Jets fans were treated to a good regular season home finale as their team defeated the Sharks 6-2 in a game that got off to an less than stellar start but shortly thereafter saw the home team cruise to their 45th victory of the season. That win got them to 93 points which was two more than the Flames and five more than the Predators.
Coincidentally the Predators were in Calgary to do battle with the Flames in the late game which had Jets fans glued to their TVs as the loser of this game would be eliminated.
It was a back and forth affair which saw Nashville take a 1-0 lead into the 1st intermission, then Calgary tied it up in the 2nd and it would be 1-1 after 40 minutes. Then the Preds scored to take a 2-1 lead in the 3rd before the Flames tied it again. The game would require OT which started slowly but then was action packed as Juuse Saros stood on his head. With the visitors needing a goal to extend the shootout, it was Winnipegger Cody Glass who tied the game and then after Mikael Backlund missed in the fourth round, Tommy Novak scored the shootout winner.
It meant the Predators eliminated the Flames from a possible playoff berth. Nashville now has 90 points on the season. Calgary has 91 but they only have one game remaining and Winnipeg holds the tiebreaker (with both teams).
Winnipeg needs just one point in remaining two games to clinch. Predators would also need to win both their remaining games to pass Jets (if they lost both).
Folks at Moneypuck have the current odds as follows:
Winnipeg: 96.4%
Nashville: 3.6%
Both teams face Wild and Avalanche to conclude the 2022-23 regular season.
