It’s official: The Winnipeg Whiteout will return in April.
Needing a point to get a place in the playoffs, Winnipeg jets made a better Tuesday evening, ahead of Washington 3-2 capital in an extension in a NHL heavyweight battle that experienced media threw.
Alex Ovechkin equaled the match in the last four minutes, but Nikolaj Ehlers scored the winner in overtime at 88 seconds in the additional period while the jets won a force of the two best teams in the general classification.
“It was a battle of heavy goods vehicles right there,” said head coach Scott Arniel. “Even if we are from the East, an east of the West – it is as if we were playing eight times a year. There was a lot of waste.
Josh Morrissey and Mason Appleton also scored goals for the victory jets.
The jets drop out in the playoffs for the third consecutive year and the seventh time in the past eight seasons.
“At the beginning of the year, our first goal, we have a few goals, but our first goal was to eliminate eight teams and we obviously did it after 60 minutes. So you have to applaud our players for doing this and would have liked to do it against Buffalo.
“To win the match and get this additional point, it’s just the cream on the top.”
This is the first time that jets have become the first team of the conference to get a place in the playoffs.
It is also the first time in the history of the franchise that the jets have swept away a series of capital season after having also won their first meeting in February in overtime. The victory advances the eight jets on the stars of Dallas for first place in the central division and only one point behind the capital for first place in the general classification.
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“It was a big challenge for us,” said Ehlers. “And I think they felt the same thing in the other room and we played very well, I thought. When we had the deep rings and we worked there, we had zone time.”
The jets played without Gabriel Vilardi because he came out from week to week with an upper body injury. The four front lines forward were changed with Alex Iafallo who was promoted to the upper line, while Rasmus Kupari appeared in his first match in three weeks.
Winnipeg went up on the table first at 6:50 am from the first when Morrissey took a foot pass from Mark Scheifele and timed him towards the goal. The shot has taken a look at Martin Fehervary and in the past Logan Thompson for the 12th in the Morrissey season.
The match received a pinch of spices with a little less than three minutes in the first when Colin Miller sent Andrew Mangiapane to the boards, making him a boarding penalty. But just after the whistle to stop the game, Mangiapane died Miller in the chest with a cross -checker, causing a skirmish.
After the expiration of compensation minors, Mangiapane had the last laugh. With Washington on a 3 against 2 in transition, Mangiapane had a donation with Jakob Chychrun that Mangiapane finished with a little player who floated Connor Hellebuyck to level the scoring after 20 minutes.
Washington checked the game for most of the second period, partly due to a pair of power games, but in force, they were the best team during most of the 20 minutes. Winnipeg only managed two shots on goal until the 5.30 p.m. of the second before a power game at the end of the period to change fortune.
With just a handful of seconds to play in the period, Cole Perfetti precipitated the washer on the ice and in the Washington End, dropping it in Nino Niederreiter near the point. Niederreiter sent a cross pass to Appleton, which was promoted in the second PP unit due to the Vilardi injury.
Appleton took a moment to adjust the washer before pouring it on Thompson’s glove for its ninth of the season with only 12 seconds to play in the period, a few moments after the expiration of the power game.
Capitals ended up surpassing the 12-7 jets as part of the middle for a total of two periods of 18-15 in favor of Washington.
However, where it had the most, Winnipeg had the head of 2-1, and the jets entered the night with a NHL record of 36-0-1 during the head after two.
The jet spraying power play has had the possibility of extending Winnipeg’s advance when Taylor Raddyh was called to interference with 13:31 to do in the regulations. After having gone two for 17 in their previous seven games, the PP needed a spark but they could not find it, managing a single shot in two minutes.
Winnipeg retained its 2-1 advance during most of the period before the many Washington fans present obtained exactly what they wanted.
Aliaksei Protas won a washer battle along the wall at the end of Winnipeg and sent a pass to the distant game point, also known as the office of an Alexander Ovechkin. The sniper took the pass and torn a Wrister through Hellebuyck to equalize the match with his 889th career goal.
When the horn sounded at the end of the third period, the jets had officially hit their ticket for the playoffs. A short video played on the big screen showing the word “dropping out”, causing a great joy of the crowds with closed counters.
But there were still business to take care of, and it seemed that Washington could find a way to steal the game when they were holding the washer for more than a minute to start overtime. Their best chance arrived early in OT when Protas rang a shot outside the post.
The jets finally took possession of the washer when the capital did not manage a pass, which prompted the caps to make a line change. Dylan Samberg picked up the washer behind the Winnipeg net and noticed that Ehlers sprinting the ice despite the start of the OT. Samberg put a passage of the boards on the right on the band of Ehlers as he headed in the Washington End and wrapped a shot in front of Thompson, an electric finish with a fantastic hockey match.
Hellebuyck made 27 stops to win the victory while most NHLs will be more focused on pursuing Ovechkin’s objectives, which now needs additional goals to pass the Wayne Gretzky record for most of the career goals of all time.
The jets will try to win two consecutive victories when they welcome New Jersey on Friday evening. Puck Drop is just after 7 p.m. with a pre-match cover on 680 CJOB from 5 p.m.
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