The magic number is down to just one. In order to clinch a Stanley Cup Playoff spot, the Winnipeg Jets now need just one single standings point over the team's final two games.
In control of their own destiny, the Jets stepped out into the friendly confines of Canada Life Centre on Monday night for their final home game of the 2022-23 regular season schedule.
Despite falling behind early, Winnipeg rallied with six goals, en route to a 6-2 final.
Seven different players put up multi-point efforts for the Jets, while Connor Hellebuyck earned win No. 36 of the season. He turned aside 18 pucks in his league-leading 63rd start.
"We’re going for it, and we’re going to stay aggressive," head coach Rick Bowness said post-game. "The last couple games here, we’ve been very aggressive. We’ve been setting the tone, setting the pace... That’s Winnipeg Jet hockey when we’re doing that.”
Things did not begin well for the Jets, however, as San Jose needed just 20 seconds to get on the board. And it was none other than Erik Karlsson, who dangled his way through Winnipeg’s secondary before beating Hellebuyck cleanly for what was his 24th goal, but more importantly his 99th point of the season.
That lead lasted all of 51 seconds, as Pierre-Luc Dubois potted his 27th on a pretty power play setup from Nikolaj Ehlers and Mark Scheifele. He beat James Reimer on a one-timer from the slot, knotting the game at ones with just under 59 minutes to play.
“Yeah, there was 59 minutes and 40 seconds left to go, so I don’t think there was really much of a letdown or anything like that," Josh Morrissey said. "We know we’re playing great hockey right now and we’re a confident team and we just got back on the horse.”
But the game – and period for that matter – was far from over.
Winnipeg actually added two more goals before the clock hit zeros. First, it was Adam Lowry, who banked home a rebound off a hard-working net drive from Nino Niederreiter. Lowry’s 12th gave the Jets a 2-1 lead, before Kyle Connor got the fourth goal of the period.
Josh Morrissey got the puck over to his defence partner Dylan DeMelo, who directed the puck on net from long range. Connor, who was planted in the high slot, redirected his 32nd of the year past Reimer and gave the Jets a two-goal lead through 20 minutes.
After finishing the first period ahead 3-1 and up 14-5 in on the shot chart, the Jets maintained their lead, while adding another 10 shots to San Jose’s eight.
In need of another shutdown period, the 20 men making up the Jets’ playing roster attempted to do just that. Much like the first period, the opening goal of the frame came rather quickly.
In fact, this time it took just 16 seconds for fans held up at the entryways to be granted admission to their sections.
An opening face-off win led to a quick rush up-ice from the Lowry, Niederreiter, Mason Appleton line, with the latter finding his fourth of the season on a play that saw all three forwards touch the puck.
But a too-many men penalty led to San Jose's second marker, and this one was a memorable one.
It was the 25th of the year from Karlsson, which gave him his 100th point of the year. He became just the sixth defenceman in NHL history to hit that mark, and the first since Brian Leetch in 1991-92.
“It’s a lot of points, and he certainly deserves it," Sharks' captain Logan Couture said of his teammate's accomplishment. "He’s created a lot offensively for us this year. He could probably be at 120 or 130 by now if guys would finish off some of the dishes he’s made. But 100, it’s a special number.”
But it took just couple minutes for Winnipeg's Norris Trophy candidate to respond, as Morrissey wound up and hammered home his 16th of the year, restoring the Jets' three-goal lead.
Mark Scheifele then blasted his 41st of the season past a beleaguered Reimer six seconds into a delay-of-game minor with 12:25 remaining. Fans at Canada Life Centre spent the past three minutes of the game on their collective feet, cheering on a team that put up 21 goals in its five-game homestand.
Hellebuyck made 18 stops on the 20 shots he faced, while Reimer turned aside just 27 pucks on the night, as he lost for the first time this season at the hands of Winnipeg.
“We’ve liked how we’ve been playing," Appleton said. "We played probably one of our best games of the year against Nashville. Twenty seconds in, to give up a goal like that, it’s not an ideal start. But the way we answered was unbelievable. We were relentless all night. For the first time all year, we beat Reimer. He’s hard our number both games. Finally, it fell tonight and it feels good.”
Winnipeg now has a quick turnaround, as it hits the road to conclude the season with the final two games of a three-game-in-four-night stretch.
Both games will come against Central Division opponents.
First up is a test with Kirill Kaprizov and the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday night, before the team travels west to Colorado for a showdown with the defending Stanley Cup champion Avalanche. Both games feature 7:00 PM central start times and can be viewed live on TSN.
"Obviously, until you get that point, you’re chasing it, right?" Morrissey said. "There’s no sense of letting your foot off the gas or sense of satisfaction or anything like that. Until you have that checkmark beside your name on that standings sheet, we got to keep fighting and pushing for it.”