This is official: Winnipeg Whites will return again in April.
The Winnipeg Jets only needed one playoff, did better on Tuesday night, defeating the Washington Capitals 3-2 in overtime, ending with hype in the NHL heavyweight field battle.
Alex Ovechkin tied the game in the last four minutes, but Nikolaj Ehlers won an 88-second overtime title in overtime as the Jets won the showdown between the top two teams in the overall standings.
“It was a heavyweight battle,” said Jets head coach Scott Arniel. “Even if one person comes from the East, it comes from the West – like we play each other eight times a year. There’s a lot of trash talking about it. There’s a lot of huge hits. There’s a lot of times. There’s a lot of times and I think both teams want to be number one. It’s a great game. I just think of Punch, Counter Punch, Counter Punch, it’s been going all night.”
Josh Morrissey and Mason Appleton also scored goals for the Jets in the win.
The Jets won the playoffs for the third consecutive year and for the past eight seasons.
“At the beginning of the year, our first goal was that we had a few goals, but our first goal was to eliminate eight teams and we obviously did it after 60 minutes. So you have to do that for our players and hopefully do it for Buffalo.
“The point of winning the game and getting extra points is just the cream on the top.”
This is the first time the Jets have become the first team to playoff position in the conference.
It’s also the first time in franchise history that the Jets swept the capital from the capital after winning their first meeting in overtime in February. The victory put the Jets in eight points on the Dallas Stars, ranking first in the Central Division and first overall.
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“It was a huge challenge for us,” Elles said. “And I believe they felt the same way in another room and we thought I was doing well. We had some area time when we went deep into the puck and worked there.”
The Jets didn’t have Gabriel Vilardi because he appeared every week with an upper body injury. All four Jets fronts were switched, Alex Iafallo was promoted to the top line, and Rasmus Kupari showed up for his first game in three weeks.
Winnipeg first entered the board results when Morrissey took the car from Mark Scheifele and took it to the first place in the target. The shot glanced at Martin Fehervary and Logan Thompson, who had been at Morrissey for the twelfth season.
The match was given a little spice when Colin Miller pushed Andrew Mangiapane hard to the board, and less than three minutes left in the first game, winning his boarding fine. But after the whistle blows, Mangiapane puts Miller on his chest with a cross check, causing a small-scale clash.
After offsetting the minor’s expiration, Mangiapane smiled for the last time. With Washington’s transitional 3-on-2, Mangiapane made a contribution with Jakob Chychrun, and Mangiapane finished the game with a little knock, bringing Connor Hellebuyck to the surface and improving his score after 20 minutes.
Washington controlled the game for most of the second phase, partly because of the pair’s power play, but for most of the 20 minutes, they were better teams. Winnipeg took only two shots in the first 17:30 in the second second, until the late power game helped change their fate.
With a few seconds left in the meantime, Cole Perfetti rushed the puck to the ice and entered the end of Washington, throwing it to Nino Niederreiter near that point. Niederreiter sent a smuggling traffic pass to Appleton, which was promoted to the second PP due to damage to Vilardi.
Appleton took a little time to settle the puck and then covered the puck on Thompson’s gloves to reach the puck in the ninth season of the season with 12 seconds left.
The Capitals ended two periods with a score of 12-7 in the middle frame, gaining support from Washington in total with a score of 18-15.
However, at the forefront, Winnipeg led 2-1 and the Jets entered the night with an NHL best 36-0-1 record.
When Taylor Raddysh was asked to interfere with 13:31, the Jets’ sputtering power had a chance to expand Winnipeg’s lead. PP scored 17 in the first seven games and needed sparks, but they couldn’t find it and could only shoot once in two minutes.
Winnipeg led 2-1 for most of the time, before many Washington fans in attendance got what they wanted.
Aliaksei Protas won a hockey battle at the end of Winnipeg and gave a far-floating standoff point, also known as the office of Alexander Ovechkin. The sniper took the pass and ripped a wrestler through Hellebuyck to tie the game to his 889th professional goal.
When the horn sounded at the end of the third phase, the Jets officially voted for the playoffs. A short video was played on the big screen showing the word “Clinched”, which caused cheers from the sold-out crowd.
But there are still businesses to take care of, and it seems Washington might find a way to steal games as they have more than a minute of hockey to start overtime. Their best chance was in the early days of OT, when Protas shot a shot from outside the post.
When the capital was not used as a pass, the Jets finally got the puck, prompting the hat to change the line. Dylan Samberg collected the pucks behind the Winnipeg network and noticed that Ehlers had been sprinting on the ice since the start of the OT. Samberg drove into the end of Washington and shot through Thompson, the electric end of a great hockey game.
Hellebuyck made 27 saves to win, while most NHLs will be more focused on Ovechkin’s goals, and he now needs six more goals to pass most of Wayne Gretzky’s pro goals.
When they host New Jersey on Friday night, the Jets will win twice in a row. Hockey drop just after 7pm, pre-match coverage at 680 CJOB starts at 5pm
& Copy 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
