Few expected the Winnipeg Jets to go away quietly.
Certainly not Dallas Stars coach Pete DeBoer.
After dodging the first attempt at elimination, the Jets will try to remain alive when they visit Dallas in Game 6 of their Western Conference second-round series on Saturday evening.
The Stars still own a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven set, though nothing feels safe against a team that posted the best record in the NHL during the regular season. Winnipeg also was down two goals with two minutes left in Game 7 of its first-round series against the St. Louis Blues before rallying for a 4-3 victory in double overtime.
“They won the Presidents’ Trophy, right? This is a really good team,” DeBoer said of the Jets. “We do have a great opportunity to go home and win this at home. We did what we had to do, which is win (Game 1 in Winnipeg), in order to give us this opportunity at an elimination game (in Dallas). If not, we’ll have to come back in here and win another one.”
Connor Hellebuyck made 22 saves in a 4-0 win in Game 5 on Thursday in Winnipeg, the second shutout of the series for the frontrunner to win his third Vezina Trophy this season.
“We’re going to look at video and see the things that we need to continue doing, and some things we can clean up,” Jets forward Nikolaj Ehlers said after scoring two goals in Game 5. “But, I think overall, we played a really good game and that gave us the result that we wanted.”
Not surprisingly, the Jets played like a more desperate team in Game 5, limiting the Stars to nine shots on goal through two periods and generally winning most of the puck battles.
“If you just look over the course of the game how many 50-50 battles there are, it adds up,” Winnipeg forward Kyle Connor said. “It’s just a combination of everybody having that extra gear and that fight and just being dialed in. It’s the ultimate team sport. We need every guy in here going. It’s the toughest time of year and I thought we stepped up, but obviously the job’s not done.”
As emotions rise in the series, so does the physicality. The teams combined for 50 penalty minutes in Game 5, by far the most in the series.
“It’s an emotional series,” DeBoer said. “You play this time of year against one team, there gets to be a little bit of hate out there. That’s OK.”
The Stars hope to make Game 6 their last meeting of the season with the Jets, but they also wanted that before Game 5 and didn’t come close to making it happen.
“You never want to give a team life,” Stars forward Matt Duchene said. “We felt like we needed to win (Game 5). You don’t want to give them any life at all. We don’t want to come back here for Game 7. Obviously, up 3-1 at one point. It might take seven (games) though. They’re a good enough team, it could. We’ll see what happens. We’re going to go home and try to put our best game on the ice and go from there.”
–Field Level Media
