EHLERS BRILLIANT OT GOAL SENDS JETS OVER CAPS AND INTO PLAYOFFS
The Winnipeg Jets clinched a playoff berth.
And Nikolaj Ehlers was the hero.
Tuesday night at a sold-out Canada Life Centre, Ehlers scored on the only Jets’ shot in overtime as Winnipeg defeated the NHL’s first-place Washington Capitals 3-2 in an OT thriller. It was a playoff atmosphere from start to finish with the two top teams in professional hockey going head-to-head. There were big hits, plenty of nastiness, great goaltending, another historic Alex Ovechkin goal and an overtime outcome.
All in all, it was one of the great games of the season.
“This place was rocking with two first-place teams going at it,” said Mason Appleton, who scored the Jets second goal of the game. “Obviously, when you have the first-place team in the East and the first-place team in the West, it’s going to be a great game and (Ehlers’) goal was nice.”
Not to make too much of an issue out of it, but the Jets got the win without the team’s No. 1 rightwinger Gabriel Vilardi and the team’s No. 2 defenceman Neal Pionk, who were both out of the lineup with injuries. It was a gutsy victory as the Jets improved to 49-19-4, one point behind the 47-16-9 Capitals in the NHL’s overall standings.
The Jets also pulled eight points ahead of Dallas in the race for first in the West. The Jets are 7-3-0 in their last 10, 26-6-4 at home and are now 37-0-1 when leading after the second period. The Jets are 11-0-4 in overtime games this year as they swept the season series from Washington.
Simply by finishing in a regulation tie, the Jets clinched a playoff berth. It's the seventh time in the last eight seasons, the Jets have reached the post-season, which is pretty good for the smallest market in the league.
There will be a White Out this April.
The Jets opened the scoring at 6:50 of the first period when Josh Morrissey drilled a shot from two strides over the Washington blueline that hit a Washington player in front and deflected past Caps goalie Logan Thompson. Mark Scheifele and Dylan DeMelo drew the assists and the Jets looked good.
But with 40 seconds left in the period, Washington’s Andrew Mangiapane ripped a wrister high over the shoulder of Connor Hellebuyck and in a blink, the game was tied.
The Jets outshot Washington 8-6 and played a solid period, but they had nothing to show for it.
In the second period, the first six minutes looked like a prolonged Washington power play, and it seemed inevitable that they’d eventually score. But they didn’t. The Jets killed two penalties – off of two terrible calls – and then, with 12 seconds left in the period, Mason Appleton took a terrific pass from Nino Niederreiter and ripped a shot from the right circle over Thompson’s shoulder and under the bar to give the Jets a 2-1 lead.
It was Appleton’s ninth goal of the season and his first goal in 13 games. Niederreiter, with his 18th assist and Cole Perfetti with his 30th drew the helpers.
After two periods, the Jets led by a goal, but had been outshot 18-15, were down 2-1 in power play opportunities and Washington had won 57.1 per cent of the faceoffs. This looked a lot like the Jets 5-3 loss to Buffalo on Sunday, but after two periods, the Jets looked like Sunday’s Sabres. They were being beaten in every category, but they had a 2-1 lead.
The third period was a high-paced back-and-forth between two great teams and for a while it looked like Jets would hold on to their one-goal lead. However, at the 16-minute mark, Ovechkin was left alone in the left circle and when the pass from Aliaksei Protas hit his stick, Ovie rifled a shot in the short-side corner to tie the game. It was his 36th of the season and the 889th of his career.
However, it didn’t mean the Caps had a stranglehold on the outcome.
In overtime, Washington won the faceoff and had control of the puck for the first minute and 20 seconds, but on a Caps line change, Ehlers was free down the right-wing and he took a perfect stretch pass off the boards from Dylan Samberg and went in, almost alone, on Thompson. At full speed, drilled a wrist shot under the bar to seal one of the biggest games of the season. Adam Lowry also drew an assist on Ehlers’ 24th goal of the year. Ehlers now has 24 goals and 61 points, which matches his point total from last year.
The Caps outshot the Jets 29-25, won 53.8 per cent of the faceoffs and outhit Winnipeg 17-15. But the Jets had the advantage on the scoreboard.
Ehlers, Appleton and Ovechkin were the three stars – in that order. Ehlers also had the best line of the night with the overtime winning goal, a plus-one rating, three shots, two hits and a takeaway in 17 minutes and 53 seconds of ice time. Luke Schenn led the Jets with six hits.
Winnipeg will play again at home on Friday night against the New Jersey Devils. The starting time is 7:10 p.m.
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