Winnipeg Jets Take 2-0 Lead Over Minnesota Wild in Stanley Cup 1st Round

The Winnipeg Jets do not have much of a playoff history. For those unaware, this is the second Winnipeg Jets NHL team. The original Jets moved to Arizona after the 1996 season, and are now the Arizona Coyotes. The current Jets began as the Atlanta Thrashers, who were based in Georgia from 1999-2011. The Thrashers made it to the playoffs just once, in the 2006-7 season, but were swept in four games by the New York Rangers. The team relocated to Winnipeg for the 2011-12 season, and made the playoffs for the second time in franchise history in the 2014-15 season. But the Jets again were swept in four games in the first round, losing to the Anaheim Ducks. They failed to reach the post season the next two years.

This season, Winnipeg again made the playoffs, finishing with 114 points, second best in both the Central Division and the Western Conference behind Nashville. The Jets were led by Blake Wheeler, with 23 goals and 68 assists (he tied Philadelphia’s Claude Giroux for the league lead in assists) and Patrik Laine with 44 goals (second to Washington’s Alex Ovechkin who had 49) and 26 assists. Laine, who turns 20 on April 19th, was the 2nd overall pick in the 2016 NHL draft and has 80 goals and 54 assists in his two years in the NHL. Teams hoping to do well in the playoffs need a good goalie, and the Jets’ Connor Hellebuyck fills the bill. Hellebuyck had 44 wins, tied for the league lead with Tampa Bay’s Andrei Vasilevskiy.

The Jets were looking for their first playoff game win, let alone series win, when they began the post season hosting the Minnesota Wild in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Winnipeg trailed 2-1 after allowing a pair of third period goals to the Wild, and it looked like that elusive first win would have to wait a little longer. But less than a minute after Minnesota scored its second goal, Laine tied it up for the Jets. Then with 6:13 left in the third period, Joe Morrow scored what turned out to be the game winning goal, and Winnipeg finally won a post season game.

The Jets doubled their all time win total in Game 2 on April 12th, scoring three times in the third period to beat Minnesota 4-1 and taking a 2-0 series lead.

The series moves to St. Paul for Game 3 on April 15th.