The Winnipeg Jets have guaranteed themselves home-ice advantage in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
On Tuesday evening, the Winnipeg Jets solidified home-ice advantage in the opening round of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs, as they beat the visiting Seattle Kraken 4-3 from Canada Life Centre.
The win was Winnipeg's seventh in a row and improved the club's record to 51-24-6 on the season.
It wasn't as pretty as Winnipeg's most recent stretch of shutout performances, but the team got the job done, and will look to close things out on Thursday night against the visiting Vancouver Canucks in a game that could determine home-ice advantage later in the postseason.
"Wasn't beautiful all the way through, but we got it done and that's what's important," Nikolaj Ehlers said post-game.
The Jets came out to play in the first period, as the top line struck for two goals - both coming off the stick of Kyle Connor.
Shortly after Tyler Toffoli rang the puck square off the post on a tripping power play to Brandon Tanev, the team's top unit found the twine.
With 9:27 to go in the period, Connor brought the puck into the Kraken zone before dishing off to Josh Morrissey. He found Mark Scheifele behind the net, who quickly got the disc to the wide-open Connor at the net front. He made no mistake putting his 33rd of the season past Philipp Grubauer.
Seattle responded late the period, as Tomas Tatar put his ninth of the year past Connor Hellebuyck, snapping Winnipeg's lengthy shoutout streak.
But it didn't matter much, as Connor got right back to business, scoring his second of the game as the seconds ticked down. Once again, it was Morrissey and Scheifele who picked up the helpers on Connor's second of the game and 34th of the season.
Although fans cheered as Brenden Dillon flattened Brandon Tanev in the open ice, they also winced as Morgan Barron went down with a lower-body injury midway through the frame. The Jets later announced that he would not return thanks to the awkward fall.
The Jets added to their lead in the early stages of the middle stanza. A diving Nik Ehlers batted home a loose puck from the top of the crease, giving Winnipeg a two-goal lead on his 25th of the season just 2:30 in.
But it was all Kraken from there. The visitors scored twice in the period evaporating Winnipeg's lead. Yanni Gourde redirected a long-range point shot home, cutting the Jets' lead to one a few minutes after Ehlers' strike. And then it was Tye Kartye who tied it up on a horrendous Jets' defensive zone give-away.
The two clubs entered the third period tied at threes, while both teams owned 17 shots on goal.
With 10 minutes to go, Kyle Connor drew a hooking call on Jared McCann, to which the team's second power play unit struck. Despite a strong effort from the first crew, a Morrissey post was as much as they would find.
With just 12 seconds left in the man advantage, Ehlers found a driving Toffoli who put the puck to his backhand and beat Grubauer for his 33rd of the year. The goal gave Winnipeg the 4-3 lead with half a period to play.
"I mean, it's important to have all four lines going in the playoffs," Ehlers added. "You've seen it throughout the years. It's not the first line every single night. So it's exciting to get everyone going. You know, and many it was it was our fourth line that you know got us to victory in the end, right. So it changes every game and we got to keep that going. That's how you win in the playoffs. It's not just having one line going. So it's exciting for us."
The Jets were unable to score on a lengthy four-minute power play in the late stages, but did run the clock down enough to kill off the Kraken's momentum, sealing the deal on yet another victory.
“Look, our coaches work very hard," Bowness said following the game. "They’re here early in the morning and they’re all very intelligent. They’re good hockey people and they’re good people. They all have good rapport with the players and that’s important. That communication, you have to have with your players. The whole staff is very good at that. They work closely with the players and they come to the rink every day and they’re very well prepared. How many head coaches can take the month of November off and the team can keep going. Give them all the credit. They deserve an awful lot of it.”
Hellebuyck finished the night with 20 stops on the 23 Kraken shots he faced, while Grubauer turned aside 20 of the 24 pucks fired his way by Winnipeg.
Next up for the Jets is the team's final contest of the season, as the Canucks come to town on Thursday night before postseason hockey returns to Winnipeg next week.