The Winnipeg Jets are playoff bound.
Although already awarded the Presidents' Trophy for having the best record in the league, Winnipeg needed to complete its 82nd and final game of the 2024-25 regular season.
It did so on Wednesday night and managed to do so without injury or heavy abuse. And in the process, captured the William Jennings Trophy for the second-straight season as the team allowing the fewest goals against all year.
“Their play was fantastic all year," Cole Perfetti said of his backstops post-game. "It’s a pleasure and a treat for us to have them backstopping us. They make life easy for us. I think it shows the buy-in and the commitment from this group. Winning it two years in a row is not easy. We’re not sacrificing our offence for it either; we’re able to put up and score a lot of goals on top of being the best defensive team two years in a row. That’s pretty impressive and says a lot about our group.”
Capping off the record-setting season with a 2-1 victory over the visiting Anaheim Ducks, the Jets put up 44 shots on goal and dominated most of the game, much like that of their most recent test against St. Louis.
The win wasn't of much importance to Winnipeg, other than personal achievements, but it did help the Jets establish a new franchise record for most points recorded in a single season with 116.
Neal Pionk scored Winnipeg's first goal before Kyle Connor potted the overtime winner off some solid work from Connor Hellebuyck in goal.
“Yeah. Can’t wait," Pionk said. "Best time of year. Tonight was just about keeping good habits and making sure we do the right things. Now we play for real.”
Anaheim's Ville Husso stole the show in the opening frame, turning aside everything he faced, including some no-doubters, but visitors held on for a blank sheet as they entered the middle stanza.
As a matter of fact, it took until the 34-minute mark for either team to find the twine. Pionk hammered one home from the point on a heavy slap shot from an offensive zone face-off win that found its way through the otherwise solid Husso.
“Absolutely that’s kind of what it was about, these last three of these last four games," Pionk said. "Marty Johnston’s been all over me to score a faceoff goal all year. It took 82 games but we got it done.”
After pulling ahead to a 19-9 shot lead through the opening frame, the Jets maintained their attack in the second period and entered the final frame of the season up 34-22.
It took Anaheim less than six minutes of third period action to tie the game at ones. Frankie Vatrano redirected a long-range Ian Moore point shot, to which the rebound landed on the stick of Troy Terry. He tucked it past a falling Hellebuyck, knotting the game, 1-1.
With the teams still tied after regulation, overtime was required.
But it only took 1:11 of the extra frame for a winner to be determined. Josh Morrissey shut down a 2-on-1 play towards the Jets' goal, before getting the puck up ice to Scheifele and Connor. The three played some hot potato before Morrissey got the disc to Scheifele, who slid home his 39th of the year, sealing the deal on yet another overtime winner - the last of the regular season.
Hellebuyck finished the night with 30 stops on the 31 shots sent his way, while Husso turned aside 42 pucks of Winnipeg's 44 shots.
“We created a lot, I thought," Perfetti added. "We didn’t want it to be one of those games, you know, the last game of the year, a nothing game for either side. We wanted to use it as a good tune-up for Game 1 and I thought we played pretty good. Their goalie played well, we had a lot of great chances and created lots. We didn’t give up too, too much. I thought that was a pretty good performance from us.”
Winnipeg will now prepare for Game 1 of the opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, a weekend home test with the St. Louis Blues.
“It will be a fast, physical series," Pionk added. "They’ve had a heck of a run after the break there. One of the hottest teams in the league, we gotta be ready to go.”