The longest of long shots when the 2017-18 NHL season started eight months ago, the expansion Vegas Golden Knights are now four wins away from winning the Stanley Cup in their inaugural season.
The Golden Knights eliminated the Winnipeg Jets with a 2-1 road victory in Game 5 of the Western Conference Final Sunday afternoon to secure a spot in the Stanley Cup Final. Vegas, which is a league-best 12-3 in the playoffs, will face either the Tampa Bay Lightning or Washington Capitals in the 2018 Stanley Cup Final. The Lightning lead that best-of-seven 3-2 with Game 6 to be played Monday in Washington.
GOLDEN STANDARD
How Vegas became the most successful expansion team in sports history
Rugged fourth liner Ryan Reaves -- acquired by Vegas from the two-time defending Cup champion Penguins at the trade deadline -- scored the series-deciding goal late in the second period for the Golden Knights, who received a 31-save effort from Marc-Andre Fleury between the pipes. Alex Tuch also scored for Vegas, which never trailed in Game 5 en-route to winning it's fourth straight game against the Jets after dropping the series opener.
The Jets, who received a sterling 30-save performance from Connor Hellebuyck in goal -- seemed to run out of steam as the game progressed, finding it extremely difficult to break through the stout defense of Vegas, particularly in the third period.
Winnipeg's only goal came off the stick of defenseman Josh Morrissey in the first period.
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Third Period
5:45 It's over! Vegas is heading to the Stanley Cup Final! Golden Knights win 2-1
Engelland takes off with the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl. pic.twitter.com/3xPc9h5nsS — NHL GIFs (@NHLGIFs) May 20, 2018
5:43 Hellebuyck heads to bench with 1:25 to play. Jets not able to set up in offensive zone even with extra attacker.
5:41 Blake Wheeler robbed by outstretched right pad of Fleury. Under 4 minutes to play.
5:40 Laine long backhander deflected, sharp save by Fleury. Under 5 minutes to play.
5:38 Tuch to David Perron in all alone, pad save by Hellebuyck. 6 minutes to play.
5:34 William Karlsson backhand from low slot, great save by Hellebuyck. 8 minutes to play.
5:32 Halfway through the third period, Vegas still up by one and limiting Winnipeg's scoring chances.
5:23 Huge Hellebuyck save on Reilly Smith as Vegas ramps up pressure. Morrissey slow to bench after collision with Tuch.
5:17 Great save up high by Fleury at end of Jets power play on Kyle Connor snap shot. Jets now 0-for-4 on power play.
5:16 After Laine misses the net -- again -- on blast, Vegas d-man Nate Schmidt the other way with in-tight shorthanded scoring chance.
5:15 Great effort by Trouba taking puck to net, diving Fleury keeps puck out of cage, but Vegas takes slashing minor. Early third period power play for Jets 45 seconds in.
5:14 Puck dropped. Is this the last period of the 2018 Western Conference Final?
5:10 Pretty loose, eh?
Second Period
4:53 Horn sounds. Vegas is 20 minutes of hockey away from a trip to the Stanley Cup Final. Shots are 24-23 Jets. Golden Knights lead 2-1
4:51 Jets with good zone time, but great defense by Vegas closing the lanes. Winnipeg 0-for-3 on power play
4:46 Winnipeg power play coming up at 16:03 Tomas Nosek for tripping.
4:42 Vegas gets a goal from the 4th line. Ryan Reaves on the deflection of Luca Sbisa shot and it goes bar down behind Hellebuyck at 13:21. Golden Knights lead 2-1
Ryan Reaves with the redirection 👀 @GoldenKnights take a 2-1 lead. pic.twitter.com/7CwEI5xnmY — Sporting News Canada (@sportingnewsca) May 20, 2018
4:38 Jacob Trouba shot, Mathieu Perrault deflection, Fleury alert save.
4:35 Jets power play is over. Like Vegas, Winnipeg is 0-for-2. Again, some good looks, but Fleury sharp -- plus missed shots aplenty.
4:30 Alex Tuch trips Kulikov at 9:01. Second Jets power play.
4:29 Interesting note:
Second time this game Fleury has reached back towards some kind of annoyance in upper left leg/hip — Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) May 20, 2018
4:28 Game opening up, chances at both ends until Hellebuyck covers after second straight save on Shea Thodore.
4:24 Terrific PK by the Jets. Vegas now 0-for-2 on power play.
4:22 Kulikov heading to the box for elbowing at 3:51. Second Vegas power play.
4:21 Marchessault line creating havoc, Hellebuyck in perfect position to gobble up Marchessault blast.
4:17 Now, a crazy, scrambling save along goal line and off post by Hellebuyck at other end of the ice
4:16 What a wicked rising snap shot by Mark Scheifele -- fought off by Fleury, barely -- just 30 seconds into the period.
4:15 Puck dropped and second period is underway.
First Period
3:56 Horn sounds. Scrum along the boards by penalty boxes. No penalties called. Shots are 12-8 Jets. Game Tied 1-1
3:52 On cue: Jets score and tie the game. Bryan Little wins faceoff in offensive zone and Josh Morrissey hammers slap shot past Fleury at 17:14. That is his first career postseason goal. Game Tied 1-1
Winnipeg responds!
Josh Morrissey 🚨🚨🚨 pic.twitter.com/OKiIwDnLhe — Sporting News Canada (@sportingnewsca) May 20, 2018
3:51 Jets have turned the tide of the period. Still down by one, but have recorded last six shots on goal.
3:46 Jets have several good looks, miss the net on two of them. Power play is over.
3:42 On delayed penalty, Byfuglien weaves his way in untouched, but Fleury makes pad save. Jets power play at 12:47.
3:39 Joe Morrow -- back in Jets lineup today -- had now delivered big hits on each of his last three shifts, making presence felt.
3:38 Offensive faceoff win by Jets and Byfuglien snaps one on goal. Good save by Fleury.
3:32 Golden Knights are 8-1 in the playoffs when scoring first goal. They keep up the pressure here, Hellebuyck two big sames, latest on Reilly Smith.
3:29 Deflected puck comes to Alex Tuch in the slot. He spins around and scores sixth goal at 5:11. Golden Knights lead 1-0
Alex Tuch and the @GoldenKnights strike first, Vegas leads 1-0. pic.twitter.com/SBQefXZRqX — Sporting News Canada (@sportingnewsca) May 20, 2018
3:28 Dmitry Kulikov, veteran d-man, returning from injury and makes 2018 playoff debut, out there helping Jets kill that Vegas power play.
3:25 Golden Knights receive game's first power play at 2:43. Dustin Byfuglien to the box.
3:20 Puck dropped and away we go. Deafening crowd at game's start in Winnipeg.
Pregame
2:55 Nerves? Patrik Laine seems just fine actually.
2:48
LINES: Based on pre-game warm-up, here are today's lines for Game 5 of the Western Conference Final. pic.twitter.com/ElDki6FPfx — Winnipeg Jets PR (@WpgJetsPR) May 20, 2018
2:30 Warmups underway in the 'Peg. Whiteout on full display. Connor Hellebuyck in goal for the Jets. Marc-Andre Fleury for the Golden Knights.
Easy to spot these fans in a whiteout 👏 pic.twitter.com/duKBaHgnqS — Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) May 20, 2018
🎥 Coach Gallant: Sure, we're in a good position, but that doesn't mean a thing. You have to win four games in a series and today's another game.
Let's go play and have fun and see what happens. pic.twitter.com/KdA1oNCV6y — Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) May 20, 2018
WINNIPEG – A special spring can turn sour in a moment’s notice. Six days after leading the Western Conference final 1-0, the Winnipeg Jets are dealing with the reality that they’ll be watching an expansion team play for the Stanley Cup.
It could have been them.
“Pretty empty,” said Blake Wheeler. “Emotionless.”
“It’s hard to believe it’s all over,” said Mathieu Perreault. “We really thought we were going to do it this year.”
“[I feel like] [expletive], pretty much,” said Patrik Laine.
It’s a feeling felt throughout a city that celebrated the end of a long winter by filling the streets for each home playoff game. Businesses showed their support with “Go Jets Go!” signs in windows. More than one local car dealer filled his lot with exclusively white vehicles to match the whiteout inside the Bell MTS Place.
And on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon, the power went out.
Not literally, mind you, but emotionally. Spiritually. The Jets scored more goals this season than all but one team and then ran into a brick wall named Marc-Andre Fleury. They only put six pucks behind the Vegas Golden Knights goalie over the final four games – scoring just once while playing for their lives in Game 5.
“It was their time,” said Wheeler. “They’re playing really well and you have to give them all the credit. Typically in a seven-game series the better teams wins. Coming into it, I thought we had the best team – obviously I’m a little bit biased standing in this room. Felt we had a great opportunity and that team, you know, it was their time.
“They made it really tough for us, we had to work for everything we got and even when we broke them down we couldn’t seem to ever gain the type of momentum we needed to get this thing on our terms.”
They never led after the final buzzer sounded on Game 1. The list of players who failed to score a goal in this series will tell you a lot about why we’re already talking about the end of the best Jets season in history. It includes Wheeler, Perreault, Paul Stastny, Nikolaj Ehlers and Bryan Little, to name but a few.
It’s possible that youth eventually caught up to the Jets when the pressure got ratcheted and the amount of open ice shrunk.
Ehlers and Kyle Connor both had fantastic regular seasons but didn’t make much of an impact in the playoffs. Laine scored two power-play goals against Vegas but wasn’t nearly the same threat we’ve seen previously.
The 20-year-old Finn put just one shot on target in Sunday’s 2-1 loss, bemoaning a couple others he fired high or wide.
“Just for me, I couldn’t shoot,” said Laine. “I don’t know what was wrong with that, I had a lot of good chances, just couldn’t hit the puck or the net. That’s my responsibility to be able to shoot, and I couldn’t do that today.”
They also ran into a team that seems to have destiny on its side.
The winning goal came off a double tip and belonged to Ryan Reaves, one of Winnipeg’s own sons who was scoring for just the second time in his 42nd career playoff game. The stick he used to score it is now heading to the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Fleury casually posted an eye-popping .938 save percentage in this series, doing his best work in Games 3 and 4 at T-Mobile Arena where the Jets controlled a huge portion of the play.
Winnipeg had 33 high-danger chances combined in those games. Back home Sunday and playing to keep the dream alive, they managed just eight of those against a much stingier Golden Knights attack.
The most dangerous saw Perreault get open in the slot and miss Little’s pass entirely. From the play-by-play booth, Jim Hughson bellowed “swing and miss!”
That sums up the opportunity Winnipeg let slip away here. The Jets were trying to end a city’s championship drought in hockey that stretches back to the WHA days, and a country’s Stanley Cup drought that now sits at 25 years.
A quarter-freaking-century.
Meanwhile, the Golden Knights might lift that picturesque trophy before their first birthday.
“We tried so hard, too, left it all out there,” said Perreault. “It’s so disappointing when you put so much effort into it and the result’s just not there. It’s tough to swallow.”
The Jets were in no mood to make excuses in the minutes after the curtain fell, but they undoubtedly had difficulty getting back to their top level after an epic seven-game series with Nashville in the second round. Fatigue is a fact of life when you’re playing your 99th game of the season.
Vegas managed a slightly easier road to this point by sweeping Los Angeles in Round 1 and dispatching San Jose in six games in Round 2.
“A lot of the plays did not come off our stick the way they had prior to it, and it wasn’t a matter of tightness. Our hands felt it,” said Jets coach Paul Maurice. “Your brain goes a little slower, it gets off your stick a little quicker, your reads are a little slower. But the will was still there.
“There were things that didn’t happen for us this series. Some of it was mental, but it was the physical fatigue caused by having to spend as much as we spent to get here.”
This Stanley Cup final will be unlike anything we’ve ever seen. The Golden Misfits against a team with a gripping redemption story – either Steven Stamkos’s Tampa Bay Lightning or Alex Ovechkin’s Washington Capitals.
It’s going to be impossible for Winnipeg to watch.
On a 26-degree afternoon where goals were nowhere to be found, the hockey season came to an end for a lot of people here. It’s over.
