you want to be like. So, yeah, I think there’s just a lot of little things you have to do to make sure Mark feels supported today and moving forward.”

Working through the emotions of the day is challenging, but Arniel expects his group to rally around the tough news.

“It puts things in perspective that this is just a game,” said Arniel. “Certainly when life situations like this happen, they’re hard on everybody but you know what, Mark doesn’t want those guys to hang their heads or be down. He wants a win and that’s what they’re all talking about.

“That we want to get a win for Mr. Scheifele. Get a chance to get ourselves back home to play Game 7.”

The Jets are not expected to make any lineup changes, while Stars head coach Peter DeBeor confirmed that his team plans to go with the same 11 forwards and seven defencemen on Saturday.

The goalie matchup once again features Connor Hellebuyck for the Jets and Jake Oettinger for the Stars.

As the Jets attempt to stave off elimination for the third time in these Stanley Cup playoffs, they’re also attempting to snap a nine-game road playoff losing skid – one that dates back to Game 1 of the 2023 first-round series with the Vegas Golden Knights.

Hellebuyck has already posted two shutouts in this series, but his home and road splits are surprisingly different and he’s looking to win his first road playoff start in 10 tries as well.

Stars centre Matt Duchene was asked if the spectre of Hellebuyck’s two home shutouts in his past two starts increased the importance of not seeing the series go to a Game 7 that would be played in Winnipeg?

“No, (Hellebuyck) is a great goalie, no matter where he is and he can play a great game, no matter where he is – and we can score goals on him, no matter where he is,” said Duchene. “That’s more of a media narrative than anything. Yeah, maybe there’s some truth to some trends, but at the same time, we’re not looking at that at all coming in (to the game),

“He’s a guy that has a good chance to win the MVP this year and you’ve got to get to him a certain way. We’ve done it at times in this series and been successful and we haven’t at times and he’s been successful.

“That’s what you’re going to get at this time of year with these good teams. The difference between winning and losing is razor thin.”

Here’s some other things to help get you ready for the matchup:

—Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe

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FROM THE PRESS BOX

Mike says: Devastating news this morning about Brad Scheifele. It really does put things in perspective that this is ultimately just a game. In that sense, offering up thoughts on what it’s going to take to win seems trivial. There’s going to be a lot of heavy hearts on the ice tonight.

The Jets have played 300 minutes of road hockey so far these playoffs. Not only had they lost all five of those games, but they’ve skated with a lead for all of five minutes and 39 seconds.

That’s a tough way to operate and something the team would be well-served by changing up. Getting the first goal could do wonders for their confidence, especially in such a tight series where scoring has been at a premium with just 24 combined goals in the first five games.

“We’ve never been a team that’s panicked if we’re down one or two. We’ve always kind of stayed in games. But just that something maybe we haven’t really done in this playoff is get out in front, in front of it, and kind of build off some of that momentum and maybe take the crowd out of it,” Arniel responded on Friday when I asked him about it.

Perhaps putting more pucks towards the Dallas net, like Scheifele did in Game 5 on Thursday to open the scoring when it deflected off Stars defenceman Thomas Harley, would be a good idea?

“Yeah, that’s the bounce that you need in a game like that. We could use about three or four of them (Saturday),” said Arniel.

The Jets have shown time and time again that they are a resilient bunch, but they certainly have their work cut out for them tonight. Regardless of how it turns out, the season has been a huge success for the organization on multiple levels in my eyes.

Ken says: I don’t pretend to know Brad Scheifele well, but he was an outgoing guy and always made sure to say hello if he saw you at the rink.

I had not seen him since the Jets’ fathers’ trip in 2024 that I was covering, but I know how much he loved to watch his youngest son play hockey. It brought him a tremendous amount of joy. Mark and his father were very close and this will be an excruciating personal loss for him to deal with.

It’s no surprise to me that Mark is going to suit up as a way to honour his dad and there’s no doubt that will provide some additional motivation for the Jets’ top centre and the entire group to keep this season going.

Winnipeg Jets centre Mark Scheifele found out Saturday morning that his father, Brad, had died during the course of the night. (Julio Cortez / The Associated Press files)

When I was playing for the Winkler Flyers in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League, I lost my mother, Shirley, in March of 1995, right in the heart of a second-round playoff series with Neepawa. Having the support of my teammates helped with the healing process and our team ended up winning the series in Game 7 to advance to the league championship. This isn’t about me, it’s just meant to provide some context.

The healing process is different for everyone, but the rink can be a refuge at an extremely difficult time like this one. While the news is still devastating for Scheifele to deal with, you can bet the Jets are going to rally around him.

There is no easy transition to the hockey side of things here, but the Jets recognize where this series stands and what they’ll have to do to be successful. They’re coming off their most complete effort of these playoffs. Arniel said after Game 5 that a carbon copy would be required and he’s probably right.

Every game takes on its own personality, but when the Jets are stifling defensively, they’ve been at their best.

Nikolaj Ehlers has been a force in this series with five goals and six points through five games and he’ll need another dynamic effort in this one. Now that Vladislav Namestnikov and Cole Perfetti each checked in with their first points of the series on Thursday, that additional boost of confidence could come in handy — as the trio was already playing hard and finding a way to generate scoring chances.

The Jets did a great job of getting some additional shifts for D-man Josh Morrissey in Game 5, often sending him out with Luke Schenn for faceoffs in the offensive zone. Morrissey is defending extremely hard and he’s up to three assists in the series. Given his offensive gifts, it feels like he’s going to come up with another one of those Morrissey signature moments.

Might it come on Saturday night? Time will tell.

Another big development for the Jets was that the power play has come alive.

Even by scoring twice with the man-advantage on Thursday, the Stars still hold a 6-3 lead in power-play goals through five games. The Jets’ best power play, in terms of movement and dangerous opportunities generated, was actually the one near the end of the second period when Oettinger made numerous saves, including one of them off the back of his right leg off the stick of Gabe Vilardi. The Jets are now three-for-21 (14.2 per cent) while the Stars are six-for-18 (31.6 per cent).

As for the Stars, Duchene’s offensive woes were definitely not expected, especially after producing 30 goals and 82 points in 82 games during the regular season. He’s been limited to five power-play assists through 12 playoff games and hasn’t found the back of the net since April 8 against the Vancouver Canucks — a span of 16 games.

“At this time of the year, it’s all about wins and losses, but you want to contribute on the good side of that,” said Duchene. “I’ll take one off the teeth right now. I don’t really care, as long as it goes in. Half of my teeth are fake at this point anyway. I might as well lose another one.”

This series has been difficult to predict, other than the fact virtually everyone anticipated it would go deep or go the distance. Having said that, it’s hard to imagine that this Jets team could lose a 10th consecutive road playoff contest.

Given how close the series has been, another Game 7 would seem like a fitting ending to this Central Division battle.

PROJECTED LINES

WINNIPEG JETS

FORWARDS:

Connor-Scheifele-Vilardi
Ehlers-Namestnikov-Perfetti
Niederreiter-Lowry-Appleton
Tanev-Barron-Iafallo

DEFENCE:

Morrissey-DeMelo
Samberg-Pionk
Fleury-Schenn

GOAL:

Hellebuyck
Comrie

HEALTHY SCRATCHES: D Miller, D Stanley, D Heinola, C Kupari, C Gustafsson, C Toninato, F Anderson-Dolan, G Driedger

INJURED: None

DALLAS STARS

FORWARDS:

Granlund-Hintz-Rantanen
Marchment-Duchene-Seguin
Benn-Johnston-Robertson
Steel-Dadonov

DEFENCE:

Harley-Heiskanen
Lindell-Ceci
Bichsel-Lyubushkin
Petrovic

GOAL:

Oettinger
DeSmith

HEALTHY SCRATCHES: D Dumba, D Smith, C Bourque, F Blackwell

INJURED: D Lundqvist (shoulder)

NOTABLE QUOTABLE

Jets captain Adam Lowry shares his memories on Brad Scheifele:

“Just such an infectious laugh. I mean, spending my whole career here, (having) numerous fathers’ trips, just the energy that he had was unmatched. Just his joy and excitement for life and he really passed it down to Mark. But I think his positivity, his outlook on life, just genuinely happy person and a terrible loss obviously.

“Our condolences go out to Mary Lou, Janelle, Kyle, the whole Scheifele family. It’s a terrible loss. It’s tough to put into words, how gutted we all feel for Mark and his family.”