Vilardi's Hat Trick Helps Jets Clinch Playoff Spot in Victory Over Flames

The Winnipeg Jets improved their record to 46-24-6 and have punched their ticket to the Stanley Cup Playoffs with a 5-2 victory over the visiting Calgary Flames on Thursday night.

The game was final test of the season-high, five-game homestand (2-2-1) to which Winnipeg has since snapped out of a six-game losing streak with back-to-back victories on the week.

Gabriel Vilardi registered his first career hat trick, while Nikolaj Ehlers and Josh Morrissey each had multi-point outings for the now streaking Jets. 

"It's cool," Vilardi chuckled post-game. "A great night for me, but a better night for the team. Make the playoffs. Still got a long way to go. A lot of work than needs to be done still. But definitely a good night." 

It was a matter of special teams in the first period. And no matter which way you look it, both teams were equally successful, while each club also failed. 

First, it was Calgary, which scored a power play goal - courtesy of Mackenzie Weegar's 19th of the season -  just 31 seconds into a Nikolaj Ehlers tripping minor. 

But the Jets had the chance to answer back, and they did so after being handed a lengthy two-man advantage. 

After some nifty stick work, Josh Morrissey got the puck to Kyle Connor, whose shot-pass was redirected into the net by Gabe Vilardi. It was his 17th tally of the season, which made it 1-1 with seven minutes to play. 

Then, less than two minutes later, the Jets scored again. This time it was Ehlers, who finished off a strong offensive zone forechecking play by the red-hot Cole Perfetti.

Winnipeg led 2-1 while maintaining a 17-8 shot lead through 20 minutes of play. 

The middle stanza offered a goal from each club, as Calgary tied it up midway through the frame on Martin Pospisil's ninth of the season. But it was Tyler Toffoli who restored Winnipeg's lead late in the period.

A play between Ehlers, Vlad Namestnikov and Toffoli resulted in the latter's first goal in eight games and first point in seven. It came with 4:25 to play - just moments before a vicious check to the head of Josh Morrissey.

Pospisil was tossed from the game for leaping in the air and elbowing Morrissey directly in the head. The five-minute power play resulted in nothing for Winnipeg, but the Jets got one back later in the third.

“That was the right call," head coach Rick Bowness said. "Good on the refs to take a look at it and change their call. I think the linesman called it. That’s their job to watch out for those things as well. It was the right call. Good on them to make that change.”

It was Vilardi who potted his second of the game, banking home a net front tally, off a Morrissey point shot redirection. Sticking with it, Vilardi got a piece of the shot, before putting the rebound past Dustin Wolf for Winnipeg's fourth goal of the night.

Calgary pulled Wolf for the extra attacker late in the game, and Vilardi finished off his hat trick, putting the Sean Monahan offering calmly into the yawning cage, providing the 5-2 final.

Hellebuyck turned aside 31 of the 33 Flames shots he faced, while Wolf made 40 stops on the 44 pucks directed on net by Winnipeg. 

"I'm not the coach but I'd say we've got to clean up things," Vilardi added. "We are having breakdowns where I feel we're getting outworked for not a few shifts, but for the whole period and we can't have that. There's definitely parts of the game where we are dominating. You can see it. And then we just kind of lose it. We have to find a way to narrow that down. 

"We're not going to have a perfect 60 minutes but we can't have 20 minutes of having Bucky stand on his head. Definitely got to clean things up. We know how good we are when play to our standards. Gotta clean things up, too." 

Next up is a four-game road trip through the Central Division, as Winnipeg takes on Minnesota, Nashville, Dallas and Colorado, before returning home to finish the year against Pacific Division opponents Seattle and Vancouver. Each game can be viewed live on TSN.