Jets Play Perfect Jets Hockey and Shut Out Dallas 4-0

JETS WIN ANOTHER 4-0 GAME AT HOME TO EXTEND THE DIVISIONAL FINAL

For the second time in this hard-to-analyze Divisional Final, the Winnipeg Jets played an almost perfect hockey game.

Connor Hellebuyck made 22 saves to record his second shutout of the series, Nikolaj Ehlers had two goals and Mark Scheifele had a goal and an assist as the Jets whipped the visiting Dallas Stars 4-0.

With the win, in front of another loud, proud white-clad crowd of the faithful at Canada Life Centre, the Jets stayed alive, cutting the Stars’ series lead to 3-2 with Game 6 in Dallas on Saturday night.

The Jets have played five road games so far in the playoffs and in only one of them, have they been close in the third period. At home they are 6-1. In this series, they have two 4-0 wins to go with that that hard-to-figure-out 3-2 loss in Game 1.

So as its stands, the Jets backs are still against the wall, but if they do lose in Dallas and their season ends on Saturday night, they will have left Jets fans with a perfect hockey game. Tonight’s effort was as good as it gets and it was also perfectly executed Winnipeg Jets hockey – check like mad, force chances, score at least four, play shut down defence and make sure Helly sees the puck.

Then came the fluke. In a four-on-four situation, Mark Scheifele was just trying to centre the puck when it hit the skate of Dallas’ Steve Harley and slid into an empty net. Kyle Connor and Neal Pionk drew assists on what was, essentially, an own-goal.

Later in the period it appeared that Jets had made it 2-0 but the officials called, ‘No goal.’ Evidently Scheifele didn’t kick it in and unless you kick it in, it’s not a goal.

In fact, the Canada Life Centre crowd even got into it with a long, clear chant of: “Should Have Kicked It!! Should Have Kicked It!!”

The Jets outshot Dallas 11-5 in the second period, 22-9 after two periods, and had not been rewarded for their efforts.

And it didn’t take long. At 6:05, Mason Appleton picked up a hooking penalty and the Stars came out with … nothing. In fact, the Jets had numbers on two rushes during the power play. Dallas got three shots on goal but none of them were dangerous. It was a huge kill with less than 12 minutes to play.

At the 12:07 mark, Vlad Namestnikov made it 3-0 when he ripped a wrist shot under the bar that Oettinger didn’t see until was coming back out of the net. Alex Iafallo, who made a great play at the blueline and then made the important pass onto Namestnikov’s stock in front, and Neal Pionk drew the assists.

Then, at 13:28 of the third period, Dallas captain Jamie Benn assaulted (not exaggerating) Scheifele and when the ice chips cleared the two brain-dead officials, Wes McCauley and TJ Luxmore ended up assessing the Jets and extra minor. Dallas did nothing on the power play again – the Jets actually had the two best scoring chances – but it once again demonstrated how incredibly bad the officiating has been in these playoffs. Right across the board, in every series, the officiating has been an embarrassment to the sport. Not just the NHL, but the entire sport.

Dallas pulled Oettinger with 3:20 left to play and the Stars had territorial advantage but not many real chances to score. Eventually, Ehlers hustled almost the entire length of the ice to beat two Stars to a loose puck and tapped in the empty netter while being hauled down.

The three stars were Connor Hellebuyck, Nikolaj Ehlers and Mark Scheifele, but there could have been a dozen of them.

If it was the last game of 2025, it was the perfect game in which to say good-bye and thank you to the city’s remarkable white-clad fans.