LAS VEGAS – They are the 143 seconds that have changed this series. The total time elapsed from when the Winnipeg Jets scored their first goal and allowed a response from the Vegas Golden Knights during three straight losses in the Western Conference final.
It has helped create the feeling that Winnipeg has continually played from behind since the buzzer sounded on Game 1.
In them we can find an answer to the question of why the Jets have carried play so often and still find themselves on the brink of a contemplative summer. They’ve controlled more than 54 per cent of even-strength shot attempts in the series. During a strong Game 4 they had almost 58 per cent of them – captain Blake Wheeler called it a game they win “nine times out of 10” – and yet the Jets still sulked out of here with a 3-2 loss.
On the grandest stage this franchise has ever seen, Winnipeg is getting PDO’d to death. And there may not be enough time for a market correction here with a must-win Game 5 coming quickly on Sunday afternoon.
“We like a lot of things that we did. You know, stiff opponent, they don’t make it easy on you,” coach Paul Maurice said Friday night. “But the work level and the compete level was really good [from] start to finish. So that’s what you ask of your group, to come out and compete as hard as they can. There’s always going to be things you think you can do better, move the puck a little cleaner.
“But you had 85 shot attempts. You’re playing in the right end of the rink.”
They’ve been playing there predominantly while chasing a tying goal. And, wouldn’t you know, just as soon as Patrik Laine got them one midway through Game 4, the Jets trailed again 43 seconds later when Connor Hellebuyck failed to properly control a rebound and handed it right back.
He made a similar miscue under the same circumstances in Game 3 and saw his team’s defensive coverage fall apart after a turnover following a big goal in Game 2.
That’s bound to inflict some psychological damage on a team that will find a lot more to like than correct when reviewing tape of these games. The Golden Knights are an opportunistic bunch. They didn’t score immediately after Tyler Myers again tied Friday’s game in the third period, but Reilly Smith buried the only remaining high-quality chance Vegas found itself with when the puck bounced over Dustin Byfuglien’s stick blade at the far blue line.
“I know that feeling. It’s not a great feeling,” Golden Knights defenceman Nate Schmidt said of the sequence. “Because you want to lay into it. You feel like you’re walking into a slapshot. You’re all excited. But you know you’re committed already and you can’t really turn back from there because he’s already loaded up.”
We haven’t seen that kind of finish from the Jets. Mark Scheifele is on an otherworldly goal-scoring run this spring and Laine has two power-play goals in the series, but how many Winnipeg odd-man rushes and breakaways have we watched end up under the pad or in the glove of Marc-Andre Fleury?
That’s partly great goaltending, sure, but it’s also on the shooters.
The Jets are working hard and doing the kind of things that typically lead to success. And they’re still down 3-1 to the Golden Knights.
“Tough to say,” said Myers, when asked why puck control hasn’t translated into more wins. “It just didn’t go for us tonight. I thought for the last five periods we were the much better team. Obviously, their goalie has played well. We’re coming in next game with the same mindset and try to even bump it up a notch.”
“It’s a good question,” said winger Nikolaj Ehlers. “We had our chances. A lot of chances. We played a really, really good game – played with a lot of speed, played our game and did that for a full 60 minutes.”
What they haven’t done enough of, though, is put Vegas under real duress. The uncomfortable moments for the Golden Knights would be a lot worse if the Jets didn’t keep giving up a goal right after scoring one themselves.
Heading home now with their season on the line, there isn’t all that much Winnipeg is looking to change. Maybe clean up some details. Score first. Plant even the smallest seed of doubt in the minds of these amazing Golden Misfits.
Oh, and stop shooting yourself in the foot after every breakthrough.
“On the road against a team that had 110 points and we get 40 shots. You can’t generate any more than that,” said Wheeler. “You just stay with what you do. We play that game again and it doesn’t go our way, it’s not meant to be.”
They have already gained a new appreciation for just how hard it is to get your name engraved in the rounded edges of the Stanley Cup.
The Jets are close. But it’s slipping away from them in the blink of an eye.
Marc-Andre Fleury is an expert on the difficulty of closing out a playoff series.
The Vegas Golden Knights goaltender has the experience to know, with his three Stanley Cup rings and 129 career NHL playoff games.
Up three games to one on the Winnipeg Jets in the NHL's Western Conference final, the expansion Golden Knights are a win away from advancing to the Stanley Cup final thanks in large part to Fleury's work this series.
Las Vegas has a chance to finish the Jets off in Sunday afternoon's Game 5 in Winnipeg.
"The last one is always the toughest to get," Fleury said after his 35 saves in a 3-2 win over the Jets on Friday.
Vegas edges Winnipeg 3-2, leads series 3-2. Expansion team 1 win away from advancing to Stanley Cup final. 1:49
No modern-day expansion team has reached the Stanley Cup final.
The St. Louis Blues were among six teams that joined the NHL in 1967 — doubling the league to a dozen teams — when they were swept in the final by the Montreal Canadiens.
After his 33 saves in a 4-2 Game 3 win, the 34-year-old Fleury from Sorel, Que., again fended off a late Jets push when Winnipeg outshot the hosts 12-2 in the first half of the third period.
Series far from over
"Flower's done a great job, making big saves time and time again," Golden Knights forward Reilly Smith said. "He's also pretty calm in there which settles us down."
Smith scored the winner at 13:02 of the third, when Jets defenceman Dustin Byfuglien whiffed on a bouncing puck attempting a shot from the point.
Knights goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury dives to stop Winnipeg's Patrik Laine from scoring during Game 4 Friday night in Las Vegas. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
Smith stole the puck and stayed a step ahead of defenders Brandon Tanev and Josh Morrissey coming back. The Toronto native got a knuckler away that beat Connor Hellebuyck over the Winnipeg goalie's shoulder.
"I was just trying to get as much ice as I could before the other defencemen closed in," Smith said. "I pretty much just buried my head and put it on net."
William Karlsson and Tomas Nosek also scored for the Golden Knights at a raucous T-Mobile Arena.
Patrick Laine and Tyler Myers countered for the Jets, who lost their third in a row this series.
"In our minds, this series is far from over," Myers said.
'Gotta move on'
Hellebuyck stopped 26 of 29 shots in the loss.
"This is a heartbreaker but we gotta move on," the Jets goalie said. "We now have everything on the line."
A Game 6, if necessary, would be back in Las Vegas on Tuesday.
Vegas improved to 9-1 this post-season when scoring the first goal of the game. The Jets are 7-1, but chased the Golden Knights a third straight game after giving up a first-period goal.
Jonathan Marchessault scored 35 seconds into Game 3 and it was the left-winger from Cap-Rouge, Que., who set up the first goal less than three minutes after puck drop Friday.
Myers beat Fleury between the pads at 5:36 of the third period to pull the visitors even at 2-2,
Also like Game 3, Winnipeg tied the game in the second period only for the Knights to score less than a minute later and re-take the lead.
Tomas Nosek celebrates his second-period goal in the Knights' 3-2 win over the Winnipeg Jets on Friday. (Harry How/Getty Images)
"All series long we've been doing it," Fleury said. "I feel like Winnipeg's a team that feeds off that momentum when they get a goal. They get a goal, but we go at them right back. We've been scoring big goals after that."
When Hellebuyck bobbled a rebound in the second, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare scooped up the puck and attempted a wraparound goal. Nosek shoved the puck between Hellebuyck's legs to make it 2-1 at 10:12.
Laine scored a power-play goal at 9:29 to pull the Jets even. He one-timed a shot from the face-off circle under Fleury's arm.
With Myers serving an interference penalty, Karlsson beat Hellebuyck low glove side on a cross-ice feed from Marchessaault at 2:25.
A Game 7 would be May 24 in Winnipeg.
The Jets have signed defensive lineman Nathan Shepherd, the team’s third-round draft pick out of Fort Hays State, to a four-year deal worth the slotted amount of $3.4 million.
The 6-foot-4, 315-pound native of Ontario, Canada, was the first Division II player selected in this year’s draft.
Shepherd began his college career at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia in 2011 and became a starter after redshirting his freshman season. He then left school for financial reasons and worked various jobs for the next two years before walking on to Fort Hays State’s team in Kansas.
He was the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association defensive player of the year as a senior and finished his three-year career at Fort Hays with 168 tackles, including 27 for loss, and 10 sacks.
The announcement Friday leaves the Jets with just two unsigned draft picks: quarterback Sam Darnold, the No. 3 overall selection; and tight end Chris Herndon, a fourth-rounder.
The Winnipeg Jets had life in this one, a lot of life.
Tyler Myers blasted a shot through the pads of Vegas Golden Knights MVP Marc-Andre Fleury to tie Game 4 early in the third period.
Since the Myers goal, it seemed like it was just a matter of time before the Jets would score the go-ahead goal to tie up the West final.
A little more than seven minutes later, however, Jets forward Brandon Tanev employed his world-class speed to carry the puck deep into the Vegas end.
He circled behind the Golden Knights goal and slid a pass back to Dustin Byfuglien at the blue line. Byfuglien whiffed on his one-time attempt.
Vegas playmaker Reilly Smith jumped on the mistake.
He lassoed the loose puck and had a partial breakaway. But instead of cruising in on the Jets goal, Smith seemed to surprise Winnipeg goalie Connor Hellebuyck with a pinpoint snapshot that fluttered from 30-feet out over the netminder's right shoulder with 6:58 remaining.
Vegas edges Winnipeg 3-2, leads series 3-2. Expansion team 1 win away from advancing to Stanley Cup final. 1:49
The Jets needed a big save at this time. But Hellebuyck was caught too close to his crease instead of being out to challenge Smith. Another game-winner for the upstart and opportunistic expansion Golden Knights.
Their 3-2 victory at home has put this remarkable team, this remarkable story, a win away from advancing to the Stanley Cup final.
Vegas' Marc-Andre Fleury reacts after allowing a goal to Patrik Laine in the second period. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
Quick-strike answer
"You don't want to take away from their team, they cash in on their opportunities, but we win that game, nine times out of 10," Jets captain Blake Wheeler said.
The difficult part about the way this series has transpired for the Jets is that the Golden Knights always seem to have a quick-strike answer whenever the Jets score a key goal.
Okay, sure, seven-and-a-half minutes of action elapsed between the Myers game-tying goal and Smith's game-winner. But consider what the Golden Knights have done in their three-game win streak to take over this conference final:
In Game 2 on Monday, Winnipeg's Kyle Connor scored to push the Jets within 2-1 only to see Golden Knights sniper Jonathan Marchessault restore the two-goal lead 88 seconds later.
In Game 3 on Wednesday, young star Mark Scheifele drew the Jets even early in the second period. But a dozen seconds later Vegas veteran James Neal put his team ahead for good in the 4-2 outcome.
On this fateful Friday, Patrik Laine scored on the power play to tie the game midway through the second period. But, for the third game in a row, Vegas forward Tomas Nosek, the same player who took a tripping penalty in the offensive zone that led to the Laine goal, scored 43 seconds later.
It's not like this quick-strike phenomenon has been lost on Jets head coach Paul Maurice. He had his checking line of Adam Lowry, Andrew Copp and Tanev out there as well as his shutdown defence pairing of Josh Morrissey and Jacob Trouba. But Trouba was in a fog and was caught watching instead of picking up Nosek.
'I don't like the goals'
"I don't like the goals," Maurice said. "We lost a draw [in Game 3]. Maybe it wasn't some coverage around our net [on Friday]."
While this development is disturbing to the Jets coach, Maurice was irate about a first-period retaliatory penalty from Scheifele after a missed cross-check from Vegas defenceman Brayden McNabb on Scheifele.
Winnipeg Jets head coach Paul Maurice looks on against the Vegas Golden Knights during the second period. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
The ensuing Golden Knights power play resulted in a William Karlsson goal.
"Heavy, heavy profanity," Maurice said. "Offensive. Would probably cost you your job."
Winnipeg Jets head coach talks to media after 3-2 loss to Vegas Golden Knights. 0:54
Maurice isn't going to lose his job for losing the West final. But if the Jets are going to beat Fleury for three wins in a row, he'll need the best coaching of his career to pull out this series.
