*Photo from Global News*
Winnipeg wins series 4-0
The Winnipeg Jets wanted their first career playoff series win against the Edmonton Oilers. They sure went out and took it. Mark Scheifele scored two goals, Kyle Connor scored the winner, and the Jets beat the Oilers with a 4-3 win in triple overtime Monday night, punching their ticket to the second round.
Connor said "Pionk made a great play. He was on McDavid there, just to get his stick on it and whack it up the boards, and I saw it coming and tried to skate as fast as I can. It's our mentality, the whole overtime, just get pucks to the net and just shoot that one and, yeah, that one feels pretty good."
This triple overtime thriller was the longest game in Jets/Atlanta Thrashers history, and this is just the second time since relocating from Atlanta that the Jets have made it to round two, the last time being the 2017-2018 playoffs, when they made it all the way to the Western Conference finals. The Jets will face the winner of the Toronto Maple Leafs-Montreal Canadiens series in the second round.
Scheifele said "It definitely didn't feel like a sweep, that's for sure. We grind every single game. There was no easy ice out there. They played fantastic too. They came back in games. They pushed us to the limit, but we just were on the right side of it for those four games. It was a battle each and every game. Every shift it was a battle."
Scheifele scored on the power play for the Jets 6:16 into the first period, giving them a 1-0 lead to start. After the Oilers got one, Mason Appleton scored to make the lead 2-1 in favor of Winnipeg. They didn't score in the second period, and, in the 3rd period, Scheifele scored his second goal of the night to tie the game at 3-3. Connor then scored on a breakaway 6:52 into triple overtime, giving the Jets the sweep.
Besides the big guns stepping up, the unsung hero in the first round for Winnipeg might be defenseman Josh Morrissey. Besides scoring the tying goal in the game 3 comeback, Morrissey continued his strong postseason by adding two assists in game 4, on both first period goals for the Jets.
Winnipeg coach Paul Maurice said "Josh Morrissey, when the rest of the group looked fatigued tonight, he got stronger. He killed the play when everybody else was gassed on the ice and then came into the hole and got faster on the ice. He defended against the best player in the world and he put up points and he scores the tying goal last night. You can play against Connor McDavid and you can score probably the series' biggest goal. Even though the overtime goals were huge, that goal may have changed the face of the series."
For the Oilers, it's a disappointing postseason once again. This time, it's not winning a single playoff game despite building up the depth around Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and Mike Smith. Smith stopped 39 of 43 shots he faced over greater than 100 minutes of hockey, a valiant effort.
Edmonton coach Dave Tippett said "Every time you don't win the last game of the year then it's disappointing. But I thought our team took some strides this year. We were expecting more in the playoffs. It was a tight, tight series. We couldn't find a way to get on top of it. I give our players credit, they battled hard. That's not an easy game. We didn't get the result we wanted last night. You come in here and you've got to play a back-to-back, and a lot of players played real well. It's just disappointing we couldn't get the win."
The Jets transition to preparing for round two, where Connor Hellebuyck will get ample rest before he makes the game one start. Edmonton goes to the offseason, where they continue to have questions about the team depth, that they need to answer.
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