The Winnipeg Jets are dead. The Vegas Golden Knights shocked the hockey world (again) by taking down the Jets in the Western Conference finals to advance to the Stanley Cup Final in their inaugural season. It's the first time an expansion team has made the championship round in any major North American sport since the 1968 St. Louis Blues did it, albeit under very different circumstances.
Vegas' improbable victory comes after the Jets took down the Presidents' Trophy-winning Nashville Predators in the second round, reinforcing their status as one of the best teams the league has to offer. Incredibly, the Golden Knights proved to be better.
And most amazingly of all, all this series needed was just five games.
Let's take a look at where things went wrong for the Jets.
Marc-Andre Fleury
Come on, did you expect us to start anywhere else? Fleury has been the biggest factor for the Golden Knights throughout their unlikely playoff run, and he was again spectacular for most of the conference finals.
Over the five games in this series, Fleury stopped 152 of 162 shots -- good enough for a .938 save percentage. He allowed just six goals and had a save percentage of .954 at even strength.
And – all due respect -- this wasn't the Kings or the Sharks, who both had their share of offensive struggles at points this season. No, this was the Winnipeg Jets, who finished second in the NHL in scoring and have arguably the most lethal top six in the league.
Didn't matter. Fleury was still the dominant Fleury we've come to expect this postseason.
The Jets got their chances too. They outshot the Golden Knights in four of the five games and out-chanced them at even strength in three of those games. They put on strong pushes at the end of Games 3 and 4 and Fleury helped the Knights survive with the strength of saves like this.
You have got to be kidding me pic.twitter.com/g1nguDxT6w — Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) May 17, 2018
It's wild to think that once upon a time the knock against Fleury was his inability to bring his A-game in the postseason. Not only is he bringing that A-game this spring, he's arguably playing the best hockey of his life.
To make matters worse for Winnipeg, their own netminder, Connor Hellebuyck, wasn't at his best in this series. The Vezina finalist finished with a .906 save percentage and had a few costly misplays.
This series wasn't quite as one-sided as a gentleman's sweep would suggest, but the biggest gap was the quality of play in net.
Lack of production from Jets forwards
If you had to guess the reason for the Jets' eventual demise, their offense would likely be pretty far down the list of guesses.
That being said, here we are. The scoreboards kind of speak for themselves; Winnipeg only scored more than two goals once in this series. Want to guess which game the Jets won?
And, yes, Marc-Andre Fleury was spectacular and a big reason why the Jets were so limited offensively, but it's still fair to expect more out of a Jets offense that has looked so potent and so deep throughout the year.
Top line center Mark Scheifele was great throughout the postseason for the Jets and he contributed three goals in this series (two at even strength), but the only other Winnipeg forward to score an even strength goal in the entire series was fourth-liner Joel Armia, who scored in Game 1.
I'll reiterate that: The Jets didn't get a single even-strength goal from a forward not named Mark Scheifele in the final four games of the series. Yikes.
The lack of production from Winnipeg's second line was particularly disappointing. Patrik Laine and Nikolaj Ehlers, who combined for 73 goals during the regular season, had just three total goals over the final two Winnipeg playoff series -- all from Laine, all on the power play. (It's worth noting that Ehlers was clearly playing through injury.)
Laine, like a several of his teammates, had chances. He was frequently denied by good goaltending or bad aim (he hit a number of posts and missed the net) and you could see his frustration building throughout the series.
The difference between Laine and Ehlers' lack of scoring in the Nashville series and their lack of scoring in the Vegas series was centerman Paul Stastny. The veteran Stastny was able to contribute five goals and 10 points in the Predators series, and he had just one point (a power play assist) in the Jets series. He was also a minus-4.
At the beginning of this series, I said that the Golden Knights' top line would need an insane performance to give Vegas a shot in this series because Winnipeg's depth was so good.
And, while their top line was very good, Vegas proved me wrong by bringing a much better secondary effort than anticipated. Hell, the clinching goal in Game 5 came off the stick of Ryan Reaves, of all people.
Winnipeg's inability to hold momentum
Vegas applied pressure early and often in this series. They scored the first goal in all four of their wins. In each of the final three games of the series, they scored in the opening six minutes -- including a Jonathan Marchessault goal just 35 seconds into Game 3.
As a result, Winnipeg spent far too much time playing from behind and trying to chase the game rather than seizing and holding momentum.
It seemed especially important in the two games Vegas played at home, as the Golden Knights have found great success in their own building throughout the year. They seem to feed off the energy and the rowdy atmosphere that their home crowd often provides, and Winnipeg failed to take the air out of that building in the two games played there.
The Jets' struggles to generate offense has been well documented already, but even when they were able to get on the board and tilt momentum in their favor, too often they gave it right back by allowing a quick response from Vegas.
In Game 2, Winnipeg's Kyle Connor scored a third period power play goal that cut the Knights' lead to 2-1. About a minute and a half later, the Jets allowed an odd-man rush that resulted in a dagger from Jonathan Marchessault. The game ended 3-1.
In Game 3, after allowing that first-minute goal from Marchessault, Mark Scheifele tied the game by redirecting a shot past Fleury. It seemed to be an important equalizer that wiped the slate clean for Winnipeg. Except they gave the lead right back just 12 seconds later thanks to some brutal puck management from Hellebuyck. Vegas never gave it back.
In Game 4, Patrik Laine got Winnipeg on the board and tied the game midway through the second period with a big power play goal. It took 43 seconds for the Knights to reclaim the lead thanks to another awful misplay from Hellebuyck.
Credit goes to Vegas for being relentless and not taking their foot off the gas, but Winnipeg made it too easy for the Knights to play with momentum on their side. The Jets' most effective shots in the series might have been the ones they delivered into their own foot.
Golden Knights' pressure on the puck
As fun as the Golden Knights are to watch, they must be just as absolutely infuriating to play against. Not only do they have a goalie playing out of his damn mind, but they will suffocate you in all three zones.
Vegas' forecheck and their ability to put pressure on the puck -- especially in the neutral zone -- is one of the team's biggest strengths. That remained on display in this series. They used that defensive pressure to not only force turnovers and do their best to keep Winnipeg's attacking unit frustrated, but also create their own offensive opportunities in transition.
The Golden Knights' top forward line has been getting a lot of love for its ability to produce offensively, for good reason -- William Karlsson, Jonathan Marchessault and Reilly Smith have combined for 15 goals and 40 points over the past two playoff series. But one of that line's greatest strengths (and a big reason they create so many offensive opportunities) is their tenacity on the forecheck and their speed with and without the puck.
Vegas is so good at playing the right way without the puck, forcing their opponent into making mistakes, and then capitalizing on those mistakes.
The relentless pressure applied by Vegas seemed to really wear Winnipeg down as the series progressed. The Jets occasionally appeared to be gassed in the last few games (Game 5 especially) and it's hard not to think that Vegas' smothering of the puck didn't play into that exhaustion.
Maybe it also had something to do with the fact that the Jets were coming off a grueling seven-game dogfight with the Nashville Predators and Vegas was more well-rested, but there's no question that the Golden Knights had the energy advantage in this series.
*screams from the top of a mountain* MARC-ANDRE FLEURY!!!
Conn Smythe, win or lose. He has been that good.
When the buzzer sounded to end the game and the season for the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday, goalie Connor Hellebuyck left the bench and went back on to the ice.
The netminder had been off for an extra attacker, but six skaters couldn't tie up the game and Jets were eliminated from the playoffs as the expansion Vegas Golden Knights won the Western Conference final series in Game 5 with a 2-1 victory.
Hellebuyck went up to his teammates still on the ice, many bent over their sticks their heads hanging dejectedly, and gave them a pat and said a few words in what he agreed was an emotional moment.
"These guys left their heart out there," Hellebuyck said. "You could tell how hard they worked. Not only tonight, but all season long. I'm proud of the way these guys played in front of me."
Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck consoles Blake Wheeler (26) following the teams loss to the Vegas Golden Knights during Western Conference Finals on Sunday. (Trevor Hagan/Canadian Press)
Hellebuyck turned aside 30 saves in his final outing of a season in which he's a finalist for the Vezina Trophy along with Tampa Bay's Andrei Vasilevskiy and Pekka Rinne of Nashville.
But his strong performance was overshadowed by the play of Vegas' veteran goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, who stopped 31 shots and continued being the brightest star on a team of castoffs from other clubs.
"I thought this was our year," Hellebuyck said. "You could see how hard everyone was working. How much everyone wanted it. That's why this one's tough."
Vegas winger Alex Tuch scored 5:11 into the first period after Jets defenceman Josh Morrissey turned over the puck on a pass attempt in front of the net. But Morrissey bounced back when his one-timer beat Fleury for his first career playoff goal with 2:46 left in the opening period.
I thought this was our year. You could see how hard everyone was working. How much everyone wanted it. That's why this one's tough. - Connor Hellebuyck
Winnipeg native Ryan Reaves scored the go-ahead goal with a high deflection of defenceman Luca Sbisa's point shot that hit the crossbar and then went in at 13:21 of the second period.
"I didn't see much," Hellebuyck said of the game-winning shot. "But any time a guy tips it and it goes bar south, you know something's going right for them. That was tough to swallow, but I guess that's the game."
Jets captain Blake Wheeler said he thought the Jets had been the better team going into the series, but Fleury was the difference-maker.
"Their goaltender was extraordinary," Wheeler said. "There were numerous times the puck was in spots where it looked like it was in the net or going in the net. And he's playing lights out right now."
But he also credited Hellebuyck for his performance.
"He played awesome," Wheeler said. "This isn't on him. He made some terrific saves to give us a chance."
Centre Mark Scheifele, who scored 14 goals and had 20 points in the playoffs, also pointed to Fleury as the wall they couldn't break down.
"They had the best goalie in the league right now. He stood on his head. He made a lot of big saves," Scheifele said. "Their (defence) played solid, played solid in their D zone."
Forward Paul Stastny, acquired by Winnipeg before the trade deadline from St. Louis, was asked why the Jets had a tough time generating offence.
Vegas Golden Knights goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury deflects the puck wide of the net during the first period of Sunday's game. (Trevor Hagan/Canadian Press)
"Fleury played well," Stastny said, following the theme. "I think once they got the lead, they did a good job of kind of almost playing a traffic game and trying to force us to do too much ourselves. Sometimes we got into trouble, one guy trying to go through five guys and then that never works.
"It happened in the past series, we learned from it. Later in the game, everyone tries to do a little extra, you're trying so hard for each other and sometimes that's the worst thing you can do."
Winnipeg was 0 for 4 on the power play and Vegas 0 for 2.
"I don't think we ran out of gas at all," Jets head coach Paul Maurice said. "We lost some sharpness. When you look at the second half of our last two games, especially, we were driving as hard as we could. So there was fuel in the tank. There was a hard and heavy push and it was right."
Winnipeg finished second overall in the NHL behind Nashville and the franchise went deeper into the playoffs that the former Atlanta Thrashers club or the original Jets.
TORONTO — Of course this would happen to Winnipeg.
For once, Manitoba is Canada’s hockey epicenter. The Winnipeg Jets have turned the city upside down with their bid to capture the country’s first Stanley Cup since the Montreal Canadiens won 25 years ago.
But it is perhaps the sad fate of that overlooked, underdog prairie city that while it is enjoying the biggest moment in its hockey history, an expansion franchise from the American desert — the Vegas Golden Knights — is the talk of the hockey world, even in Canada.
Sports talk radio in Toronto, Canada’s largest city, often leads with the Golden Knights or the Toronto Blue Jays. In the past 30 days, Google searches for the Blue Jays across Canada outpaced searches for the Jets.
And after a rousing home win in Game 1, the Jets are having trouble finding an answer to the Golden Knights in the Western Conference finals, which resume on Sunday with Game 5 in Winnipeg and Vegas holding a 3-1 series lead.
