Things didn’t look good for Winnipeg early in this one as the theatrics had barely ended before the Golden Knights courtesy of Jonathan Marchessault burnt the Jets to make it a 1-0 game just 35 seconds into the 1st. While the Jets would escape the opening period just down a goal it wasn’t looking good after 20 minutes. The middle frame was a bit better and it looked like the Jets would have some life when Mark Scheifele scored his playoff leading 13th goal to tie it up. Unfortunately for Winnipeg just 12 seconds later James Neal regained the lead for the home side on a miscue by goalie Connor Hellebuyck. Three minutes later Alex Tuch finished off a James Neal rebound when the Jets looked absolutely gassed. Just 18 seconds into the third period Mark Scheifele again scored on a beautiful feed by Kyle Connor which brought the Jets within one and also set a record (see below) with his 11th road goal of the playoffs and 14th overall.
Take a look at the advanced stats via Natural Stat Trick.
Notable:
Mark Scheifele set an NHL record for most road playoff goals with 11 passing Sidney Crosby and Joe Mullen. He is now just five goals back of tying the record held by Jari Kurri (Oilers in 1984-85) and Reggie Leach aka the Riverton Rocket (Flyers 1975-76) who had 19 goals.
Audio:
Blake Wheeler
Connor Hellebuyck
Tyler Myers
Coach Maurice: What was off with the Jets in the first half of the game and what got them going in the right direction? Making three mistakes that cost them goals. Did he expect the tying goal to come in the 3rd? First time the Jets are trailing in a series, what is his message? Has his team met their equal in speed? What kept Ehlers out of the game and when did he know? On the response goal by Vegas. Does he need more secondary scoring? On the Jets starting to get moving.
Audio courtesy of TSN 1290 Winnipeg.
