For the first time in these Stanley Cup playoffs, the Winnipeg Jets are in trouble. The depth of their dilemma is being felt by a province and a rabid fanbase that was certain this year was going to be different.
After what was, without question, their best road game of the post-season and systematically one of their best of the playoffs Tuesday night, the Jets still fell short in Dallas, falling 3-1 to the Stars in Game 4 of their second-round series, and are now heading home trailing this Western Conference semifinal on the verge of a gentleman’s sweep.
The Jets – the Presidents’ Trophy winners, the best regular-season team in the NHL, the franchise-best 56-win Jets – now face playoff elimination Thursday night at home.
That prospect is not what most thought possible – the Jets included – but despite out-chancing, out-playing and generally out-willing the Stars on Tuesday, Winnipeg suffered its second straight setback in Texas, and its fifth consecutive road loss of the playoffs, with Tuesday night the most heartbreaking of them all.
For its part, Dallas prevailed in two crucial areas: goaltending and special teams. Stars netminder Jake Oettinger was Conn Smythe-esque, holding Winnipeg back all night in a barrage of high-danger chances, while Mikael Granlund scored two of his three goals on the power play, and the Stars are now one game away from advancing to the conference finals for a third straight year.
Now, how the Jets respond to what is absolutely a must-win game Thursday and — without hyperbole — the biggest of the year, will tell us everything about a team that showed during the regular season and against St. Louis in Game 7 of their first-round series an ability to get up off the mat.
But the broad scope of the situation leading into Thursday’s Game 5 easily projects that the Jets will need to beat the Stars three straight games to advance in the playoffs – a tall order for a team without that historical precedent.
For the Jets, trouble has indeed arrived in these Stanley Cup playoffs.
And unless they can pivot quickly, a season that was supposed to be different will look the same as many others to a rabid fan base.
