Winnipeg Free Press https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/hockey/jets/a-whiteout-backfire-scalpers-sell-free- tickets-for--jets-street-party-482428883.html

A Whiteout backfire: Scalpers sell free tickets for street party

By: Bill Redekop

A new system to track attendance at Whiteout street parties during Winnipeg Jets playoff games could backfire and result in smaller crowds.

Organizers announced a new policy Friday requiring attendees to obtain a free ticket in advance.

The ticket must be downloaded from Ticketmaster to a smartphone, printed from a computer or obtained at the Bell MTS Place box office.

The ticket process was announced as a way organizers could know how many people to expect, so they could provide services such as policing and portable toilets.

However, all 25,000 tickets for today’s party were gone in less than an hour, and tickets for Monday’s party were gone by mid-afternoon Friday. The highest attendance for a street party so far was 20,000 last Tuesday for Game 6 against Nashville.

That’s led to suspicions that the commitment of some people obtaining tickets is soft and that they obtained the free tickets more as insurance should they feel like going.

As well, with the rush to obtain tickets online, people were almost forced to scoop up tickets immediately before they had time to consult with friends and family.

"I assumed that this was going to happen. They sell out immediately because people get them in case they decide to go," Jets fan Chris Cymbalisty said.

The free tickets started to show up almost immediately on buy-and-sell website Kijiji — for a price.

Tickets were typically selling for $25 each, with one offer of four for $150.

Winnipeg police issued a warning Friday for the public to beware of tickets being offered for sale "for large sums of money per ticket."

"This is considered what is commonly known as ticket scalping," police said, noting the practice is against the law.

Kevin Donnelly, a senior vice-president with True North Sports and Entertainment, conceded the new ticket process could result in smaller street parties because not everyone will use their tickets. "That’s a fact of life" in planning events, he said.

"We aren’t necessarily interested in maxing out this space. We’re doing our best to accommodate as many fans as we can, but we’re going to err on fewer (people) rather than greater," he said.

Fans can obtain as many as eight tickets per order. That’s standard for concerts — although those tickets aren’t free — and people attending the Whiteout parties tend to go in large groups, Donnelly said.

Donnelly stressed the new policy is a work in progress. "Every time we’ve done these things, we have learned a lesson. We’re going to see what happens today and hopefully put the lessons learned into use on Monday."

Donnelly didn’t know how successful people would be trying to sell the tickets online. "We find it an unfortunate sign of the times that we’re seeing tickets sold," he said. "It’s not in the spirit of this event."

Crowd management policy is determined by a committee that includes True North, the city, Winnipeg police and emergency services.

Tim Feduniw, Restaurant and Foodservices Association executive director, sympathizes with the organizers. "I remember putting on a free April Wine concert in Portage la Prairie (in the 1990s) and expecting 8,000 people to show up. We got 28,000. It was absolutely crazy. We didn’t know what to do," Feduniw said.

"From a predictive perspective, it’s important to understand what kind of crowd numbers you’re dealing with. As excitement builds, we need to understand what we’re facing."

But Feduniw said the issue that too many people may go downtown is an enviable dilemma.

"What a wonderful problem to have, anticipating crowds downtown larger than we can handle. When was the last time we had that kind of problem?"

Dayna Spiring, president and CEO of Economic Development Winnipeg, said street-party organizers must be doing something right because city and hockey officials from Edmonton visited Winnipeg recently to study the Whiteout parties.

People with tickets to the Jets game can use their tickets to enter the street party before and after the game. Street party ticket holders can leave and re-enter the gated-off party area. Tickets will be scanned at entry points.

The maximum crowd capacity for the licensed area of the street party is about 22,000 and another 3,000 for the family area at the Millennium Library.

Gates open at 4 p.m. today. The game between the Jets and the starts at 6 p.m. at Bell MTS Place. https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/hockey/jets/stastny-takes-off-after-landing-with-jets- 482446323.html

Stastny takes off after landing with Jets Sky's the limit for trade-deadline acquisition

By: Jason Bell

He’s affectionately known as Stas by his relatively still-new teammates, but Paul Stastny could easily carry the handle Clutch.

When there’s a series on the line, he’s demonstrated during his NHL career an ability to elevate his level of play and grab the spotlight. He’s a proven difference-maker in heavy-duty games, and the Winnipeg Jets hockey club is the latest beneficiary.

Stastny, acquired from the St. Louis Blues at the trade deadline Feb. 26, is making Winnipeg look mighty good right now.

Case in point, the 32-year-old centre registered a couple of key points before Game 7 was even 11 minutes old Thursday night to significantly dull the "smash" in Smashville. While there wasn’t a whole lot to his secondary assist on Tyler Myers’s game-opener — a beastly from a bad angle on Nashville goalie Pekka Rinne — Stastny’s stubborn forecheck led to his fifth post- season goal just two minutes later, deflating the Predators, and a crowd of about 17,500 at Bridgestone Arena.

He’d add a power-play goal midway through the third period for a three-point night in a 5-1 series-clinching triumph, beefing up his playoff totals to six goals and 14 points through 12 games.

"Obviously, (Stastny) can share his stories, he can share his experiences with all of us, especially the young guys. His game did all the speaking, especially (Thursday). He played unbelievable," centre Mark Scheifele gushed. "That line got us going in the game, and got a big goal on the power play as well. I think it’s just the person he is. He leads by example, does all the right things on and off the ice, and that stuff just gets rewarded."

Stastny is an unrestricted free agent at season’s end, and, with a bunch of money still to be spent by the organization this summer on many of its young stars, might wind up being a pure rental player.

But it’s easy to accept a future without Stastny if it comes AFTER a parade through downtown streets.

So, credit Cheveldayoff for making the best deadline deal of 2018.

Frankly, only one other trade comes even close. The paid a steep price to acquire defenceman Ryan McDonagh and forward J.T. Miller from New York Rangers. In exchange, the Lightning surrendered forward Vladislav Namestnikov, defenceman Libor Hajek, forward Brett Howden, a 2018 first-round pick and a 2019 conditional first-round pick.

McDonagh had five assists in the playoffs prior to Game 1 of the Eastern Conference final between the Lightning and .

A review of major NHL trade-day deals the past few years shows Stastny’s acquisition might be the shrewdest move since 2014, when the Rangers picked up pending free-agent Martin St. Louis from Tampa Bay. The veteran all-star had expressed a desire to be moved, and Lightning GM made it happen.

Tampa Bay sent St. Louis and a conditional second-round pick to New York for Ryan Callahan, a first-round pick and a conditional second. St. Louis had a solid post-season, scoring eight goals and adding seven assists in 25 games as the Rangers made it all the way to Game 5 of the ’14 final before being eliminated by L.A.

Stastny continues to fortify his reputation as a major contributor in pressure-packed circumstances. The 12-year veteran, and son of NHL Hall of Famer Peter Stastny, is among some select company when it comes to production in Game 7 appearances. He has four goals and eight points in four games, leaving him fourth on the list of current NHLers.

He’s behind only current Carolina Hurricanes right-winger Justin Williams (14 points in seven Game 7s), Boston Bruins centre Patrice Bergeron (nine points in four) and Detroit Red Wings centre Henrik Zetterberg (nine points in five).

Cheveldayoff was asked point-blank Saturday for his impressions of Stastny’s impact on the team.

"Some of his best performances are things none of us get to see, and really happen inside the dressing room and on the plane and sitting beside the players, just the experience that he has," said Cheveldayoff, who surrendered a first-round pick this summer and forward prospect Erik Foley to land Stastny. "We knew we were getting a quality player (and), obviously, you can see that on the ice. (Also) a quality person, we knew that from our due diligence in the past.

"What he can bring inside the room, until you have a player, someone like that who can provide those experiences, you don’t really appreciate until you have."

Here’s a few of this year’s deadline deals that fell short, at least in the short term:

● Three days before the deadline, the Pittsburgh Penguins acquired Senators centre Derick Brassard in a convoluted three-team deal between Ottawa and Vegas. The Golden Knights threw some money into Ottawa’s pot, to ensure the cash-strapped Penguins could get their hands on Brassard, forcing the Jets, on the hunt for a centre, to go with Plan B. It’s been reported Vegas retained a reported 40 per cent of Brassard’s salary to keep him in the Eastern Conference. However, the gambit didn’t exactly work out because the Golden Knights now face the Jets and red-hot Stastny.

● On the eve of the deadline, the Bruins acquired forward Rick Nash from the Rangers in exchange for forwards Ryan Spooner and Matt Beleskey, defenceman Ryan Lindgren, Boston’s first-round pick in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft and its seventh-round pick in 2018. Boston beat in Round 1, but couldn’t get past Tampa Bay.

● On deadline day, the San Jose Sharks received ex-Jets winger Evander Kane from the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for a 2019 conditional first-round pick and a couple of lesser pieces. Kane fired four goals in nine games for the Sharks, bounced out by the Golden Knights.

● Vegas paid a hefty price on deadline day for a guy who has barely played for them. GM George McPhee traded for Tomas Tatar from the Detroit Red Wings in exchange for a 2018 first-round pick, 2019 second-round pick and 2021 third-round pick. He has been a healthy scratch for six of 10 playoff games this spring and has zero points. https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/hockey/jets/cheveldayoff-knows-vegas-will-be-tough- test-482441503.html

Cheveldayoff knows Vegas will be tough test Jets GM proud of steps team has taken this season

By: Mike Sawatzky

Kevin Cheveldayoff is justifiably proud of the giant steps his Jets have taken in 2017-18.

The Winnipeg GM has also been impressed with what has been built in Vegas, where the Golden Knights have challenged many preconceived notions about expansion teams. Expansion teams are historically a bad bunch — but not these Knights, who won a Pacific Division title in their inaugural season and will challenge Winnipeg in the NHL’s Western Conference final.

"You could tell right away with the selections that they made (in the expansion draft) that they had a plan in mind, and that plan was going to be centred around speed and the way the game is played today," Cheveldayoff said Friday on the eve of tonight’s Game 1 at Bell MTS Place. "It had balance throughout the different positions. They did a fantastic job of obviously going through the expansion process. Certainly, very, very quickly you could tell that team came together, gelled together and was very, very well coached and that there was a genuine bond with those guys.

"Full marks, they’ve earned everything they’ve gotten. I think it’s beyond the thought process of them being an expansion team. All those players there are good players. All the players there are in a better situation than in their prior teams as far as ice time, and a lot of them have blossomed."

The Jets GM and Vegas assistant GM Kelly McCrimmon have a history that goes way back to when Cheveldayoff was a star defenceman on the during the late ’80s. McCrimmon was first an assistant coach with Brandon and became GM of the club before Cheveldayoff graduated to the pro ranks.

Friendship will be put off until the end of this series.

"We exchanged text messages. I texted him after they clinched, he texted me yesterday and then we both agreed to burn each other’s numbers after that," Cheveldayoff joked. "You know what? The job that George (GM McPhee) and Kelly have done in building that team is exemplary. They’re good hockey people. I’m excited for what he’s accomplished. For us, the focus is on the here and the now. Real proud of our group and the guys on the ice, the guys in the dressing room, the coaching staff. It’s one of those things, we’re just going to focus on that."

The Winnipeg-Vegas rivalry also has an off-ice edge.

At the league’s Feb. 23 trade deadline, the Golden Knights reportedly thwarted Winnipeg’s attempt to acquire veteran centre Derick Brassard with a complex three-team deal also involving the and Pittsburgh Penguins.

The two-time defending champion Penguins landed Brassard and forward prospects Vincent Dunn and Tobias Lindberg in the swap, while the Knights got forward Ryan Reaves, a fourth- round draft pick in 2018 and retained 40 per cent of Brassard’s salary. Ottawa, meanwhile, received goaltender Filip Gustavsson, defenceman Ian Cole, a first-round pick this June and a third-rounder in 2019.

Cheveldayoff went to Plan B, acquiring centre Paul Stastny from the St. Louis Blues, instead.

"I don’t really have any comments on that," Cheveldayoff said of the Brassard deal. "I don’t know much about the stories that go around. I know what happens within our group. The trade deadline is a fast and furious period of time. We talked about our group, that we were only going to make a trade if we felt that the trade was going to upgrade us or help us. And it had to have the right fit. And Paul Stastny was the right fit.

"If we weren’t able to acquire him, we may not have made any moves at the forward position." https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/hockey/nhl/jets-in-conference-final-no-surprise-for- vegas-assistant-gm-his-team-however-482408583.html

Flower is growing on his Vegas teammates

By: Mike Sawatzky

He was beloved in Pittsburgh and he's become a folk hero in Las Vegas.

Marc-Andre Fleury, a three-time Stanley Cup winner with the Penguins, appears to have raised his game with the expansion Golden Knights. His reputation as a prime-time player is matched only by the most cheerful demeanor in the sport. He seems to be smiling most of the time.

Life is good for the 33-year-old puckstopper, who is an early favourite for the Conn Smythe Trophy as the NHL's post-season MVP.

And with his numbers, who's to argue? His 8-2 playoff record, 1.53 goals-against average and a .951 save percentage spell trouble for the Winnipeg Jets, who face the Golden Knights in Game 1 of the NHL's Western Conference final Saturday night.

"He’s a great guy. He’s such a good guy you sometimes talk more of the person than you do how good of a goalie he is," said veteran Vegas left-winger James Neal. "For us, we wouldn’t be here if we didn’t have him. Every night he’s making huge saves for us at the right time.

"For a guy who’s had a great career and won so many Stanley Cups, he still has something to prove and wants to be better each day. Guys see that, especially the younger guys and it builds a lot of character in our room."

Fleury was limited by a concussion to 46 appearances in the regular season but he's making up for lost time on the Knights' improbably run the conference final. And he's still working to refine his game.

"I tried a little different things," said Fleury. "Maybe one technical thing that’s changed, but for the most part of it, it was just about getting ready, the mental aspect of it," said Fleury. "Sometimes like it feels like you’re thinking too much about how much you should practise before the game, every morning, and being fine for games if I don’t skate every day."

Neal said it's impossible not to be affected by Fleury's enthusiasm.

"He hasn’t changed at all. He’s the same guy every single day he comes to work," said Neal, who was his teammate in Pittsburgh for three seasons beginning in 2010-11. "Loves being around the team, loves playing hockey.

"I think he maybe had something a little bit more to prove this year after the last couple years. He’s such a great goalie, so maybe it’s tough on him not playing and being that No. 1 guy. So to come here, he’s taken our team, I think you’ve seen what he’s done. He’s there every night making the big saves. He’s been awesome."

Another old pro, 36-year-old blue-liner Deryk Engelland, believes the Knights are not the same team without him.

"He’s the backbone to our team," said Engelland. "On and off the ice, he’s a phenomenal goalie. In the locker room, he’s an even better person. A great leader, a fun guy to be around. He always brings excitement to the rink every day."

Crucial to the Golden Knights success will be how well Fleury and Co. are able to contain Winnipeg's top unit of Mark Scheifele, and Kyle Connor. The trio has combined for 16 goals and 39 points in 12 playoff games so far.

"They’re good. They’re obviously one of the best lines out there," said Fleury. "They’ve been good on the power play also, getting a lot of points there. Staying out of the box is probably the main thing so we don’t give them too many opportunities on the power play. For the game, if we keep playing well as a team, doing what the coach wants us to, with some speed and doing everybody doing their job in our zone, we should be in good shape." https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/western-conference-final-featuring-winnipeg-vs- vegas-what-were-the-odds-of-that-482432073.html

What were the odds of that? Two teams that hoped to make the playoffs are halfway to the promised land - and nobody wants to go home yet

By: Mike McIntyre

It is, without a doubt, the most unlikely Western Conference final in the history of the NHL.

That was already going to be true when one of the participants is a team that didn't even exist a year ago, an expansion franchise comprised of cast-offs from 30 other organizations. Not only did the Vegas Golden Knights blow away even the most optimistic expectations, they made a mockery of the long-held belief that it takes plenty of time and patience to build a winner.

Then throw in the Winnipeg Jets, who had a grand total of zero playoff wins in their own history entering play this spring, and you have a battle nobody saw coming. As hard as it might be to believe, one of these teams is going to the Stanley Cup final.

The casual observer might look at this as a matchup between overachieving teams simply happy to be here and playing with house money, so to speak. But that's not the message coming from players and coaches.

They expected to get this far. And they'll be awfully disappointed if they don't accomplish their ultimate goal.

"We’re here to win a Stanley Cup and we haven’t achieved anything yet. We all want to continue playing hockey," Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck said Friday.

Winnipeg finished second overall in the NHL regular-season with a 52-20-10 record, dispatched Minnesota in five games and then beat No. 1-ranked Nashville in an epic seven-game series which included winning three road wins.

A young and rather inexperienced team when this run began, sophomore sniper Patrik Laine said they've learned some valuable lessons along the way.

"We knew we didn’t have a lot of experience from the playoffs, but we showed that during the regular season that we have a really good team and a lot of young players who’ve played in the big games before. Obviously, not in the NHL playoffs. I think everybody has just been excited to play hockey and playoff hockey and just try to improve their game from the regular season. I think everybody’s done a really good job of that," he said.

Vegas finished fifth overall at 51-24-7 and cruised to the Pacific Division title. They blew through Los Angeles in four games in the first round, then stormed past San Jose in six games. Thoughts of this Cinderella story coming to a screeching halt once the post-season began were quickly laid to waste.

"I think all of us going into the season, just like every other team, had a goal of making the playoffs. I think every guy had that goal. That’s what you play for all 82 games. I think, halfway through the season when you’re on top of the division, you maybe sit back and say obviously things are for real, and we’ve got a good shot at doing some damage this year," Vegas defenceman Deryk Engelland said Friday.

So here we are, teams who had a combined zero playoff wins in their history a month ago, but are now each halfway to the promised land.

There's no shortage of compelling storylines to watch for over the next couple weeks.

FLEURY VS HELLEBUYCK: Both goalies are cornerstones of their team's success. Hellebuyck is a Vezina Trophy nominee who hasn't wilted under the playoff spotlight, going 8-4 with a sparkling 2.24 GAA and .927 save percentage. Veteran Marc-Andre Fleury has been even better, going 8-2 with a 1.53 GAA and .951 save percentage. The three-time Stanley Cup winner has found new life in Vegas after being cut loose by the Pittsburgh Penguins

"At the end of the day, it’s just a hockey game. I don’t think experience changes that. I’m going to go out and play the same way I’ve been playing all year. I’m going to focus on my game and my details and let the rest fall into place," Hellebuyck said Friday when asked about going up against someone with Fleury's pedigree.

Fleury said he expects a huge challenge from the Jets, who can bring the offence in waves led by the top line of Mark Scheifele, Blake Wheeler and Kyle Connor.

"I think that is a general truth in every game of hockey ever played at the end of the day. There is enough offence by both teams, both teams score enough goals, that the pressure will be on the guys in the nets. As usual," Jets coach said Friday.

BEST VS BEST: Yes, the Jets top trio is flying high, combining for 16 goals and 23 assists through a dozen playoff games. But Vegas also boasts one of the best lines in all of hockey, with William Karlsson between Jonathan Marchessault and Reilly Smith. Those three have nine goals and 23 assists in 10 playoff games.

"I think they do a little bit of a combination of offence and they seem to play against the other team's best players, too, especially at home. They're a great mix of responsibility, play hard underneath the puck and they can make some pretty dynamic plays," Wheeler said.

"I think all three of those guys can put the puck in the net. Real explosive so far throughout the playoffs so they're playing real well. Obviously, it's going to be a key matchup for us. Players like that, and a line like that that's playing really well, it's tough to just all together eliminate them. You want to try to contain them as much as you can."

Expect Josh Morrissey and Jacob Trouba to be out as much as possible against that line, at least when Maurice has last change in Winnipeg.

"I think whoever we face as a line, our game doesn’t change. We want to take care of our own D zone, play the right way, pressure the D. They’re very good D, but it’s nothing our line can’t handle," Marchessault said Friday.

Scheifele leads the NHL with 11 playoff goals and is hoping to carry momentum over from the Nashville series, while downplaying his individual accomplishments so far.

"At the end of the day, it’s not about a personal game at all. It’s all about winning games, it’s all about that extra blocked shot, that extra hit, a good stick in the neutral zone, whatever that is," he said. "We lay it all on the line each and every night. That’s what it’s all about. It’s never about personal accomplishments in playoffs."

HOME-ICE ADVANTAGE: Bell MTS Place was the toughest rink for visitors during the regular-season, and T-Mobile Arena was right up there as well. Winnipeg had rattled off 13 straight victories on home ice after their Game 3 victory against Nashville, but have dropped the last two. They'll look to get back on track before the Whiteout starting Saturday night.

"It's huge. Obviously, Canada is an unbelievable hockey market and especially our fans in Winnipeg. They're very passionate about our team and about hockey. It feels good to be a Canadian team to go this far," said Scheifele.

"We're real comfortable in this building. We'll continue to play with confidence in here. Obviously you want to protect your home ice, so we'd like to get off to a good start in the series," added Wheeler.

REST VS MOMENTUM: Winnipeg had very little time to savour the Game 7 victory over Nashville, travelling back home in the wee hours Friday and then re-convening at the rink hours later to begin planning for Vegas.

"I think you approach this as you approach all the games we've played so far in the playoffs. You know, it's a little bit of an adjustment because you're playing a different team," said Wheeler. "I think we just played a big game and they're only getting bigger from here on out. So I think you want to try and do a lot of the same things that we did (Thursday) night in Nashville and have a good first period, get a good start. But you don't need to reinvent the wheel. Just carry a lot of that excitement we had (Thursday) night into Game 1."

The Golden Knights wrapped up their series last Sunday, so they should be plenty rested. Will that lead to any rust?

"Obviously they have home advantage here. They’re going to get energy from the crowd. It’s a tough building to come into. But for us, it’s been I think six days we didn’t play. We’ve got to get our legs going right off the bat, have a good start. After the first period I think we’ll be fine and we’ll keep going," said Marchessault.

THE ROLE PLAYERS Depth is always a huge factor in playoff success, and perhaps this is where the Jets might have a distinct advantage over Vegas. Winnipeg would love to get Laine and Nikolaj Ehlers cooking on that second line with Paul Stastny, while contributions from the likes of Bryan Little, Mathieu Perreault and Joel Armia would be most welcome. The checking trio of Adam Lowry, Brandon Tanev and Andrew Copp has also shown flashes of offence throughout the year.

Vegas doesn't have quite the same level of secondary scoring as Winnipeg, but players such as James Neal, Alex Tuch, Erik Haula and Cody Eakin all had strong seasons and have continued that into the playoffs.

"I think they’re a really good team. They’re coached well, they’re strong right to the core, they have four good lines and solid defence and a really good goalie," Hellebuyck said. "To say anything is going to come easy is completely wrong. This is going to be a dogfight right to the end. I know those guys are going to be fighting their way back, too."

SPEED TO BURN: Don't expect a turtle derby to break out — both these teams have plenty of wheels.

"They're fast. They play the game extremely fast. In the NHL today, that's what teams are trying to get to. They're trying to play the game fast. That's what we preach. So I think there's a lot of similarities in that. We both try to play the game in a similar fashion, real uptempo, we try to force the other team into our game," said Wheeler.

Neal said Friday this series could turn into a track meet at times.

"I’m sure that could happen at some point. We’ve both got quick teams and both like to be on the offence. You turn the puck over, that’s going to happen sometimes. You’ve got be aware of what you’re doing and aware of who you’re on the ice with," he said.

SPECIAL TEAMS: Teams will want to stay out of the box — because the power plays in this series could be potent.

Winnipeg was fifth-best in the regular-season with a 23.4 per cent efficiency, and have been even better in the playoffs by clicking at 25 per cent. Vegas was ninth-best in the regular-season at 21.4 per cent, and are running just under that in the playoffs so far at 17.5 per cent.

"They’ve been good on the power play also, getting a lot of points there. Staying out of the box is probably the main thing so we don’t give them too many opportunities on the power play. For the game, if we keep playing well as a team, doing what the coach wants us to, with some speed and doing everybody doing their job in our zone, we should be in good shape," said Fleury.

Winnipeg had the seventh-best penalty killing in the regular-season at 81.8 per cent but have struggled a bit so far in the post-season at 74.2 per cent. Vegas had the 10th-best penalty killing in the regular-season at 81.4 per cent and are a stellar 85 per cent so far in the playoffs.

GALLANT VS MAURICE: There's plenty of mutual respect between the two bench bosses, who will match strategy and wits throughout the series. On Friday, both had plenty of praise for their opponent.

"They've had a great season, obviously. They've been outstanding all year long. Good hockey team. Looking forward to a good series with them. It's going to be a great battle," said Gerard Gallant. "I expect it to be real fast, real quick, two real competitive teams. It should be a great series. I said that in the L.A. series and the San Jose series. But I truly believe they're a big, heavy team that plays real fast. I think we're the same way. We play real quick, real fast."

Maurice said Vegas is the real deal, despite being a first-year franchise.

"Well, the 109 points tells you how good they were. Specifically, outstanding transition and speed. How they move the puck from their end in straight lines. And they’ll make plays off that rush. It’s going to be a very fast, speed-based series. There will be contact for sure in the zones, but that won’t be the story. The team that defends, I think, the best through the neutral zone and attacks simply through the neutral zone will have the best chance to win," he said.

HISTORY AN INDICATOR? There was little to take away from their three head-to-head meetings during the regular-season. Vegas won the first meeting in November, a 5-2 decision on home ice. Winnipeg won the rematch a month later by a 7-4 score at Bell MTS Place. And then Vegas took the rubber match in early February with a 3-2 overtime victory in Winnipeg.

"I don’t think we ever approached them as an expansion team. Certainly not now. It’s unique because it’s the first year of this team but it’s not like these are all new players in the NHL. These are all established players, coming into the playoffs, I mean, that team had quite a bit more playoff experience then our team so I think with how they started the season… nobody was taking them for granted. Nobody’s was treating them like an off night," said Wheeler.

"They’ve had a heckuva season. Just watching them in the playoffs, it’s not a fluke. It’s not a Cinderella. They’re for real. So it’s going to be a real tough matchup." https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/hockey/nhl/jets-in-conference-final-no-surprise-for- vegas-assistant-gm-his-team-however-482408583.html

McCrimmon's WHL time provided template for team's success

By: Mike Sawatzky

An NHL Western Conference final matchup pitting the Winnipeg Jets against the Vegas Golden Knights would have seemed wildly improbable if anyone had seriously considered the possibility at the start of training camp last fall.

Well, so much for that.

The greenhorn Golden Knights and the previously unproven Jets will face off in tonight’s Game 1 at Bell MTS Place, and for Vegas assistant GM Kelly McCrimmon, at least part of that equation isn’t as far-fetched as it might have seemed.

"Well, quite frankly, I’m not that surprised the Jets are in the conference final," McCrimmon said Friday. "I don’t think anyone expected the Golden Knights to be in the conference final. It’s been an ongoing process — whereas time passed by and the players continued to meet the challenge and we remained in the playoff hunt, and then we had a stretch where we got to the top of our division and then were able clinch a playoff spot.

"We took nothing for granted. Even as obvious as it was to some people that we were going to be a playoff team, until we beat Colorado at home (on March 26) to clinch, I think we were all fearful that things could still unravel. The league is so close that if you ever hit a bad run for five or six games, you could go from in the playoff picture to out of the playoff picture."

The 57-year-old from Plenty, Sask., spent the better part of three decades in the as a GM, coach and owner of the Brandon Wheat Kings before accepting Vegas GM George McPhee’s offer to become his top lieutenant following Brandon’s championship run in 2015-16. Much of the knowledge McCrimmon gleaned in building the Wheat Kings from the WHL’s worst franchise into a perennial contender transferred to the NHL level.

"A lot of the aspects of building a team are very similar," said McCrimmon, who estimates he watched the Jets play 15 to 20 times in 2016-17. "Player development is very similar, the Western League is a draft-and-develop league, which is an approach good NHL teams take. Winnipeg would be exhibit A. The relationships — dealing with players, working with coaches, scouts, management people — those are all similar to how you would run a WHL team."

McPhee and his management team did their homework thoroughly, selecting or leveraging the acquisition of young players such as Jonathan Marchessault, William Karlsson, Shea Theodore, Alex Tuch and Reilly Smith by way of the expansion draft, while also securing the services of key veterans such as Mark-André Fleury, James Neal, Pierre-Édouard Bellemare and Deryk Engelland.

"The year leading up to the up to the expansion draft was an incredible education for me, based on the amount of NHL hockey I was able to watch and learning the players," McCrimmon said. "With each team, the exercise involved your best guess as to who the team would see as their core players and that you would expect to be protected.

"Then, identifying a group of players that we needed to make sure we did a lot of work on in terms of background, in terms of projecting. They were players of interest, so some teams had quite a few of those, some teams didn’t have as many and then we worked hard to make sure we were current with the teams’ best prospects and some exempt players that might be able to be included in (trade) discussions. That worked out in a couple of situations.

"We were looking for young players whenever possible. There were a few situations where those weren’t available, and that’s where we were able to add good pros, real good leaders. Deryk Engelland, Pierre Bellemare are two that come to mind. But Fleury is another one of those... and I would add David Perron and James Neal."

The comparisons to his early work in the WHL are obvious, but with a key distinction.

"The difference (in Brandon) was I had to tear it down first," McCrimmon said. "I remember those early years in Brandon, thinking it would be way easier to start without any negative history or baggage or culture issues that sometimes are part of a turnaround or a rebuild."

Starting at ground zero in Vegas had its benefits.

"It certainly contributed, because it put us all — everyone started work the same day — so every player showed up for training camp last fall," McCrimmon said. "We had no hierarchy in place, no entitlement, no situations where we had contracts we wished we didn’t have or those types of things. I think a combination of players having something to prove, and again, beginning the journey together, became pretty powerful." https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/hockey/ahl/icehogs-complete-sweep-of-moose-with- 6-3-win-will-face-stars-in-west-final---482442543.html

IceHogs complete sweep of Moose with 6-3 win; will face Stars in West final

By: The Canadian Press

ROCKFORD, Ill. - A three-goal second period put the Rockford IceHogs ahead for good as they defeated the 6-3 on Friday and completed a four-game sweep of their second- round playoff series.

Cody Franson had two goals, while Victor Ejdsell, Chris DiDomenico, Andreas Martinsen and Carl Dahlstrom also finding the back of the net for the IceHogs. DiDomenico added two assists, while Ejdsell had one.

Ejdsell's penalty-shot winner came at 11:24 in the second period.

Jake Kulevich, J.C. Lipon and Julian Melchiori scored goals for the Moose.

Collin Delia made 35 saves in the win, while Eric Comrie stopped 30 shots for Manitoba.

The IceHogs went 4 for 9 on the power play. The Moose went 0 for 6 with the man advantage.

Rockford advances to the Western Conference final for the first time in franchise history. The IceHogs will face the Texas Stars, who won their second-round series 4-1 over the Tucson

Winnipeg Sun http://winnipegsun.com/sports/hockey/nhl/winnipeg-jets/flower-power-marc-andre-fleury- propels-golden-knights-to-final-four

Flower power: Marc-Andre Fleury propels Golden Knights to Final Four

By Ken Wiebe

As soon as his was the first name called in the expansion draft, Marc-Andre Fleury became the face of the Vegas Golden Knights franchise.

As the NHL’s 31st team cobbled together its roster, Fleury’s mega-watt smile was part of the process of selling the game in Sin City.

Along with his upbeat personality and team-first attitude, Fleury brought with him the pedigree that comes from leading the Pittsburgh Penguins to the Stanley Cup final on two occasions (losing to the Detroit Red Wings in 2008 and defeating the Red Wings in 2009) and being part of two other championship squads in 2016 and 2017, when Matt Murray carried the mail.

Goaltending was going to be the backbone of the Golden Knights and Fleury was the perfect candidate to keep his team in games.

Golden Knights general manager George McPhee was banking on Fleury being rejuvenated by the new opportunity and his bet paid off.

Not only did Fleury get back to his prior level of play, he sky-rocketed right past it and back into the upper-echelon of goalies.

“He’s a really proud, competitive player. He’s like a lot of players, all players on our team,” said Golden Knights assistant general manager Kelly McCrimmon. “He wanted to respond with his best season. And that’s what he’s doing.”

Although Fleury suffered a concussion in late October, it didn’t take him long to shake off the rust after his return.

By the time the season was over, he had backstopped the Golden Knights to first place in the Pacific Division, posting a record of 29-11-3, with a 2.27 goals-against average and .927 save percentage.

Were it not for the time missed due to injury, it likely would have been Fleury joining Connor Hellebuyck of the Jets and Pekka Rinne of the Nashville Predators as a finalist for the Vezina Trophy.

How did Fleury tap into the fountain of youth?

“Little things,” said Fleury. “Maybe one technical thing that’s changed, but for the most part of it, it was just about getting ready, the mental aspect of it.”

Some pundits wondered if the Golden Knights impressive run might come to a crashing halt, but Fleury is part of the reason the organization is now four wins away from reaching the Stanley Cup final in their first season.

He’s 8-2 during this post-season run and has already posted four shutouts in those 10 starts.

As hard as it is to believe, his playoff numbers are even better than what he managed to produce during the regular season: A 1.53 goals-against-average and .951 save percentage.

“He’s such a good guy you sometimes talk more of the person than you do how good of a goalie he is. For us, we wouldn’t be here if we didn’t have him,” said Golden Knights forward James Neal, who was a teammate of Fleury’s with the Penguins. “Every night he’s making huge saves for us at the right time. For a guy who’s had a great career and won so many Stanley Cups, he still has something to prove and wants to be better each day. Guys see that, especially the younger guys and it builds a lot of character in our room.

“He hasn’t changed at all. He’s the same guy every single day he comes to work. Loves being around the team, loves playing hockey. He maybe had something a little bit more to prove this year after the last couple years. He’s such a great goalie, so maybe it’s tough on him not playing and being that No. 1 guy. So to come here, he’s taken our team, I think you’ve seen what he’s done. He’s there every night making the big saves. He’s been awesome.”

Fleury is definitely an X-factor going into the series between the Jets and Golden Knights.

“He’s got the rings, he’s got the hardware to prove it and he’s a world-class goaltender,” said Jets head coach Paul Maurice. “It’ll be a challenge.”

A challenge Hellebuyck welcomes with open arms.

Hellebuyck knew he’d need to outplay Rinne in the second round for the Jets to advance.

Can he do the same against Fleury, who holds a similar edge in terms of Stanley Cup experience?

“At the end of the day, it’s just a hockey game. I don’t think experience changes that,” said Hellebuyck. “I’m going to go out and play the same I’ve been playing all year. I’m going to focus on my game and my details and let the rest fall into place.”

Fleury knows how hard it is to get to the Stanley Cup final and he doesn’t want to let this opportunity pass him by.

“He’s the backbone to our team,” said Golden Knights defenceman Deryk Engelland. “A great leader, a fun guy to be around. He always brings excitement to the rink every day.” http://winnipegsun.com/sports/hockey/nhl/winnipeg-jets/would-jets-destiny-be-different-if- brassard-not-stastny-had-been-acquired

Would Jets' destiny be different if Brassard, not Stastny, had been acquired?

By Ken Wiebe

What would have happened if the Winnipeg Jets had acquired Derick Brassard instead of Paul Stastny?

It’s a relevant question as the Jets get set to open the Western Conference final against the Vegas Golden Knights.

As the Jets looked into bolstering their depth at centre, Brassard was on the Jets’ radar and a solid offer was believed to have been made to the Ottawa Senators, but the Golden Knights became the third team in the complicated deal that sent the centre to the Pittsburgh Penguins instead.

A report circulated that the Golden Knights, who acquired Winnipegger Ryan Reaves and took on half of Brassard’s remaining salary, only got involved in the deal to block Brassard from going to the Jets.

On Friday afternoon, Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff was asked if he could provide some insight on the speculation but he calmly deflected the query.

“I can’t. I don’t really have any comments on that. I don’t know much about the stories that go around,” said Cheveldayoff. “The trade deadline is a fast and furious period of time. We talked about our group, that we were only going to make a trade if we felt that the trade was going to upgrade us or help us. And it had to be the right fit. Paul Stastny was the right fit.”

Was he ever.

Stastny has been a dynamite addition, providing valuable leadership while being productive offensively, chipping in six goals and 14 points in 12 playoff games – including five goals and 10 points in seven games against the Nashville Predators.

“Some of his best performances are things none of us get to see and really happen inside the dressing room and on the plane and sitting beside the players – just the experience he has,” said Cheveldayoff. “We knew we were getting a quality player, obviously you can see that on the ice. A quality person, we knew that from our due diligence in the past.

“But what he can bring inside a room, until you have a player, someone like that who can provide those experiences, you don’t really appreciate until you have.”

HOME SWEET HOME? The Jets did not order a thorough investigation on what happened to the loss of their home ice supremacy during the second-round series with the Nashville Predators.

As the Jets get set to welcome the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 1 of the Western Conference final on Saturday night at Bell MTS Place, there’s no shortage of confidence, despite losing consecutive games on home ice to the Predators.

“Before those two losses – you’d know better than I would what our record was before that, but we won a lot of hockey games at home,” Jets captain Blake Wheeler said on Friday, referring to the 13-game home winning streak snapped in Game 4. “We’re real comfortable in this building. We’ll continue to play with confidence in here. Obviously, you want to protect your home ice, so we’d like to get off to a good start in the series.”

The Jets are 4-2 at home in the playoffs, while the Golden Knights are 4-1 on the road in the post-season.

Jets head coach Paul Maurice was asked on Friday afternoon if anything needed to change after consecutive losses on home ice.

“Just the start time,” quipped Maurice.

After two 8:40 p.m. CT starts at Bell MTS Place, puck drop is set for 6:15 p.m. CT on Saturday.

MATCHING UP After going head to head with the Predators top trio of Ryan Johansen, Filip Forsberg and Viktor Arvidsson, the Jets’ first line of Mark Scheifele, Wheeler and Kyle Connor are likely to see a lot of Golden Knights forwards William Karlsson, Jonathan Marchessault and Reilly Smith during the next two weeks.

Karlsson scored 43 goals during a breakout regular season and he’s tied with Marchessault for the team lead in playoff points with 11. Smith is second with 10.

“They do a little bit of a combination of offence and they seem to play against the other team’s best players, too, especially at home,” said Wheeler. “They’re a great mix of responsibility, play hard underneath the puck and they can make some pretty dynamic plays. All three of those guys can put the puck in the net. Real explosive so far in the playoffs.

“Obviously, it’s going to be a key matchup for us. A line like that, that’s playing really well, it’s tough to just altogether eliminate them. But you want to try to contain them as much as you can.”

UNFAMILIAR FOES Unlike last round, when the head coaches on opposite benches had a history of replacing one another with the Carolina Hurricanes, Jets bench boss Paul Maurice doesn’t have a personal connection with Golden Knights head coach Gerard Gallant.

But Maurice certainly has a great deal of respect for the job Gallant has done.

“We didn’t cross paths that often, at all,” said Maurice. “Remember the year prior in Florida, the wonderful job he did with that team. In terms of style of game, it looks very similar to the way Vegas plays now. So he’s done a really good job of putting in a simple game plan. Very similar in terms of ours. I don’t think there’s a lot of over-coaching and that’s a compliment, not anything else.

“They play a simple game, as quickly as they can, and they have the skill level to do it. His team plays consistently with what I think he believes about the game of hockey and how it was played. And they’ve been extremely successful.”

What style of series is Maurice expecting after the Jets and Nashville Predators saw an odd collection of high-scoring and low-scoring affairs in Round 2?

“Specifically outstanding transition and speed. How they move the puck from their (back) end in straight lines and they’ll make plays off that rush,” said Maurice. “It’s going to be a very fast, speed-based series. There will be contact for sure in the zones, but that won’t be the story. The team that defends the best through the neutral zone and attacks simply through the neutral zone will have the best chance to win.” http://winnipegsun.com/sports/hockey/nhl/winnipeg-jets/golden-knights-mccrimmon-jets- cheveldayoff-put-friendship-on-hold

Golden Knights' McCrimmon, Jets' Cheveldayoff put friendship on hold

By Ted Wyman

Kevin Cheveldayoff and Kelly McCrimmon go way back to their time with the Brandon Wheat Kings in 1988-89 and have continued to be good friends ever since.

That friendship will be on hold for the next two weeks, as the Winnipeg Jets take on the Vegas Golden Knights in the NHL’s Western Conference final.

Cheveldayoff is the general manager of the Jets, while McCrimmon is the assistant general manager of the Knights.

McCrimmon is also the owner of the WHL’s Brandon Wheat Kings and, until last year when he got his first NHL job with the expansion Knights, he was the general manager and off-and-on coach of the Wheaties.

Cheveldayoff played defence for the Wheat Kings from 1986 to 1990. McCrimmon started his time with the Wheat Kings as an assistant coach in 1988-89.

“We exchanged text messages,” Cheveldayoff said at his media availability in Winnipeg on Friday. “I texted him after they clinched, he texted me (Thursday). And then we both agreed to burn each other’s numbers after that.”

The Jets beat the Nashville Predators in seven games to reach the Western Conference final, while the expansion Golden Knights beat the San Jose Sharks in six games.

The Golden Knights are already the most successful expansion team in league history and they are legitimate Stanley Cup contenders, which speaks volumes to the work general manager George McPhee and McCrimmon have done.

“You know what, the job that George and Kelly have done in building that team is exemplary,” Cheveldayoff said. “They’re good hockey people. I’m excited for what he’s accomplished.”

Cheveldayoff has accomplished a great deal as well. With a roster built mostly through the draft and trades, the Jets finished second overall in the NHL this season with 114 points. Then they beat the first overall team, the Predators, in the second round of the playoffs.

The admiration from the other side is mutual.

“As most of you know, I worked in Brandon for many years,” McCrimmon said Friday. “I’ve had a first-hand look at what the Jets have done. I know many of the people who have been involved with it. For me, they put on a clinic in drafting and developing. Along with that, great patience and leadership from as an owner. What they did takes time.”

When he was first hired by the Golden Knights, McCrimmon, 57, was still living in Manitoba and he did a lot of his expansion draft scouting at Bell MTS Place last season.

“I had the benefit last year of watching the Jets 20 times,” McCrimmon said. “It was pretty easy to see that it was going to happen. This year, certainly it has.”

Obviously, the Golden Knights were built differently, having the benefit of picking a player from each roster in the league and getting some terrific players.

A ton of credit goes to coach Gerard Gallant for turning the “Golden Misfits,” as they call themselves, into a Stanley Cup contender, but McPhee and McCrimmon did the legwork to make it happen.

The Jets had to be slowly rebuilt from the shell that arrived from Atlanta in 2011 and Cheveldayoff was the chief architect.

“It’s easy now for people to see just how good this team is,” McCrimmon said. “It’s easy to project that they’re going to be good for a long time. I’m sure that Kevin Cheveldayoff, and (assistant GM) Craig Heisinger, had nights where they wished it would happen faster.”

McCrimmon is just one of a few Manitoba connections in the Vegas organization, along with Winnipeg players Cody Eakin and Ryan Reaves, the team’s first-ever NHL draft pick, Cody Glass, director of player personnel Vaughn Karpan and colour man Shane Hnidy.

As the Western Conference final gets underway, they’ll all have cheering sections in Winnipeg, but don’t expect the text messages to be flying with people on the other side.

The numbers will likely all be burned.

WINNIPEG’S EAKIN REJUVENATED AFTER MOVING TO VEGAS When the Vegas Golden Knights took Winnipegger Cody Eakin in the expansion draft last summer, they knew they were getting a player coming off a down year.

Kelly McCrimmon believed he’d bounce back with a change of scenery and he was right.

After scoring just three goals in 60 games for the Dallas Stars last season, Eakin bounced back to score 11 goals while playing a solid checking role for the Golden Knights this year.

“He was an easy choice for us,” McCrimmon said Friday. “Probably a little bit of a down year for Cody last year, in that he had an injury going into the season. He was a little behind when the season began.

“I think right now, Cody is playing with a lot of confidence. He’s a great skater. He has great work ethic. Those are the strengths of his game. He’s a big part of our penalty kill. He’s played on a line where we’ve got good production through the playoffs from Cody’s line. He’s had a lot of poise. You need players to elevate their game at certain times of year. Right now, Cody’s really been doing that.” http://winnipegsun.com/sports/hockey/nhl/winnipeg-jets/jets-leadership-group-carried-team-to- series-win-against-predators

Jets leadership group carried team to series win against Predators

By Ted Wyman

NASHVILLE — Paul Maurice has been saying it all season long.

It doesn’t matter if his Winnipeg Jets are a young team because they have a leadership group that makes up for the overall inexperience of the roster.

Never was that more true than in the Jets’ second-round series victory over the Nashville Predators.

The Jets won three games on the road, including Game 7, to advance to the Western Conference final for the first time in the city’s NHL history.

And it was the veteran leaders who carried them every step of the way.

Captain Blake Wheeler had two goals and nine assists in the best-of-seven.

Assistant captain Mark Scheifele had seven goals, an NHL record for road goals in a single series, and four assists.

Assistant captain Dustin Byfuglien had four goals and four assists and churned up tough minutes on the blue-line.

Veteran centre Paul Stastny, a brilliant trade deadline acquisition by general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff, had six goals and five assists.

You get the picture.

These guys were clutch when the Jets needed them most and they’ve led the Jets into a conference final, where they have home-ice advantage against the expansion Vegas Golden Knights.

“We’ve got really, really good leadership in our room,” Maurice said, repeating a quote he has given almost daily since Day 1 of the season. “They prepared themselves and then came out and did the two things we wanted to do in (Game 7), one was play fast, but also enjoy playing the game. Make plays, play with some confidence and some courage. And we looked like that right from the start.

“And it was like that right through the whole bench. There were a lot of players that didn’t end up on the goals and assists that played huge roles.”

Goalie Connor Hellebuyck was certainly one of those. So was defenceman Tyler Myers, who scored the game’s first goal.

As for Patrik Laine, Nikolaj Ehlers and Kyle Connor, the three youngsters who combined for 104 goals during the regular season, they were OK, but they weren’t stars. Of course, they didn’t need to be.

It’s almost amazing that the Jets have come this far with their three top goal scorers combining for just five goals in 12 games, but when you have players like Scheifele, Stastny and Wheeler stepping up they way they did, the pressure is off the youngsters.

Wheeler’s mindset and demeanour in the Nashville series was perfect. He never got too high, never got too low. He flushed losses and didn’t dwell on wins.

The whole team followed.

“There is no momentum in the playoffs,” is the way he put it at one point during the series.

The Jets sure found that to be true as they won the series against the Preds without ever taking two games in a row.

Dealt a crushing blow in Game 6 — a 4-0 shutout on home ice with a crowd that was ready to explode leaving in disappointment — the Jets bounced right back for Game 7 and played their best hockey of the series.

They have a belief system right now that is carrying them a long way.

And why wouldn’t they believe anything is possible?

The Jets had the best regular season of any team left in the playoffs. They have home ice advantage the rest of the way.

They have four rock-solid lines that can score and defend, a group of six defencemen that matches up with any in the league right now and a goaltender who is a Vezina Trophy finalist and a consistent playoff performer so far.

They also have a head coach in Maurice who has been to a Stanley Cup final before and is eighth all-time in terms of games behind the bench with 1,447.

Best of all they have men who lead by example in their locker room.

No one works harder than Wheeler. Few have gone to greater lengths to become elite players than Scheifele. Byfuglien is tough, can score and keeps things light in the room.

Then those three go out and combine for 30 points in a best-of-seven against the supposed best team in the league.

That’s some “wow factor” right there.

Wheeler is nominated for the Mark Messier leadership award this season.

Considering what he has done, with the help of his assistants, to bring the Jets this far, it would be a shame if he doesn’t win it. http://winnipegsun.com/sports/hockey/nhl/winnipeg-jets/jets-already-doing-what-few-have-done- before

Jets already doing what few have done before

By Paul Friesen

NASHVILLE — The Winnipeg Jets have already contributed a few entries to the NHL playoff record book. The Jets became just the second team in NHL history to rebound from a Game 6 shutout loss at home to win Game 7 on the road.

Winnipeg lost Game 6, 4-0, on home ice on Monday, before rolling to a 5-1 win in Thursday’s deciding game in Nashville.

The only other team to pull that off was the 1945 , who did it in the Stanley Cup Final against Detroit.

The Jets are also the fourth team in NHL history to win three road games in a series by at least three goals, each.

Winnipeg won Game 1, 4-1, then added a 6-2 win in Game 5 and the 5-1 win in Game 7.

“The telling stat for me in this series is we played four games in here and never lost in regulation. Against the best team in the league,” coach Paul Maurice said, post-game. “To play well in here as consistently as we did, it’s impressive.”

The other teams to be that dominant on the road were Detroit in the first round against Phoenix in 2010, in the second round that same year against Vancouver and the Pittsburgh Penguins in Round 1 this year against Philadelphia.

Winnipeg have home-ice advantage in the Western Conference Final against the Vegas Golden Knights, beginning with Game 1, Saturday.

Canadian Press https://www.chrisd.ca/2018/05/11/jets-ready-for-quicker-series-with-vegas-after-seven-game- grind-against-predators/

Jets Ready for Quicker Series with Vegas After Seven-Game Grind Against Predators

By Judy Owen, The Canadian Press

WINNIPEG – Blake Wheeler woke up Friday morning feeling a little tired, but the Winnipeg Jets captain quickly got energized.

Remembering his team is still in the Stanley Cup playoffs will do that.

“The coffee tastes great this morning,” Wheeler said at a Friday afternoon press conference. “We’re still in the mix, still playing.”

The Jets defeated the Nashville Predators 5-1 in Game 7 Thursday to advance to the franchise’s first Western Conference final, which begins Saturday in Winnipeg against the Vegas Golden Knights.

“When you have games like (Thursday), you crawl out of bed, you’re a little bit groggy, but you’re excited,” Wheeler said. “You’re pumped to come to the rink today and see all you guys and get ready for another tough series.”

Sophomore sniper Patrik Laine was glad he wasn’t on his way to Finland.

“Just happy to be here every day and not do summer workouts back home,” he said. “I’m super excited to be here and just having a chance to be playing playoff hockey with this team.”

The Jets went 1-1-1 in the regular season against the expansion Golden Knights, who’ve been idle since last Sunday after knocking the San Jose Sharks out of the post-season with a 3-0 win in Game 6.

Jets centre Mark Scheifele, who leads the league with 11 playoff goals, was proud to still be competing for a Canadian club.

“Canada is an unbelievable hockey market and especially our fans in Winnipeg,” said the Kitchener, Ont., native, who has 16 points in 12 games. “They’re very passionate about our team and about hockey. It feels good to be a Canadian team to go this far.”

Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff knows the team’s success this spring is special for the players and fans.

“I think it’s really the driving force within the group that there’s so much more to give, and so much more the players want to give for themselves and the fans,” Cheveldayoff said.

Thousands of Jets fans ringed the blocks around Bell MTS Place for whiteout street parties at home games, but some changes have been made for the next series. Organizers required fans to get free tickets Friday online for each game, with attendance capped at 25,000 for official areas to maintain safety. All the tickets for Saturday were snapped up.

Winnipeg regained home-ice advantage for the best-of-seven series because of their overall second-place finish with 114 points. Vegas ended up with 109 points in what’s been called a fairytale campaign for an expansion team.

Wheeler isn’t buying that label.

“Just watching them in the playoffs, it’s not a fluke,” said Wheeler, who has 15 points in 12 games. “It’s not a Cinderella (story). They’re for real, so it’s going to be a real tough matchup.”

The series is expected to highlight speed and not be as physical as Winnipeg’s clash with the Predators.

“There’s a different kind of speed and different kind of transition in this series and it doesn’t lend itself to the play as often along the walls,” Winnipeg head coach Paul Maurice said. “I think priority one is handling speed, not necessarily the physicality.”

But veteran Vegas forward James Neal figures some muscle is needed to contain Winnipeg’s top line of Wheeler, Scheifele and rookie Kyle Connor.

“I think this time of year, you have to be physical on them as much as you can,” said Neal, who has 90 career playoff games on his resume. “They’re great players, they’re going to get their chances. Try to limit them as much as we can.”

The series also pits two hot goaltenders against each other in Jets Connor Hellebuyck and veteran Marc-Andre Fleury, who’s been in 125 playoffs games compared to Hellebuyck’s 12.

“At the end of the day, it’s just a hockey game,” Hellebuyck said. “I don’t think experience changes that. I’m going to go out and play the same way I’ve been playing all year.”

CBC.ca http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/jets-knights-friday-pregame-1.4660390

Jets' fairytale ending at odds with Golden Knights' storybook rise 'It's not a Cinderella story,' says Winnipeg captain Blake Wheeler, 'they're real'

By Tessa Vanderhart · CBC News

Winnipeg Jets fans are salivating over the chance to take home the Stanley Cup for the first time ever. But to do it, they'll have to solve an expansion team that coalesced from nothingness into a Cup contender.

"They opened people's eyes real quick," said Jets captain Blake Wheeler. "Just watching them in the playoffs, it's not a fluke, it's not a Cinderella, they're real. It's gonna be a real tough matchup."

The Jets don't have much of a breather after knocking off the Presidents' Trophy-winning Nashville Predators in round 2 on Thursday night.

Overall, Golden Knights players have accumulated nearly twice as many playoff games as Wheeler's teammates (264 to 528 going into this season) — including three Cups for goalie Marc-Andre Fleury alone.

The Jets pride themselves on being a fast team, but so do the Knights.

"There's a lot of similarities," Wheeler said. "Real up tempo, try to force the other team into our game … throughout their lineup, they have guys that can push the pace. And we feel the same way about our team."

"It's gonna be a very fast, speed-based series," said head coach Paul Maurice, saying the series will be fought in the neutral zone.

As for what will be different this series – starting off with a two-game homestand – Maurice dropped one of his trademark quips: "The start time."

Games starting at 9:30 p.m. ET (8:30 p.m. CT) punished fans and couldn't have been easy on players either. But three of the first four games this round start at 8 p.m. ET (7 p.m. CT) or earlier.

After their ferocious Game 7 effort, Wheeler had said he would sleep all day Friday.

Yet he was front and centre as the Jets faced the media Friday afternoon.

"The coffee tasted great this morning [but] we're still in the mix, still playing," he said. "You're groggy but you're excited, you're pumped … to get ready for another tough series, but it's going to be a lot of fun."

The Jets went 1-1-1 in the regular season against the expansion Golden Knights, who've been idle since last Sunday after knocking the San Jose Sharks out of the post-season with a 3-0 win in Game 6.

Jets centre Mark Scheifele, who leads the league with 11 playoff goals, was proud to still be competing for a Canadian club.

"Laying it all on the line, each and every night, that's what it's all about," said the Kitchener, Ont., native, who has 16 points in 12 games. "It's not about personal accomplishments in the playoffs."

Winnipeg goalie Connor Hellebuyck, known for his intensity, said the Jets enjoyed the Game 7 victory for "a minute," but now the focus is on round 3.

"It's only round 2. We're here to win a Stanley Cup, we haven't achieved anything yet," he said.

Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff is pals with Vegas' assistant GM Kelly McCrimmon (a longtime head coach of the Brandon Wheat Kings) and texted him congratulations when they clinched.

McCrimmon returned the favour on Thursday night.

"Then we agreed to burn each others' numbers," Cheveldayoff said.

The Jets have built themselves through the draft and savvy trades over the past few years.

Asked about grabbing Jets centre Paul Stastny at the trade deadline, Cheveldayoff said he put his due diligence in and hasn't been surprised with how well it turned out.

Scalpers swoop in to take advantage after 'free' street party tickets are snapped up "Some of his best performances are stuff that none of us get to see, and really happens inside the dressing room, on the plane, and sitting beside the players — just the experience he has," Cheveldayoff said. "Quality player, you can see that on the ice, quality person … until you have a player, someone like that, that can provide those experiences, you really don't know how much you have."

The Knights are only the third expansion team to make the playoffs in their inaugural season, and they kicked off this fall with wins in eight of their first nine games.

"The next expansion team's got a tough act to follow," Maurice quipped.

He didn't bring up the Cinderella motif, but Maurice's estimation of what it will take to defeat them hit pretty close to the mark.

"Think of all the very strong teams — like Nashville — that don't get the opportunity. Everybody is going to be focused. Everybody is going to be wired," Maurice said.

"Figuring out a way to enjoy it, and I'm not talking casually enjoying it, but bringing that enjoyment into the intensity of your game, is what I thought we did very well in Game 7."

They're focused now, but Hellebuyck says no matter what happens, the magic of this playoff run will not be forgotten.

"It's a moment that I believe all of us are going to cherish for the rest of our lives."

Yahoo Sports https://sports.yahoo.com/golden-knights-vs-jets-three-160008170.html

Golden Knights vs. Jets: Three questions facing each team

By Sean Leahy NBC Sports

Golden Knights 1. Can Marc-Andre Fleury keep this up? After posting a .981 even strength save percentage in the first round, Fleury was a measly .941 against the San Jose Sharks, boosting by a pair of shutouts in Games 1 and 6. The Los Angeles Kings and Sharks did a good job of getting pucks through to Fleury, but the Golden Knights’ shot suppression improved and they’ve allowed an average of 23.9 shots at 5-on-5.

2. Can their even strength scoring improve if Fleury falters? When you have Fleury playing like he has, you can rely on those tight, low-scoring games to get you by in the postseason. But the Winnipeg Jets bring a ferocious offense into the conference finals. Tied for the most goals per game in the playoffs (3.58), it will take another strong defensive play for Vegas to slow the Jets’ offense. The Golden Knights have only averaged 2.9 goals per game through 10 games with 19 of their 29 goals coming at even strength. It’s easy to fall behind against Winnipeg, and they can’t rely on Fleury posting obscene numbers every night.

3. Will Vegas be able to prevent the Jets getting to the net? Two images tell the story. The first is how unsuccessful the Sharks were at getting in close on Fleury:

San Jose managed just four even strength goals around the net while Winnipeg basically bought real estate in front of Pekka Rinna. There are enough big bodies on the Jets roster that they’ll be able to create and find space in and around Fleury’s net. That could cause Vegas plenty of trouble.

Jets 1. How effective will Mark Scheifele be against William Karlsson? “Wild Bill” had a year that could have ended with a seat at the Selke Trophy party, but he was not named one of the finalists. His 43 regular season goals earned him some love, but his two-way game was certainly overlooked. He’ll likely have the big challenge of slowing Scheifele, who leads all players with 11 goals.

2. Will the penalty kill step up? Fortunately for the Jets’ shorthanded unit, Vegas’ power play has only been okay through two rounds, clicking at 17.5 percent. But Winnipeg’s penalty kill hasn’t been much to write home about with a 74.2 percent success rate. The Golden Knights are already showing a need to produce on power play scoring with 7 of their 29 goals coming with the extra man. Averaging only 2.9 goals per game, if Vegas can’t get their power play going, that will cause them plenty of issues in this series.

3. Can depth carry them through? Scheifele, Blake Wheeler and Paul Stastny led the Jets offensively in the second round, but contributions also came through from Brandon Tanev (three goals), Kyle Connor (six points) and Nikolaj Ehlers (four assists), among others. Ten different forwards recorded a points and seven scored a goal against the Predators. Vegas may not have enough to stop the waves coming over the boards that Paul Maurice has at his disposal. Also keep in mind that Patrik Laine has one goal in his last 10 games. He’s due for a breakthrough. https://sports.yahoo.com/western-conference-final-preview-jets-214822829.html

Western Conference Final Preview: Can the Jets Slow Down the White-Hot Golden Knights?

By Tim Hackett Sports Illustrated

In May 2016, the Winnipeg Jets had recently wrapped their worst season since the franchise had moved north of the border in 2011 and were eagerly anticipating their upcoming No. 2 draft pick. A year later, that pick’s electric rookie season was only enough to push the Jets to ninth place in the Western Conference, and they weren’t expected to make any noise in 2017–18.

In May 2016, the Vegas Golden Knights were little more than a twinkle in the enterprising eye of Bill Foley. The team had no management, no coaches, no players, and not even approval from the league until late June. After the expansion draft last summer, few expected the ragtag army of Knights to make any noise in year one—they had the worst preseason odds to win the Cup, according to any betting site worth its salt.

And yet in May 2018, here they are: the Knights have stormed the playoff castle, obliterating record after record along the way, while the high-powered Jets have officially reached cruising altitude, knocking the Presidents’ Trophy winners from the second round in seven games. They’re the last teams left in the West, and in a few short weeks, one of them will have a legitimate chance to win the franchise’s first Stanley Cup in what will be the franchise’s first Stanley Cup Final appearance. Here’s everything you need to know before the puck drops on Game 1 of the Western Conference Final.

How They Got Here The Golden Knights handled two Pacific Division playoff stalwarts rather easily to get to this point. They held the Kings to just three goals in four games, becoming the first expansion team to record a playoff sweep in its inaugural season. Then they bookended a six-game series win over the Sharks with Marc-Andre Fleury shutouts, bringing the former Penguins netminder’s total this playoffs to four.

The Jets had one poor game in the first round, but otherwise took care of the Wild with ease, posting shutouts in Games 4 and 5 to clinch. Their second round-tango with the top-seeded Predators, a battle of the league’s top point-getters in the regular season, went the distance, with all but two of the games decided by at least three goals. Winnipeg prevailed with a decisive 5–1 Game 7 win in Nashville just a few days after they were beaten handily themselves with a chance to wrap the series up at home.

Forwards Vegas’s top line features three guys who had bounced around a bit before landing with the Knights, but they have jelled to make for an extrexemly effective group: Jonathan Marchessault, William Karlsson, and Reilly Smith are all multi-faceted players that can win battles and score goals. They all have at least 10 points through Vegas’s first ten playoff games, and two of Karlsson’s four goals are game-winners.

There are plenty of other weapons for impending Award winner Gerard Gallant to employ. Start with proven playoff performer James Neal; add in Erik Haula and Alex Tuch, two former members of the Wild who have proven themselves in Sin City; and round it off with a physical and effective fourth line spearheaded by Pierre-Eduoard Bellemare that has defended extremely well against opponents’ top lines.

The Jets attack that combined to score the second-most goals in the regular season has kept at it in the last month, producing the best goals per game average in the playoffs through two rounds (3.58, tied with the Capitals). Their top six is as dangerous as you’ll find: everyone around the league has heard of Patrik Laine (who Winnipeg selected with that No. 2 pick two summers ago) for his Alex Ovechkin–esque goal totals, but Laine sits just fifth on his team in points. Mark Scheifele and Blake Wheeler are a fantastic pair, and trade deadline pickup Paul Stastny has been a huge addition for the second line and the first power play unit.

There could be some depth questions, as the Jets have missed Joel Armia and Mathieu Perreault, both third-line staples along with Winnipeg/Atlanta veteran Bryan Little, due to injury. Vegas is very fast and probably more physical, but in terms of pure scoring ability, Winnipeg has the edge. ADVANTAGE: Jets

Defense Much has been made of how the Lightning have three borderline No. 1 defensemen. Vegas doesn’t have an established No. 1 but makes up for that with a handful of guys that hope to eventually become one. Nate Schmidt has stood out on both ends of the ice; Shea Theodore, Brayden McNabb and Colin Miller are all excellent puck-handlers that can shoot and—critically for this offense—move the puck in transition. Veterans like de facto captain Deryk Engelland and Luca Sbisa add a good balance to the blue line.

It might seem like a strange mix of players (lest we forget how the team was constructed), but don’t forget that the Knights can defend: they’ve conceded only 17 goals through 10 games, which is fewer than five teams that lost in the first round conceded.

Dustin Byfuglien was a crucial part of the early stages of the Blackhawks’ dynasty as a forward, and he’s become an imposing two-way threat for the Jets back on defense. Jacob Trouba looks like the star he was expected to be a few years ago, while former Calder Trophy winner Tyler Myers is another imposing presence on a loaded right side of the blue line.

The left side has fluctuated a little more, with Tobias Enstrom, another Atlanta veteran, recently slotting back in. Josh Morrissey, who can both create and block shots, and Ben Chiarot are in the mix as well. This is a pretty even battle, but the edge might just go to Vegas, though that probably has more to do with the category coming up next. ADVANTAGE: Golden Knights

Goalies It seems foolish to suggest that the team that doesn’t have a Vezina Trophy finalist this year has the better goaltender in this series, but that’s what we’re suggesting. Winnipeg’s Connor Hellebuyck has been terrific in his first playoffs—he was pulled in Winnipeg’s Game 3 loss to Minnesota, but he has been fabulous otherwise.

But the man in the mask on the other end has been the story of these playoffs. When Vegas selected Marc-Andre Fleury first overall in last summer’s expansion draft, they knew they were getting a charismatic netminder with all kinds of playoff experience that had been forced out by a younger option that had just backstopped a Cup run in Pittsburgh. They didn’t know they were getting a guy who would sport a goals against average of 1.53 and stop 95% of the shots put on him through 10 playoff games. Simply put, Fleury has been amazing. ADVANTAGE: Golden Knights

Vegas wins if... It continues its remarkable team defense and constricts the dynamic Winnipeg offense. The Golden Knights are fast and physical, defend extremely well and have a talented goaltender on an incredible hot streak. Vegas would like nothing more than to outwork and outhustle Winnipeg, win the neutral zone and score timely goals to win another series.

Winnipeg wins if... It can match Vegas’s physicality. Playing the run-and-gun, high-octane style Winnipeg prefers ought to result in a couple of wins, but it won’t secure them the series. Does Winnipeg have a counter to Vegas’s fourth line? Can the Jets win the neutral zone? Hellebuyck has been good, but he and the defense in front of him will have to be great.

Prediction No one expected Vegas to be any good this season. Once they were, no one expected them to contend for the playoffs. Once they did, no one expected them to win the division. Once they did, people finally started to take note. At this point, nothing is surprising anymore. The Golden Knights are good.

Vegas in 6.

Global Winnipeg https://globalnews.ca/news/4204362/manitoba-moose-eliminated-from-playoffs-swept-in-4- straight/

Manitoba Moose eliminated from playoffs, swept in 4 straight

By Russ Hobson Sports Anchor/Reporter Global News

The Manitoba Moose were eliminated from the Calder Cup Playoffs on Friday.

The Moose were swept in four straight games with a 6-3 loss to the Rockford IceHogs in game four of the Central Division Final at BMO Harris Bank Center.

Rockford advanced to the conference final for the first time in team history on the back of four powerplay goals. The Moose gave up nine powerplay opportunities including a five minute man advantage after Manitoba captain Patrice Cormier was assessed a five minute major penalty for interference and a match penalty for kicking.

The two teams traded goals back and forth in the first period and it was 2-2 after 20 minutes. But the IceHogs exploded for three-second period goals, including one on a penalty shot.

Rockford added an empty netter in the third period before the Moose struck with 10 seconds remaining to close out the scoring.

Cody Franson scored two goals for the IceHogs while Chris DiDomenico, Carl Dahlstrom, Victor Ejdsell, and Andreas Martinsen also had markers in the series clincher.

Julian Melchiori, JC Lipon, and Jake Kulevich scored for Manitoba in the loss. The Moose were 0-for-6 on the man advantage.

Manitoba outshot Rockford 38-36 as Eric Comrie made 30 stops.

Rockford has yet to lose in the post-season, now riding a seven game playoff win streak. They’ll face the the Texas Stars in the next round. https://globalnews.ca/news/4204053/winnipeg-jets-fans-calgary-nhl-playoffs-vegas-golden- knights/

Jets fever spreading in Calgary after NHL team’s second-round win

By Joel Senick Reporter and Weekend Co-Anchor Global News

If there’s anyone one who knows the depth of Steve Fisette’s love for the Winnipeg Jets, it may be his wife.

“I think [she] would describe it best as insane,” Fisette, who moved from Winnipeg to Calgary years ago, said on Friday.

Fisette and his fellow Jets fans are celebrating after the team defeated the Nashville Predators in seven games to advance to the NHL’s finals. The Vegas Golden Knights are now all that stands between the Jets and a berth in the .

“They got a great team, all the pieces are together and it just feels amazing,” Fisette said.

Game 1 of the series will take place Saturday night. Former Winnipegger Jeff Stevenson will watch the game on television, before travelling from Calgary to Las Vegas next week for the third game of the series.

“They’re going to have their jabs at us for wearing our Jets gear and we’ll have our jabs right back at them for wearing their Knights gear,” Stevenson said.

“It’ll be a fun time and it will be a great environment.”

Calgarian Tom Morrissey will also be cheering on the Jets when they play, but from the team’s home arena. His son Josh was drafted by the Jets in 2013 and has played in 11 games in the 2018 playoffs.

“Usually he plays better the more that’s on the line. I think that’s what made him successful over his career,” Morrissey said Friday, before travelling to Winnipeg for Game 1.

“We hope he continues to do it obviously, and hope the team does that [too].”

Reuters https://www.reuters.com/article/us-icehockey-nhl-wpg-vgk-cities/the-peg-and-vegas-all-in-for- place-in-stanley-cup-idUSKBN1IC2OZ

'The Peg' and Vegas all in for place in Stanley Cup

By Steve Keating

(Reuters) - Winnipeg has Portage and Main and black flies, Las Vegas has the Strip and Black Jack but both cities have hockey teams that have defied the odds and will face off in a best-of- seven series that will see one advance to the Stanley Cup Finals.

It is ‘The Peg’ taking on Sin City in a fascinating Western Conference showdown that starts on Saturday featuring two teams, the Jets and Golden Knights, and two cities that are as different as opera and heavy metal rock.

The National Hockey League’s smallest market Winnipeg sits at what is recognized as the crossroads of Canada, Portage and Main often referred to as the hockey-mad nation’s coldest and windiest corner.

Las Vegas is the NHL’s newest glitzy addition, a first year expansion franchise that has set up shop in the world’s most famous gambling destination.

Winter-Peg and the city billed as the Entertainment Capital of the World, the contrast could not be more jarring than a Dustin Byfuglien hit or the storylines more compelling.

While the two teams and their fans have had plenty to celebrate, their seasons have also been linked by grief.

Just days before the Golden Knights official home opener, Las Vegas was the scene of the worst mass shooting in U.S. history when a gunman opened fire a short distance from their T- Mobile Arena home killing 58 people.

In the aftermath of the tragedy the Golden Knights retired number 58 to honor the victims.

For Canadian hockey fans, tragedy struck close to the heart when a bus carrying the Humboldt Broncos, a Saskatchewan junior hockey team, was involved in a horrific crash that left 16 dead.

The Prairie bonds are strong and that sorrow continues to hang heavily over Manitoba and Saskatchewan who share a provincial border.

CANADA’S TEAM Sitting at the center of the country, Winnipeg has assumed the mantle of Canada’s team with fans from coast to coast rallying around the Jets and their quest to end a 25-year Stanley Cup drought for Canada.

Not since the lifted the last of their 24 Stanley Cups in 1993 has Lord Stanley’s famous mug been paraded through the streets of a Canadian city, humbling a nation that claims ownership of the game.

When the Jets beat the Nashville Predators in Game Seven on Thursday to reach the conference finals for the first time Winnipegers filled the streets around Bell MTS Place, breaking into a rousing rendition of the national anthem.

“We’re just so happy to allow our fanbase to have a celebration,” said Jets captain Blake Wheeler following their clinching win over the Predators. “I’m a sports fan too and when my teams go on runs it’s amazing, it’s a great feeling.

“Our fans have been with us, filled up our building for seven years and haven’t always had the most success but they’ve always been supportive all over the city I don’t think I have ever heard a negative comment in seven years.”

ENDURANCE TEST Winnipeg hockey fans have endured more than most.

Professional hockey arrived in the Manitoba capital in the form of a World Hockey Association franchise in 1971 and played there until the Jets were absorbed into the NHL in 1979.

For the next 17 seasons the Jets never reached the heights they had hoped for and in 1996 relocated to Phoenix and were renamed the Coyotes.

It was 15 years before the NHL returned to Winnipeg, Mark Chipman and Canada’s richest man, David Thomson, triggering a wave of national pride when they bought the struggling in 2011 and convinced the league they should return to The Peg.

Their opponents the Golden Knights, a group of castoffs considered expendable by other NHL teams, have been playing with house money and are now just eight wins away from hitting the Stanley Cup jackpot.

They could be about to make history as no expansion team in any of North America’s big four professional sports leagues has ever captured a championship in their first year.

(This version of the story has been refiled to make clear Las Vegas is world’s most famous gambling destination in fourth paragraph)

The Hockey News http://www.thehockeynews.com/news/article/2018-western-conference-final-preview-vegas- golden-knights-vs-winnipeg-jets

2018 WESTERN CONFERENCE FINAL PREVIEW: VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS VS. WINNIPEG JETS

By: The Hockey News May 11, 2018

Just ponder this for a minute. Imagine this time last year even contemplating the possibility that the Vegas Golden Knights and the Winnipeg Jets would be meeting in the Western Conference final in 2018. The Jets were coming off a non-playoff season and the Knights, for all intents and purposes, didn’t even exist. But here we are, with the two most intriguing and exciting teams in the NHL playing for a chance to be in the Stanley Cup final. Both teams are entering uncharted territory and both have advanced further into the playoffs than anyone would have expected. They’re both fast, dynamic teams that are well put together, very well coached and have a ton of players who can be difference makers. It should be fun.

Why The Golden Knights Win Because they play the same way regardless of the opponent. They play the same way regardless of whether they’re ahead or behind. They play the same way whether it’s a nothing game in February or overtime in a playoff game. The Golden Knights never, ever deviate from their game, which is based on speed, puck pressure and a constant forecheck. It has worked so far for them and, most surprisingly, they’ve had two relatively easy series. The rest they gained between both rounds should serve them very well as the battle of playoff attrition really begins. The Golden Knights have one of the most dynamic lines in hockey at the moment and they can play four lines, each of which has the complete trust of the coach. Marc-Andre Fleury has allowed 17 goals in 10 games, for goodness sake, and has emerged as a legitimate Conn Smythe contender at the age of 33. If there is a significant hole in this lineup, there has not been an opponent, either in the regular season or the playoffs, who has found a way to exploit it yet. The Golden Knights’ top post-season scorer sits in 19th place going into the conference final, but they haven’t required a bushel of goals because they’ve been getting such superior goaltending and have cashed in on their chances.

Why The Jets Win Well, how about the fact that they defeated the reigning Presidents’ Trophy winners for starters? A franchise that had never, ever won a single game in the second round of the playoffs has a dazzling array of offensive weapons, led by Conn Smythe frontrunner Mark Scheifele, who almost singlehandedly buried the Nashville Predators in the second round. The Jets have scored exactly the same number of goals (43) as the high-flying Washington Capitals in exactly the same number of games (12) and they managed to make one of the deepest and most highly regarded defense corps look ordinary in Round 2. Speaking of defense, their blueline is rapidly becoming one of the best in the NHL, led by Dustin Byfuglien, who has the ability to take games over all by himself. Goalie Connor Hellebuyck has had his moments when he has struggled in the playoffs, but manages to be there when his team needs him most. The Jets are strong down the middle, have a lethal power play and a quick-strike ability that has the potential to bury teams. Just ask the Predators. Scheifele leads all players still in the playoffs in both goals and points and with Paul Stastny proving every bit worth what the Jets gave up for him at the trade deadline, they have a very dangerous 1-2 punch.

Five Things To Watch 1. Fleury is the oldest goalie remaining in the playoffs by a wide margin. Can he keep up his ridiculously high level of play against a team that will test him early and often. The rest between rounds will certainly help.

2. Speed. The Golden Knights play with a ton of it and have been able to capitalize on two bigger, slower opponents. The Jets have the size advantage over the Golden Knights and they will be significantly faster than either the Los Angeles Kings or Predators were.

3. Offense. The Golden Knights barely scored in the first round and didn’t exactly light things up against the Sharks. In fact, they only have 11 goals on the road in five games. Will they be able to keep up to the high-octane Jets?

4. The bottom six. Vegas has a size and physical advantage on its third and fourth lines, but the Jets have much more offensive talent. If the depth of both teams is tested during the series, it will be interesting to see which wins out.

5. Special teams. The Jets have been terrific on the power play and only middling killing penalties, while Vegas has been the reverse. Something has to give here.

THN Series Prediction: Jets in seven.

Las Vegas Review Journal https://www.reviewjournal.com/sports/golden-knights-nhl/jets-connor-hellebuyck-playing-his- best-going-into-knights-series/

Jets’ Connor Hellebuyck playing his best going into Knights series

By Adam Hill / Las Vegas Review-Journal

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Another virtuoso performance by goaltender Connor Hellebuyck has the Winnipeg Jets four wins away from a berth in the Stanley Cup Final.

His playoff excellence comes on the heels of an outstanding season that saw the 24-year-old Michigan native become a finalist for the Vezina Trophy and set a record for U.S.-born goalies by winning 44 regular-season games.

Not bad for a guy who started the season as a backup.

“It’s (been) a long journey,” he said in the locker room Thursday night after the Jets routed the Nashville Predators 5-1 in Game 7 of their Western Conference semifinal series. “A lot of hours and a lot of working hard.”

To be fair, Hellebuyck was not a typical bench player. Saturday, he faces a Golden Knights team that’s 8-2 in the playoffs, a record that includes four shutouts by goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury.

The Jets had high hopes for him as a future star, only to watch him suffer through the growing pains of a 2016-17 season in which Winnipeg once again missed the playoffs.

So they brought in veteran free agent Steve Mason as the starter to allow Hellebuyck time to grow, and perhaps just as important, to challenge him.

It seems to have worked.

Hellebuyck took over after Mason was shelled in the first two games of the season. Hellebuyck won his first three starts and never relinquished his hold on the job.

“He went through a process last year like the rest of hockey club in being young and having to learn all the hard things about playing in the NHL,” coach Paul Maurice said. “He got pulled five times (last season). We weren’t able to play a game in front of him that gave him a chance, and he wasn’t able to be as consistent as he’s been all year for us this year. He put in all the time he needed to in the summer to get big and strong and come back.

“A year in a goalie’s life makes such a big difference. He was knocking pucks in the corner and clearing out the front (Thursday night). He just looked so calm.”

After the Jets squandered a chance to clinch at home in Game 6, he bounced back with the 36- save effort on the biggest stage of his career in Game 7.

That resilience has been a trademark for Hellebuyck. He allowed five or six goals on seven occasions in the regular season and came back with a win in the next game in six of those games.

Hellebuyck is enjoying his first postseason.

After cutting more than a half-goal per game off his average this season — 2.89 to 2.36 — his goals-against average in the playoffs is an identical 2.36 through 11 games. His save percentage of .924 looks very much like his regular-season mark of .922.

Hellebuyck knows he has plenty of work ahead in stopping the Knights, but he has allowed himself at times to think about where he and his team are compared with expectations entering the season.

“I do look at it as a whole, and I’m very happy with how hard I worked, but I never really changed how hard I work; I just continued working the way I always did,” he said. “I just believed in myself and got a whole new system and organization around me, and it just propelled me even more.”

That ride continues against the Knights — with the winner of their series needing four more wins to hoist the Stanley Cup. https://www.reviewjournal.com/sports/sports-columns/ed-graney/cinderella-is-for-fairy-tales-but- golden-knights-are-for-real/

Cinderella is for fairy tales, but Golden Knights are for real

By Ed Graney / Las Vegas Review-Journal

WINNIPEG, Manitoba — The narrative many want you to believe: That a season-long journey to this capital of a Canadian province is the result of some magical phenomenon, a sort of folklore genre that usually takes the form of a short story and features entities such as dragons and elves and fairies and giants and talking animals and, yes, sometimes a Knight or two.

The truth: While advancing to a Western Conference Final of the Stanley Cup playoffs as an expansion team checks all boxes related to an achievement of historical measures, the Golden Knights are no fairy tale.

There is nothing make-believe about how Vegas has landed in this place of 20th-century architecture and numerous art galleries and warehouses converted to shops and restaurants, the Knights set to open a best-of-seven series against Winnipeg on Saturday at Bell MTS Place.

Cinderella is a romantic fantasy, and yet there were no characters named McPhee or Gallant or Fleury or Neal — although William Karlsson and his hair would be a shoe-in for Prince Charming.

“We never approached them as an expansion team, certainly not now,” Jets winger and captain Blake Wheeler said Friday. “Yeah, it’s unique because it’s the first year of the team. But these are all established NHL players that have quite a bit more playoff experience than our team. Nobody took them for granted. Nobody treated them like an off night.

“This is no fluke. This isn’t Cinderella. They’re for real.”

A major part of the story that will forever be etched into the hearts and minds of what has become a fanatical base of Golden Knights followers is how the franchise reacted in the days and weeks following the mass shooting at the Route 91 Harvest festival on 1 October, where 58 were killed and more than 700 injured.

That’s when a faithful bond between Southern Nevada and the team was born, when a majority of players and staff that had no ties to Las Vegas before opening an inaugural season suddenly became a vehicle by which the town could begin its long and difficult road to recovery.

Building a winner

The hockey part always has been a far more dispassionate exercise: Vegas is the most successful first-year franchise in five decades because of, in part, the most generous expansion draft rules in history that allowed more players to be made available, salary cap issues that made it difficult for teams when choosing who to protect and Knights general manager George McPhee and his staff being knowledgeable and savvy enough to take full advantage.

That, and a room full of players who responded with career seasons and a head coach in Gerard Gallant whose deft and decisive guidance proved masterful.

There wasn’t an evil stepmother in sight and no one ever reported a carriage turning into a pumpkin outside T-Mobile Arena, although I don’t want give the Chance character any ideas.

“The (expansion draft rules) had an impact,” McPhee said. “It gave us something to work with. It gave this team an opportunity to be good. It was also a lot of work.

“It was important to the league and to Las Vegas and (team owner) Bill Foley that this franchise had a chance to work, that people coming to games could enjoy the product and become real fans and grow some deep roots in this marketplace. I don’t think you can point to any one thing for (the team’s success). Everyone has done their part.”

Here’s the thing: It’s not as if sports aren’t full of Cinderella stories down through the annals of Miracles on Ice and other colossal upsets, the idea in which competitors achieve far greater success than would reasonably have been expected.

And, strictly by way of preseason odds, the Knights could be categorized as such.

But once we saw what the roster was capable of delivering, it was no more a Cinderella this season than Loyola-Chicago basketball, which advanced to the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament not for some folk tale embodying myth, but because it had an experienced lineup with a veteran coach, traits that have been known to play really well in March.

No glass slippers needed

Once we saw this was more the Marc-Andre Fleury of 2009 in goal than recent years and that Columbus obviously goofed in not protecting Karlsson and that James Neal’s experience really was that important in the room and that Alex Tuch might very well be the next James Neal, any thoughts of fictional-based magic were ground up under the blades of a Zamboni.

“I think it all just came together,” said Knights forward Pierre-Édouard Bellemare. “We realized how lucky we were to be here and put in this position. We kind of rolled with the fairy tale (storylines), but even before that when the shooting happened, it just became bigger than everything else.

“I guess you can say it’s a Cinderella story because we’re a brand new team and one of four left in the playoffs and the other three don’t have our story behind them.

“But in the room, we don’t see ourselves as Cinderella or that we shouldn’t be here. This isn’t a fairy tale for us. We know we’re good.”

And to think, they made it all the way here to four wins from playing for a Stanley Cup, to the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers, wearing skates and not glass slippers. https://www.reviewjournal.com/sports/golden-knights-nhl/here-are-the-matchups-for-the-golden- knights-jets-series/

Here are the matchups for the Golden Knights-Jets series

By Steve Carp / Las Vegas Review-Journal

WINNIPEG, Manitoba — The Golden Knights went 2-1 against the Winnipeg Jets in the regular season.

But it has been awhile since the Knights faced the Jets, and Winnipeg has a different look from the last time they met.

So who has the edge in the Western Conference Final?

Forwards The Knights had strong play from their top two lines in the second round against San Jose, particularly from William Karlsson. Later in the series, the bottom six forwards played better and helped the Knights advance.

The Jets are explosive with numerous weapons. It starts with center Mark Scheifele and right wing Blake Wheeler, who are 1-2 in team playoff scoring, Scheifele leads the Jets with 16 points (11 goals, five assists), and Wheeler has a team-best 12 assists and 15 points.

The addition of center Paul Stastny has paid off. He added scoring and a strong forecheck playing alongside Patrik Laine and Nikolaj Ehilers. Laine, who is dangerous whenever he has the puck, has just three goals, and Ehlers has yet to score through two rounds. So the Jets might need more production out of that line. The player who has given Winnipeg a boost is fourth-line left wing Brandon Tanev, who has four goals.

Knights coach Gerard Gallant’s juggling of his lines paid off against San Jose. He returned David Perron to the second line, dropped Alex Tuch to Cody Eakin’s third line and inserted Ryan Reaves on the fourth line after Will Carrier got hurt in Game 5. Gallant probably will keep those units together at the start of the series, but he could bring back Tomas Nosek or Tomas Tatar if anyone struggles.

Edge: Jets

Defensemen The Knights don’t have anyone with the skill set of the Jets’ Dustin Byfuglien. He’s big, strong, fast, hits hard and can generate offense. Byfuglien was a force against Nashville and plays major minutes. The Jets also have received strong play from Jacob Trouba and Josh Morrissey, who are adept in the transition game and can move people out from in front of the crease.

The return of Luca Sbisa to the Knights’ lineup against San Jose paid off with strong performances in Games 5 and 6. If he stays healthy, he makes the defensive corps stronger.

Edge: Jets

Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury has been the NHL’s best goalie through the first two rounds. He’s making tough saves look routine.

Connor Hellebuyck has been strong for the Jets, and the Vezina Trophy finalist works well with his defensemen and his rebound control is good.

Edge: Golden Knights

Special teams The Jets have several weapons on the power play, but have scored on only 22.6 percent of their opportunities in the playoffs, which ranks eighth. Still, when Byfuglien is quarterbacking the power play and with Laine, Scheifele, Wheeler and Stastny out there, there’s a lot of pressure on the opponent’s penalty kill.

Having Perron back in the lineup has helped the Knights on the power play. He plays a position near the top of the faceoff circle by the half-wall, much like Jonathan Marchessault does, and both are adept at finding the open man to get a clean shot. The Knights haven’t had much success on their power play in the postseason, ranking last among the remaining teams at 17.5 percent.

But when it comes to killing penalties, the Knights are the best of the remaining four teams. They have an 85 percent success rate and have allowed just six goals in 40 short-handed situations. The Jets have the lowest penalty-killing percentage at 75 percent.

Edge: Golden Knights

Coaching Paul Maurice was supposedly on the hot seat entering the season in Winnipeg, but all he did was lead the Jets to their best season since returning to the city from Atlanta in 2011. He never panics and stands up for his players. He’s not afraid to make a move.

It’s hard to argue with what Gallant has done. Every move seems to work. He has kept things light and loose, and it shows in the way his players perform after a loss. They have displayed great resiliency and take their cue from him. He doesn’t over-coach, either.

Edge: Golden Knights

Intangibles The Knights are relatively healthy with only Carrier questionable. They’ve played fewer games (10) than the Jets (12), so they will be rested. It could be a factor in Game 1 after the Jets played Game 7 at Nashville on Thursday night, then traveled back to Winnipeg.

For the first time in the playoffs, the Knights don’t have home-ice advantage. It means Winnipeg would host a Game 7. But home ice hasn’t been much of an advantage in these playoffs.

Gallant doesn’t get to make the last change, but because he rolls out four lines and never gets involved in chess matches, it shouldn’t be an issue on the road. The Knights appear to have a little more depth, giving Gallant more flexibility with his lineup.

Edge: Golden Knights

Toronto Star https://www.thestar.com/sports/hockey/2018/05/10/winnipeg-jets-advance-to-nhl-western- conference-final.html

NHL Western Conference final preview: Winnipeg Jets vs. Vegas Golden Knights

By KEVIN MCGRAN

They are by no means historic rivals, but the Winnipeg Jets and Vegas Golden Knights have already made lots of history. When they meet starting Saturday night in Winnipeg in the Western Conference final, it will be a matchup between a team that missed the playoffs last year and one that didn’t even play. The Jets are doing what no version of the club has ever done before, while the Golden Knights are doing the exact opposite of what’s expected of expansion teams. The Jets give Canadian hockey fans hope of ending a Stanley Cup drought since Montreal went all the way in 1993. The Knights — largely made up of players deemed expendable last June — are playing for every kid picked last in the schoolyard. They might be the most likeable teams in the NHL, and one of them will play for the Stanley Cup. Here’s a closer look at how they match up:

The Jets …

Finished second in Central Division at 52-20-10 … Eliminated Minnesota in five, Nashville in seven ... This is the furthest any Jets team has ever made it ... Winnipeg’s goal differential of plus-8 is second in the playoffs to plus-10 for Vegas.

OFFENCE: Centre Mark Scheifele scored seven times in Nashville, establishing an NHL record for road goals in a series. He has 11 goals in all, leading the playoffs … Second-line centre Paul Stastny is also producing, with six goals, eight assists … Patrik Laine, on the other hand, has one goal in his last 10 playoff games … The Jets are 8 for 32 on the power play (25 per cent).

DEFENCE: Blue-liners have contributed 10 goals and 15 assists, led by Dustin Byfuglien’s four goals, nine assists … Byfuglien’s 18 penalty minutes are the most among surviving players … The Jets have allowed eight power-play goals on 31 chances, a penalty-kill rate of 74.2 per cent.

GOALTENDING: The Jets have a Vezina candidate in Connor Hellebuyck (2.25 GAA, .927 save percentage).

EDGE: Jets in six

The Golden Knights …

Finished first in Pacific Division at 51-24-7 … Won season series with Jets, 2-1-0 … Swept the Kings, then beat the Sharks in six … Are the third NHL team to win two rounds of the playoffs in their inaugural season, joining the 1917-18 Toronto Arenas and 1967-68 St. Louis Blues … Their combination of shooting (7.69) and save percentages (96.51) is a playoff-best 104.2.

OFFENCE: Jonathan Marchessault (four goals, seven assists) and Reilly Smith (one goal, 10 assists) lead the attack … Regular-season scoring leader William Karlsson has four goals, six assists … Trade deadline pickup Tomas Tatar has no points in four games and has been a healthy scratch … Three of Alex Tuch’s four goals have come on the power play … The Knights are 7 for 40 on the power play (17.5 per cent).

DEFENCE: The blue line has contributed seven goals and eight assists in 10 games … Five defencemen, led by Nate Schmidt (25:36), average more than 20 minutes a game … Deryk Engelland leads with nine blocked shots in 45 minutes of penalty-kill time. He has blocked 24 shots overall, second on team to Brayden McNabb’s 31 … McNabb’s average of 4.9 hits is tops among surviving teams.

GOALTENDING: The Knights have a Cup champion in Marc-Andre Fleury, who leads all playoff goalies with a paltry 1.53 GAA and incredible .951 save percentage.

The winner …

Jets in seven

ESPN.com http://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/23470514/2018-stanley-cup-playoffs-vegas-golden-knights- vs-winnipeg-jets-series-preview-pick-winner-nhl

Western Conference finals preview: Jets' depth will prove too much for Golden Knights

By Emily Kaplan ESPN

How they got here: Everything the Vegas Golden Knights have achieved this season seems inexplicable, so let's get that out of the way as a caveat.

Vegas' first-round matchup against the Los Angeles Kings was a tight, defensive series -- the teams combined for just 10 goals in four games -- but the Golden Knights won each game by flexing their depth, timely penalty killing ... oh, and Marc-Andre Fleury's spectacular play. Against another Pacific Division foe in the second round, it was more of a grind, but Fleury maintained pace to keep the Knights afloat in a six-game series win over the San Jose Sharks.

The Winnipeg Jets, meanwhile, handled their first-round opponent, the Minnesota Wild, with relative ease. Then came the heavyweight second round against the Presidents' Trophy- winning Nashville Predators.

"They're tough from top to bottom and made our lives miserable," Jets captain Blake Wheeler said after Game 7. During a seesaw series in which neither team won consecutive games (or capitalized on two of the best barns in the league for home-ice advantage) the Jets were best in the one contest that mattered: Game 7.

Here's how the Jets and Golden Knights match up in the Western Conference finals:

Goaltending: Fleury's numbers this postseason are just obscene. Of his eight wins, four have been shutouts. He has a .951 save percentage and 1.53 goals-against average. He also is rested, having played only 46 games in the regular season and only 10 through the first two rounds.

But Connor Hellebuyck, a Vezina Trophy finalist, sure isn't shabby, with a .927 save percentage and a 2.25 GAA in the playoffs. The 24-year-old has had a few off nights but seems to be rock solid in the outing after, and the ability to rebound is not one to underestimate. Advantage: Golden Knights

First line: Vegas' top line has been terrific all season but hasn't put up the playoff production other first units have. Jonathan Marchessault leads the Golden Knights with 11 points (four goals, seven assists), which ranks 11th among skaters these playoffs. Then again, let's remember the Knights have played only 10 games.

The Jets' first line is more productive, and probably more talented. No. 1 center Mark Scheifele is on fire. He now leads the NHL postseason with 11 goals, including seven -- all on the road -- against Nashville, which set a Stanley Cup playoffs record. Advantage: Jets

Depth: The Golden Knights regularly roll out three defensive pairings and four lines with no regard to matchups. "We really didn't have a choice," general manager George McPhee told ESPN in March. "We don't have the elite players that other teams have. We thought that perhaps if our third and fourth lines were better than other clubs' third and fourth lines, that could be a way to even things out." He has a point, but it still feels as if the Jets have more talent across the board.

Yes, second-line studs Patrik Laine and Nikolaj Ehlers didn't have their best series production- wise against Nashville, but their center, Paul Stastny, did (10 points during the series), and fourth-liners like Brandon Tanev are stepping up in a big way. Advantage: Jets

Defense: Vegas doesn't have a defenseman who profiles as a true shutdown No. 1, but it does have six men who are capable -- and none is overtaxed. (The ice time is quite evenly split.) The Knights are surrendering a high volume of shots, 33.3 per game; it's an area where the Jets have shined (just 28.6 per game, second-best mark of the 16 postseason teams).

From Dustin Byfuglien pushing around the Predators and contributing offensively to Jacob Trouba and Josh Morrissey coming into their own, this feels like an easy pick. Advantage: Jets

Special teams: The Golden Knights' power play has been pretty pedestrian these playoffs, at 17.5 percent. The penalty kill, however, has been exceptional -- quashing 84 percent of opposing power plays. That's second among playoff teams, to the Kings (who have a sample size of only four games).

The Jets have put up so-so marks in both categories: 75 percent on the penalty kill, 22.6 percent on the power play. Advantage: Even

Health: Vegas is managing the health of William Carrier, who isn't much of a concern when it comes to offensive numbers but definitely adds a physical presence in the lineup. They also got a welcome addition last round in the return of defenseman Luca Sbisa.

The Jets welcomed back Mathieu Perreault last round, which helps with forward depth. They are remarkably healthy right now. Advantage: Jets

Coaching: Gerard Gallant has had to make slight adjustments last round, such as subbing Oscar Lindberg for Tomas Tatar -- a forward his GM gave up a lot for at the trade deadline -- as well as inserting Ryan Carpenter and shuffling around David Perron and Alex Tuch. It all seemed to pay off.

There's nothing to really critique Paul Maurice for, perhaps in part because he hasn't had to make as many decisions. Advantage: Golden Knights

The pick: Jets in six. http://www.espn.com/nhl/insider/story/_/id/23473244/2018-stanley-cup-playoffs-key-stats- vegas-golden-knights-winnipeg-jets-tampa-bay-lightning-washington-capitals-nhl

How the West (and East) will be won: Three key stats for the conference finals

By Matthew Coller Special to ESPN

Based on regular season results, there are no underdogs in the conference finals.

The division winners in the Eastern Conference will battle for a spot in the Stanley Cup Final, while the Central's second-place team matches against the Pacific's winner in the Western Conference.

But if you dig a little deeper, there are two clubs with storylines that could result in plenty of drama over the next two rounds. The Washington Capitals are looking to make their first Cup Final appearance in the Alex Ovechkin era, and the Vegas Golden Knights could earn a shot at a championship in their first season as a franchise. Both teams, however, are facing uphill battles to make history.

Let's have a look at how the Capitals and Golden Knights match up against the Tampa Bay Lightning and Winnipeg Jets with a trip to the Cup Final on the line.

Note: All advanced stats are courtesy of Natural Stat Trick.

Winnipeg Jets vs. Vegas Golden Knights Three key stats:

Vegas leads all playoff teams with a .966 even-strength save percentage

During the regular season, Winnipeg scored 175 even-strength goals, Vegas scored 174

Of teams which made the second round, the Jets and Golden Knights rank No. 1 and 2 in scoring chances created per 60 minutes

Winnipeg It took years of slowing building through the draft, but the Jets are now a complete juggernaut. They drew the toughest matchup in the second round, but came away with a seven-game victory over Nashville, last year's Stanley Cup representatives from the West.

The Jets have received contributions from up and down their lineup during the postseason, with seven different players having scored multiple even-strength goals and five players with double- digit, all-situation point totals. One particular player, however, has put his name on the map as one of the elite centers in the NHL: Mark Scheifele.

The 2011 first-round pick scored seven goals in Round 2, proving to be unstoppable despite facing Nashville's top defenders, P.K. Subban and Mattias Ekholm, for 78 of his total 121 minutes. Paul Maurice has found the perfect combination of skills to put around Scheifele on the top line, with veteran Blake Wheeler using his size and playmaking skills while young Kyle Connor draws attention with speed and skill.

Similar to the Lightning (as we'll see below), the Jets were already a contender when they added another star to the mix at the trade deadline. Veteran center Paul Stastny, who was acquired from the St. Louis Blues, leads the Jets in even-strength points (10) this postseason, and has the top on-ice goal differential on the team. Winnipeg is outscoring opponents 12-4 with Stastny on the ice.

One particular stat is emblematic of the Jets' depth and talent on defense: Third-pair defenseman Tyler Myers has been on the ice for the most goals-for of any Winnipeg blueliner. In the past, we have seen teams essentially reduce themselves to two pairs during the playoffs. The Jets, on the other hand, have been able to create mismatches with Myers, who had five points in the series against the Predators, including a key goal in Game 7.

Myers' role tells you a lot about the first two pairs. When Jacob Trouba and Josh Morrissey have been on the ice in the playoffs, the Jets have allowed just three goals, and have outshot opponents 115-78. When Trouba and star Nashville forward Filip Forsberg were matched up, Winnipeg had a 54.7 percent Corsi for percentage, and outscored the Preds 4-2.

And then there's Dustin Byfuglien, one of the NHL's most intimidating forces. The veteran defenseman leads the Jets in minutes this postseason, and has 13 playoff points.

Heading into the playoffs, the biggest two questions for the Jets were: Could they get past Nashville? Would Connor Hellebuyck be up to the task?

Both of those questions have been answered, as Hellebuyck has a .927 playoff save percentage. If he continues to carry over a Vezina Trophy-worthy season to the playoffs, the Jets can reach the Stanley Cup Final.

Vegas The Golden Knights are no longer just a nice story. They are a force. In the franchise's first 10 postseason games, they have steamrolled the Los Angeles Kings and San Jose Sharks, outscoring them 19-8 at even strength, good for the best goal differential of any team in the playoffs.

The question is whether the Golden Knights can stand up to a powerhouse like the Jets. Both the Kings and Sharks are teams that have faded from their best years. Los Angeles severely lacks depth, and San Jose played the entire series without future Hall of Fame center Joe Thornton. Vegas has succeeded in the first two rounds in part because they were deeper than the opposition. They are not a deeper team than Winnipeg.

That is not to suggest that Vegas's success came just because of a favorable postseason slate.

Many of the players who are being touted as a ragtag group actually are either proven scorers or were quality prospects that teams were forced to part with because of the league's expansion rules.

Jonathan Marchessault, for example, scored 30 goals last season for Florida. Tied with Marchessault for playoff points (11) is Reilly Smith, who twice scored 20-plus goals in his career before this season. Young players like Alex Tuch and Shea Theodore were considered rising stars by their teams. Veterans James Neal and David Perron were significant point producers on other teams, and goalie Marc-Andre Fleury was a long-time franchise goalie in Pittsburgh.

Where Vegas can match Winnipeg is in two key areas: Speed and goaltending. Both teams play at a high pace and create scoring chances off the rush. Center Erik Haula, who produced 29 goals this season, will be particularly key because of his quickness. The Golden Knights also put together two extremely good puck-handling defenders in Theodore and Nate Schmidt. Combined, they have been on the ice for 16 goals for and six against in the postseason.

In net, Fleury has exorcised all of his demons of playoff past in the first two rounds. With four shutouts and a .951 save percentage, he has been the best netminder in the postseason thus far, and it isn't close. Maintaining that pace would be challenging, but Fleury will likely have to carry his team if the Golden Knights are going to make history.

The pick: Winnipeg in five http://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/23463032/nhl-2018-stanley-cup-playoffs-barry-melrose-john- buccigross-linda-cohn-greg-wyshynski-emily-kaplan-predict-conference-finals-cup-winners

Experts' conference finals picks for the 2018 Stanley Cup playoffs

By ESPN.com

Our NHL writers, analysts and editors weigh in with their predictions for the conference finals of the 2018 Stanley Cup playoffs -- plus their picks to win the Cup -- and rank the final four teams. Scroll down to see their explanations for each pick.

Linda Cohn, SportsCenter anchor Final four power rankings: 1. Vegas Golden Knights 2. Tampa Bay Lightning 3. Winnipeg Jets 4. Washington Capitals

Eastern Conference finals: Lightning beat Capitals in seven games

Western Conference finals: Golden Knights beat Jets in six games

Stanley Cup Final: Golden Knights beat Lightning in six games

The Lightning have the edge over the Capitals in forward-line depth and experience -- bolstered by battle-tested defensemen -- which will help them overcome a valiant effort by Braden Holtby. But I've ridden Vegas' money train for this long. Why get off it now? The Golden Knights showed in the first two rounds that they can beat two differently styled teams. Winnipeg will be the toughest test, but Vegas still has Marc-Andre Fleury, the best goalie left in playoffs. He will be the game-changer. My chips are in. Life as we know it changes forever -- or perhaps just the rules for building an NHL expansion team.

Greg Wyshynski, senior writer Final four power rankings: 1. Lightning 2. Jets 3. Golden Knights 4. Capitals

Eastern Conference finals: Lightning beat Capitals in six games

Western Conference finals: Jets beat Golden Knights in seven games

Stanley Cup Final: Lightning beat Jets in six games

The most compelling Stanley Cup Final matchup on the table is the Capitals versus the Golden Knights, for reasons that are obvious (Ovechkin, expansion team) and less obvious (GM George McPhee versus his old team). But when do we ever get nice things? The Jets and Lightning are just deeper and better than their compelling conference final foes. That said, the sweet Golden Knights magic will push the West series to the brink, and Vegas' lack of home-ice advantage will propel the Jets to the Final.

Emily Kaplan, national hockey reporter Final four power rankings: 1. Lightning 2. Jets 3. Golden Knights 4. Capitals

Eastern Conference finals: Lightning beat Capitals in six games

Western Conference finals: Jets beat Golden Knights in six games

Stanley Cup Final: Lightning beat Jets in seven games

Tampa Bay dismantled a talented Boston Bruins team in the second round -- and made it look easy, with four straight wins. The Lightning have a ton of weapons outside their big two of Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov (hello, Brayden Point), including players on the cusp of breaking out (Anthony Cirelli, Yanni Gourde and Alex Killorn). Both the Golden Knights and Jets have proved that they can win in tight, defensive grinds and also score in bunches. While both teams boast depth, the Jets' top two lines trump Vegas in terms of talent, and Winnipeg's defensive players are superior. The Lightning paced the NHL all season long, and yet they seem to be hitting their stride at just the right time. Plus, Andrei Vasilevskiy is the best goalie we're not talking about this postseason.

Barry Melrose, NHL analyst Final four power rankings: 1. Lightning 2. Golden Knights 3. Jets 4. Capitals

Eastern Conference finals: Lightning beat Capitals in six games

Western Conference finals: Golden Knights beats Jets in seven games

Stanley Cup Final: Lightning beat Golden Knights in six games

John Buccigross, SportsCenter anchor Final four power rankings: 1. Lightning 2. Jets 3. Capitals 4. Golden Knights

Eastern Conference finals: Lightning beat Capitals in six games

Western Conference finals: Jets beat Golden Knights in five games

Stanley Cup final: Lightning beat Jets in seven games

Adnan Virk, ESPN anchor Final four power rankings: 1. Lightning 2. Jets 3. Golden Knights 4. Capitals

Eastern Conference finals: Lightning beat Capitals in five games

Western Conference finals: Jets beat Golden Knights in seven games

Stanley Cup Final: Lightning beat Jets in six games

As the lone hope from Canada, the Jets will have Vegas rolling snake eyes, while Tampa is clearly the most balanced team and will end the Capitals' surprise run -- and then outlast Winnipeg to win the Cup.

Steve Levy, SportsCenter anchor Final four power rankings: 1. Capitals 2. Golden Knights 3. Jets 4. Lightning

Eastern Conference finals: Capitals beat Lighting in seven games

Western Conference finals: Golden Knights beat Jets in seven games

Stanley Cup Final: Capitals beat Golden Knights in seven games

Because we are going to see absolutely everything happen in our lifetime, it's Alex Ovechkin's turn -- and Barry Trotz has put in the time.

Chris Peters, hockey prospects expert Eastern Conference finals: Lighting beat Capitals in six games

Western Conference finals: Jets beat Golden Knights in six games

Stanley Cup Final: Lightning beat Jets in seven games

Tampa Bay's handling of Boston reaffirmed my belief that it would be the team to beat in the East. The Jets, meanwhile, are one of the few teams that can match Vegas' speed and have more scoring threats. A Winnipeg-Tampa Bay final would match two of the most offensively gifted teams in the NHL this season, and I think Tampa's experience throughout the lineup would be a difference-maker in a tight series.

Victoria Matiash, NHL fantasy expert Final four power rankings: 1. Jets 2. Lightning 3. Golden Knights 4. Capitals

Eastern Conference finals: Lightning beat Capitals in six games

Western Conference finals: Jets beat Golden Knights in seven games

Stanley Cup Final: Jets beat Lightning in six games

Having favored the Predators to win it all since the very beginning, I'm switching allegiance to the team good enough to knock them out. Boy, oh boy, that entire Jets lineup was impressive -- especially in the neutral zone -- when push reached shove in Game 7. Right now Paul Maurice's squad appears fully capable of finally putting a period on Vegas' magical run-on sentence, before edging out the best team in the Eastern Conference for the ultimate prize.

Tim Kavanagh, hockey editor Final four power rankings: 1. Lightning 2. Jets 3. Golden Knights 4. Capitals

Eastern Conference finals: Lightning beat Capitals in five games

Western Conference finals: Jets beat Golden Knights in six games

Stanley Cup Final: Lightning beat Jets in six games

The Lightning have been this season's chameleons, able to adjust to anything their opponents have dished out, in part because of their depth. No matter who Tampa Bay faces, coach Jon Cooper and his staff should be able to gain the upper hand.

Ben Arledge, Insider/prospects editor Final four power rankings: 1. Lightning 2. Jets 3. Golden Knights 4. Capitals

Eastern Conference finals: Lightning beat Capitals in six games

Western Conference finals: Jets beat Golden Knights in seven games

Stanley Cup Final: Lightning beat Jets in six games

I picked the Bolts and Jets to reach the final from the start of the playoffs, and I don't see any reason to change now (although I thought twice this time around after Vegas proved me wrong in each of its two series). Tampa Bay just disposed of a good Bruins team, and Winnipeg outlasted the Cup-favorite Predators. The Lightning and Jets have two of the most dominant offenses in the league, terrific offensive contributors on the blue line and a pair of exciting young goalies in the net. And I'll stick with Tampa Bay as my Cup winner given its experience advantage.

Vince Masi, Sports and Information research specialist Final four power rankings: 1. Lightning 2. Jets 3. Golden Knights 4. Capitals

Eastern Conference finals: Lightning beat Capitals in six games

Western Conference finals: Jets beat Golden Knights in seven games

Stanley Cup Final: Lightning beat Jets in six games

The Lightning have been the best puck-possession team in the playoffs, controlling it 54 percent of the time at 5-on-5 and I think that will be the main factor for them against the Capitals. Meanwhile, Fleury's 5-on-5 save percentage this postseason is an absurd .965 while his expected save percentage according to Corsica.hockey has been .926. No goalie has a larger positive differential in those percentages this postseason. That has to even out some time, right? ... RIGHT?! From an analytics perspective, everything Winnipeg has done well in the playoffs so far, Tampa has been just slightly better. I give a slight edge to Vasilevskiy, who will steal a game on the road and allow Tampa to win the Cup at home in six games.

Aimee Crawford, ESPN the Magazine senior editor Final four power rankings: 1. Capitals 2. Golden Knights 3. Lightning 4. Jets

Eastern Conference finals: Capitals beat Lightning in seven games

Western Conference finals: Golden Knights beat Jets in six games

Stanley Cup Final: Capitals beat Golden Knights in seven games

OK, so the Capitals may not profile as Stanley Cup champs on paper. But now that their arch- nemesis and perennial playoff foil, the Pittsburgh Penguins, are in the rearview mirror, Ovi and the Caps can relax and exploit the one thing the otherwise well-rounded Lightning are not good at: killing penalties. Tampa Bay's penalty kill ranked 27th in the league during the regular season, and hasn't improved much in the playoffs (the Lightning have allowed eight goals on 31 power plays this postseason). Meanwhile, the Caps boast one of the best power-play units in the NHL and have converted on 13 of 42 (31 percent) of their postseason opportunities. Washington has been good at even strength, too -- and Braden Holtby has returned to his all- time great postseason form in the crease. I picked them from the start, so I'm sticking with the Caps.

NHL.com https://www.nhl.com/news/why-nashville-was-eliminated-from-nhl-playoffs/c- 298565990?tid=297171692

Golden Knights expect tough test from Jets' top line in Western Final Winnipeg's Scheifele, Wheeler, Connor combined for 28 points in second round by Scott Billeck / NHL.com Correspondent

WINNIPEG -- Marc-Andre Fleury and the Vegas Golden Knights will face perhaps their toughest challenge in the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs from the top line of the Winnipeg Jets in the Western Conference Final.

Winnipeg's Mark Scheifele (11 points), Blake Wheeler (11) and Kyle Connor (six) combined for 28 points in seven games in the second round against the Nashville Predators.

"They're good," Fleury said Friday. "They're obviously one of the best lines out there. They've been good on the power play also, getting a lot of points there. Staying out of the box is probably the main thing so we don't give them too many opportunities on the power play.

"For the game, if we keep playing well as a team, doing what the coach wants us to, with some speed and everybody doing their job in our zone, we should be in good shape."

The best-of-7 series begins here Saturday (7 p.m. ET; NBC, CBC, TVAS).

Getting pucks past Fleury hasn't come easy for opposing teams so far in the playoffs. The three- time Stanley Cup winner is 8-2 with a 1.53 goals-against average, a .951 save percentage and four shutouts.

"He's the backbone to our team," Vegas defenseman Deryk Engelland said. "On and off the ice, he's a phenomenal goalie. In the locker room, he's an even better person. A great leader, a fun guy to be around. He always brings excitement to the rink every day."

The five players in front of Fleury are tasked with limiting scoring chances by the Jets, who are tied with the Washington Capitals for the NHL lead in goals in the postseason (43).

Scheifele leads the League with 11 goals, including seven against the Predators. Wheeler has three goals, and Connor, whose 31 goals led NHL rookies in the regular season, scored twice in Game 5 against Nashville after being held without a goal the first nine playoff games.

"They're great players, they're going to get their chances," Vegas forward James Neal said. "Try to limit them as much as we can. I think if you make them play defense and have them in their own end as much as possible, it wears them down. They play a lot of heavy minutes, so you got to be tough on them. Like I said, they'll get their chances here and there. We'll try to limit that as much as possible."

The Golden Knights are preparing to play a tough defensive team for the third straight series. The Jets were fifth in the NHL in goals-against per game during the regular season (2.63). After being limited to seven goals in four games in the first round against the Los Angeles Kings, who were No. 1 (2.46), Vegas scored 22 in six games in the second round against the San Jose Sharks, who were tied for ninth (2.76).

That preparation includes getting ready for the size and physicality of defenseman Dustin Byfuglien (6-foot-5, 260 pounds), and the shutdown defense pair of Jacob Trouba and Josh Morrissey.

Golden Knights forward Jonathan Marchessault said their top line with himself, William Karlsson and Reilly Smith was tested by the Sharks defense. Despite the added attention it received, the line combined for 25 points in the series.

"I think whoever we face as a line, our game doesn't change," said Marchessault, whose nine points (four goals, five assists) led Vegas in the second round. "We want to take care of our own D zone, play the right way, pressure the D. They're very good D, but it's nothing our line can't handle."

The Golden Knights were 2-1-0 against the Jets in the regular season.

"I expect it to be real fast, real quick," Vegas coach Gerard Gallant said. "It should be a great series. I said that in the L.A. series and the San Jose series. But I truly believe [Winnipeg is] a big, heavy team that plays real fast. I think we're the same way. We play real quick, real fast." https://www.nhl.com/news/winnipeg-jets-vegas-golden-knights-conference-final-preview/c- 298567796?tid=297172884

Jets vs. Golden Knights playoff preview Winnipeg counting on Scheifele, Wheeler; Vegas relying on Fleury, top line by Shawn P. Roarke @sroarke_nhl / NHL.com Director of Editorial

Winnipeg Jets vs. Vegas Golden Knights

Jets: 8-4 (defeated Minnesota Wild 4-1 in first round, Nashville Predators 4-3 in second round) Golden Knights: 8-2 (defeated Los Angeles Kings 4-0 in first round, San Jose Sharks 4-2 in second round) Season series: WPG 1-1-1; VGK 2-1-0

The skinny New blood has found its way to the Western Conference Final.

The two newest teams in the conference, the Winnipeg Jets and the Vegas Golden Knights, will play in the best-of-7 series that begins at Bell MTS Place on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; NBC, CBC, TVAS).

This is the first conference final in Jets franchise history; they entered the NHL as the Atlanta Thrashers for the 1999-2000 season, relocated to Winnipeg in 2011, and moved from the Eastern Conference for 2013-14.

The Golden Knights, in their inaugural season, continue to make history. Their 8-2 record in the Stanley Cup Playoffs is the best by any NHL team in its first 10 postseason games.

"If you watch a lot of hockey, they've played the game that they're playing now right from the get-go," Jets coach Paul Maurice said of the Golden Knights. "It wasn't a team that got hot in the last month to make the playoffs.

"They've been good right from the start straight through, and if you're new to the NHL but a longtime hockey fan and you turned on the TV and didn't know that was an expansion team, you wouldn't have thought it was."

However, this is the first time the Golden Knights will not have home-ice advantage.

"We have no issue with it," Vegas coach Gerard Gallant said. "We played 41 road games during the season and had a real good record (22-14-5) and we have had a great road record in the playoffs so far (4-1). They have home ice, so we'll go in there and, hopefully, play two real good games and leave there up in the series. That's the goal."

The Golden Knights are the third team to win multiple NHL playoff series in their inaugural season, joining the Toronto Arenas (1918) and St. Louis Blues (1968).

This is the first time two opponents are making their conference final debuts since 2003, when the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim swept the Wild in the Western Conference Final.

Game breaker Golden Knights: Forward William Karlsson had a breakout regular season and hasn't slowed in the postseason. He has 10 points (four goals, six assists) in 10 games, second on Vegas behind the other members of the top line, Jonathan Marchessault and Reilly Smith, who each has 11 points. Karlsson, who is averaging 22:28 of ice time per game in the postseason, is plus- 6. The Golden Knights have had 56.67 percent of the shot attempts when he is on the ice, seventh among forwards who have played at least 10 postseason games. Three of Karlsson's 43 regular-season goals were against the Jets.

Jets: Center Mark Scheifele leads the playoffs with 11 goals in 12 games, one more than Jake Guentzel of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Scheifele scored seven goals in the four games at Nashville, including two in a 5-1, Game 7 win Thursday. He leads the Jets with 16 points after he had 60 points (23 goals, 37 assists) in 60 regular-season games. Scheifele is averaging 21:14 of ice time per game, most among Winnipeg forwards in the postseason, and has four points (three goals, one assist) on the power play.

X-factor Golden Knights: Rookie forward Alex Tuch has used his size (6-foot-4, 224 pounds) and speed to bedevil opponents. He has four goals, tied for the Vegas lead with Smith and Karlsson, and seven points, tied for fourth on the Golden Knights. Tuch especially has been effective on the power play, with four points (three goals, one assist).

Jets: Forward Kyle Connor scored 31 goals during the regular season but has been held to two goals in the playoffs, each in Game 5 against Nashville. He has not been needed to score much so far, with linemates Scheifele and Blake Wheeler carrying the play on the top line. Connor's 7.1 percent shooting percentage is less than half of his regular-season rate (16.1).

Goaltending Golden Knights: Marc-Andre Fleury has been the best goalie in the postseason. His .951 save percentage is tops among starting goalies, as are his four shutouts. He has an even-strength save percentage of .958, the best in the postseason since the stat began being tracked in 1997- 98. Fleury played against the Jets once in the regular season; he made 26 saves in a 3-2 overtime win Feb. 1.

Jets: Connor Hellebuyck played big when he needed to in the second round. He made 36 saves on 37 shots in Game 7 and won three of four starts at Nashville; his loss was in overtime of Game 2. Hellebuyck struggled against Vegas in the regular season with a 4.40 goals-against average and .857 save percentage (12 goals on 84 shots).

Numbers to know Golden Knights: Vegas has killed 34 of 40 penalties, a success rate of 85.0 percent, second in the postseason to Los Angeles (91.7). The Jets are 11th at 74.2 percent, having killed 23 of 31 penalties.

Jets: Winnipeg is plus-76 in 5-on-5 shot attempts, first during the playoffs. Vegas is fourth at plus-44 but has played 10 games, two fewer than Winnipeg.

They said it "It's a physical series. We've got some skaters. Kyle Connor got better as the series went on, stronger. I really liked [Nikolaj] Ehlers' game, on the puck. But that's a difficult thing to do, to get out on the road ... to play well in here as consistently as we did, it's impressive." -- Jets coach Paul Maurice on defeating the Predators

"It felt like guys were like, 'Yeah, that was fun, but this is not over, that was a just a part of it.' The last two days, the tempo and the intensity have ramped up quite a bit and guys are ready to go onto the next series. I don't think the guys are satisfied yet."-- Golden Knights forward Pierre- Edouard Bellemare

Will win if … Golden Knights: They get production from their second line, which has Erik Haula at center with David Perron and James Neal. The three have combined for 20 points (six goals, 14 assists) through 10 games but face a new challenge against the Jets, who made the Predators' second line all but disappear. Perron has seven points but no goals. Neal and Haula each has one goal in the past five games.

Jets: They neutralize the speed of Vegas with their physical play, which Winnipeg used to slow Nashville. The charge has been led by defensemen Dustin Byfuglien, whose 46 hits are the third most in the postseason, and Ben Chiarot, who has 39. The Golden Knights are faster than the Predators and will present more of a challenge in the attacking zone.

Status report Carrier, who has been a difference-maker on the forecheck, is unlikely to play in Game 1. The forward missed Game 6 against the Sharks and did not skate during practice Wednesday or Thursday. ... Sbisa said he is close to 100 percent after averaging 15:52 of ice time the past two games. He missed the first eight games of the playoffs because of an upper-body injury. https://www.nhl.com/news/winnipeg-jets-vegas-golden-knights-staff-picks/c- 298574442?tid=297172884

Jets-Golden Knights winner debated by NHL.com writers Winnipeg favored to defeat Vegas in Western Conference Final

By NHL.com @NHL

The Winnipeg Jets and the Vegas Golden Knights will each look to make more history in the Western Conference Final beginning with Game 1 at Bell MTS Place on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; NBC, CBC, TVAS).

Winnipeg, which began play as the Atlanta Thrashers in 1999-00 before relocating prior to the 2011-12 season, is in the conference final for the first time in franchise history. Vegas is in its inaugural season.

The Jets have the most regular-season points (114) among the four teams remaining in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, having eliminated the Presidents' Trophy-winning Nashville Predators in Game 7 of the second round Thursday. The Golden Knights are on a run for the ages that has seen them get past two Pacific Division rivals, the Los Angeles Kings and San Jose Sharks.

Winnipeg has goaltender Connor Hellebuyck, a finalist for the Vezina Trophy; forward Patrik Laine, who scored 44 goals in the regular season, second in the NHL to Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals (49); and center Mark Scheifele, who leads the playoffs with 11 goals, one more than Jake Guentzel of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Vegas counters with goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, who leads the playoffs in save percentage (.951), and William Karlsson, who scored 43 goals this season and has scored four in the postseason, tied for the Golden Knights lead with Alex Tuch and Jonathan Marchessault.

Who will advance to the Stanley Cup Final? We asked five NHL.com staffers who have covered the two teams in the playoffs. Here are their responses:

Lisa Dillman, staff writer Do I dare pick against the Golden Knights? I made the mistake of not picking them in the first round against the Kings, and we all know how that worked out.

Though Vegas has had two lengthy breaks between rounds and will be the fresher team, I have to go with the Jets, who are better than the Kings and Sharks.

The Jets can play the heavy, physical brand of hockey favored by Los Angeles and have the speed and skill of San Jose. Another point to consider: Hellebuyck was impressive on the road in the second round, going 3-1 with a 2.04 goals-against average and .946 save percentage.

This could serve him well in the frenzied atmosphere of T-Mobile Arena in Vegas. If you can survive Game 7 at Bridgestone Arena, well, you are pretty much ready for anything.

Jets in six.

Nick Cotsonika, columnist No one has been a bigger believer in the Golden Knights than I have. I've been saying they're for real for months. I picked them to defeat the Kings in the first round and the Sharks in the second round.

And now?

I'm picking the Jets in six.

It's not that that the Golden Knights are huge underdogs. They finished fifth in the NHL standings, five points behind the Jets. They went 2-1-0 against Winnipeg. It was at Bell MTS Place on Feb. 1 that they earned their 34thwin, defeating the Jets 3-2 in overtime and setting a record for a first-year team.

But they showed cracks in the second round against San Jose. They were dominated for stretches and got out of rhythm when they were hemmed in their own zone, took penalties and couldn't roll three lines and three pairs. Their strengths are speed and depth, but the Jets are fast and deep too, and have more size and snarl.

Fleury was my pick at the midway point for the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP, but by a hair over Scheifele. For Vegas to win, Fleury must keep playing at a Conn Smythe level, and the Golden Knights must exceed expectations yet again.

Tom Gulitti, staff writer You'd think that by now my distinguished colleagues would have learned not to pick against the Golden Knights. Well, I have.

I was wrong in thinking they wouldn't come close to qualifying for the playoffs. I was wrong in thinking they had no chance to win the Pacific Division. I was wrong about pretty much everything they accomplished during the regular season.

So when the playoffs began, I decided I would never be wrong about Vegas again. And I haven't been.

I picked them to defeat the Kings, and I picked them to defeat the Sharks. So I'm sticking with them against the Jets.

There's no question Winnipeg is deeper and more talented. And it has Hellebuyck, who has proven he can be a difference-maker. But Vegas has been relentless with its four lines from the start of the season, and I don't expect it to let up now. Fleury got the Penguins to the Eastern Conference Final last season and then was relegated back to the bench when Matt Murray returned from injury. He's determined to finish the job this year with the Golden Knights.

Vegas in six.

Tim Campbell, staff writer The Jets never trailed the series against the Predators. They won three road games by scores of 4-1, 6-2 and 5-1.

They did not luck their way into the conference final, and given the strength of the Central Division, they warrant being my pick for the next round.

It will take no less of an effort to defeat the Golden Knights, who have shown resiliency and consistency that have astounded many.

Hellebuyck and Fleury have excelled in these playoffs and figure to be in the spotlight again. Another top performance will be required to advance to the Stanley Cup Final.

Winnipeg's inexperience to start the playoffs seems like less of a factor. The battles the Jets have been through in two series have revealed an ability to adapt and improve, and there would seem to be no reason to assume that suddenly stops.

Vegas is impressive, but who am I to argue with Lisa and Nick? Jets in seven.

Mike Zeisberger, staff writer I hate agreeing with the masses, but the Jets have left me no choice.

No disrespect to the Golden Knights, but the clock is about to strike midnight on their wonderful Cinderella story. It's about how good Winnipeg is, not about any warts Vegas might have.

Jets in six.

Talentwise, Winnipeg's depth ranks with that of the other three remaining playoff teams: Vegas, the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Capitals. And they made the best acquisition of any team leading up to the NHL Trade Deadline, center Paul Stastny from the St. Louis Blues. His six goals and eight assists have been vital in Winnipeg's postseason run.

But the Jets' success cuts deeper than just a rich talent pool. There is a youthful confidence and swagger in their dressing room that makes them all the more dangerous.

That was on display against Nashville. In four games at Bridgestone Arena, one of the most difficult places for opponents to play, Winnipeg did not lose in regulation, going 3-0-1. It lost Game 2 in double overtime, 5-4.

In the end, the Jets are skilled enough to go all the way. More importantly, they believe they can. There is no fear here. https://www.nhl.com/news/winnipeg-jets-ready-for-vegas-golden-knights-in-game-1-of-western- final/c-298573524?tid=297172884

Jets ready for Golden Knights in Game 1 of Western Final Confident on home ice, expect fast tempo by Scott Billeck / NHL.com Correspondent

WINNIPEG -- The Winnipeg Jets are expecting a fast-paced series against the Vegas Golden Knights in the Western Conference Final.

Winnipeg will host Game 1 of the best-of-7 series Saturday (7 pm. ET; NBC, CBC, TVAS), less than 48 hours after it defeated the Nashville Predators 5-1 in Game 7 of the second round.

Vegas last played May 6, when it defeated the San Jose Sharks 3-0 in Game 6 to win that second-round series.

The Jets, who were prepared for a grinding, physical series against the Predators, are shifting their focus to an up-tempo style against the Golden Knights.

"Specifically, outstanding transition and speed," Jets coach Paul Maurice said of the Golden Knights. "How they move the puck from their end in straight lines, and they'll make plays off that rush. It's going to be a very fast, speed-based series. There will be contact for sure in the zones, but that won't be the story. The team that defends, I think, the best through the neutral zone and attacks simply through the neutral zone will have the best chance to win."

Winnipeg believes the quick turnaround and any lingering emotions from the second round won't follow it into its first conference final.

"I think you approach it as you approached all the games you played so far in the playoffs," Jets captain Blake Wheeler said. "It's a little bit of an adjustment to playing a different team. I think we just played a big game, and they're growing even bigger from here on out, so you know, you want to do a lot of the same things we did [on Thursday] in Nashville. Have a good first period, get a good start. But you don't need to reinvent the wheel, just carry a lot of that excitement we had last night into Game 1."

Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck said, "We know there's a lot more hockey to be played and this is going to be a lot more demanding on our bodies and our chemistry. We're just going to have to put it behind us and look forward to another exciting series."

In the second round, the Jets went 3-1 in road games and tied an NHL record for most goals (19) scored on the road in a series in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Forward Mark Scheifele set a record for most road goals (seven) in a single playoff series.

Despite going 1-2 in Winnipeg against Nashville, including losing their last two home games, the Jets are optimistic they can get back to playing the way they had at Bell MTS Centre, where they won nine in a row to end the regular season and four straight to begin the playoffs.

"We won a lot of hockey games at home and we're real comfortable in this building," Wheeler said. "We play with confidence in here, and obviously, you know, you want to protect your home ice and get off to a good start in the series."

Winnipeg went 1-1-1 against Vegas during the regular season.

"They've had a [heck of a] season," Wheeler said. "Just watching them in the playoffs, it's not a fluke. It's not a Cinderella [story]. They're for real. So it's going to be a real tough matchup." https://www.nhl.com/news/behind-the-numbers-key-matchups-golden-knights-winnipeg-jets/c- 298565620?tid=297172884

5 matchups that could decide Golden Knights-Jets winner Performance of top lines likely to determine victor in Western Conference Final by Rob Vollman / NHL.com Correspondent

One key matchup could make the difference in the Western Conference Final between the Vegas Golden Knights and Winnipeg Jets, which begins with Game 1 at Bell MTS Place on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; NBC, CBC, TVAS).

Here are the underlying numbers behind five pivotal areas that might decide which team will advance to the Stanley Cup Final:

Karlsson vs. Scheifele For the Golden Knights, the spotlight is on center William Karlsson, who broke out with 43 goals during the regular season, tying him for third in the NHL. He leads Vegas in the Stanley Cup Playoffs with four even-strength goals and two game-winners.

Karlsson is tops among Golden Knights forwards with an average of 17:06 of ice time at even strength, ranks third with 2:10 on the penalty kill, leads Vegas with 14 takeaways, and ranks third with a shot-attempt differential (SAT) of plus-44.

Center Mark Scheifele has been a breakout star for the Jets. He leads the playoffs with 11 goals, three into an empty net, and has 16 points. He leads Winnipeg forwards with an average of 17:26 of ice time at even-strength and is first on the Jets with eight drawn penalties.

Considering Karlsson and Scheifele often may be on the ice at the same time, the one who has the biggest series could have a big say in the result.

Marchessault vs. Wheeler On Karlsson's left wing will be Jonathan Marchessault, who is tied with forward Reilly Smith for the Golden Knights playoff scoring lead with 11 points (four goals, seven assists) in 10 games. Marchessault is second on the Golden Knights to forward James Neal with 41 shots on goal and leads their forwards with an SAT of plus-47.

Marchessault is likely to spend a lot of his time matched against Jets right wing Blake Wheeler, who had an NHL career-best 91 points (23 goals, 68 assists) in 81 regular-season games. That's the most by any player in Winnipeg Jets/Atlanta Thrashers history since forward Marian Hossa had 100 points (43 goals, 57 assists) in 82 games in 2006-07. In the playoffs, Wheeler is second on the Jets to Scheifele with 15 points (three goals, 12 assists) in 12 games.

Schmidt vs. Byfuglien Defenseman Nate Schmidt leads Vegas in average ice time with 25:36 per game, including 20:01 at even strength. His 11 takeaways are second among defensemen in the playoffs to John Carlson of the Washington Capitals, who has 12.

Winnipeg's Dustin Byfuglien leads defensemen with 13 points (four goals, nine assists) in 12 games, and his 46 hits are second to Brayden McNabb of the Golden Knights. Byfuglien's average ice time of 26:17 per game is 4:13 more than teammate Jacob Trouba (22:04), who's second on the Jets.

McNabb vs. Stastny McNabb, Vegas' top shutdown defenseman, leads the Golden Knights with 31 blocked shots and leads NHL defensemen with 49 hits. He is second on Vegas to Schmidt in time on ice at even strength with 18:58 per game, and second to Deryk Engelland on the penalty kill with 3:56 per game. The Golden Knights have allowed four even-strength goals in 10 games with McNabb on the ice.

McNabb figures to spend much of his time on the ice against center Paul Stastny, who has been a difference-maker for the Jets since he was acquired in a trade with the St. Louis Blues on Feb. 26.

Playing on a line with Patrik Laine and Nikolaj Ehlers, Stastny has 14 points (six goals, eight assists) in 12 playoff games, and his three game-winning goals are tied with forward Nikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay Lightning for most in the postseason.

Neal vs. Morrissey Neither Vegas nor Winnipeg has players with much playoff experience, but Neal, a 30-year-old forward for the Golden Knights, could tip the scales in this matchup.

Neal has 51 points (28 goals, 23 assists) in 90 postseason games, 80 of them with the Pittsburgh Penguins and Nashville Predators. He has seven points (three goals, four assists) in 10 games for Vegas and leads the Golden Knights with 44 shots on goal, a shooting percentage of 6.8 percent. Based on his NHL career regular-season shooting percentage of 12.1 percent, Neal would be expected to score 5.3 goals on 44 shots. That suggests he might be due for a big series.

Winnipeg's top shutdown defenseman is Josh Morrissey, who is 23 and competing in the playoffs for the first time. He leads Winnipeg with an SAT of plus-61 and an average of 2:12 per game killing penalties. His 25 blocked shots rank second to Trouba, who has 27. https://www.nhl.com/news/vegas-golden-knights-marc-andre-fleury-winnipeg-jets-connor- hellebuyck-goalie-matchup/c-298567840?tid=297172884

Marc-Andre Fleury vs. Connor Hellebuyck Golden Knights-Jets series study in contrasting goaltenders by Kevin Woodley / NHL.com Correspondent

Goaltending is an integral part of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. To better understand the strengths and weaknesses of the goaltenders, the final 100 goals allowed by each in the regular season and each goal allowed in the playoffs were charted, with the help of Apex Video Analysis and Save Review System from Upper Hand Inc., to see what patterns emerge.

The Western Conference Final will be a battle of goaltending opposites in terms of experience and approach.

Vegas Golden Knights starter Marc-Andre Fleury brings an active, athletic, aggressive style along with 125 games of playoff experience and three Stanley Cup championships. His Winnipeg Jets counterpart, Connor Hellebuyck, plays a deeper, more contained and controlled style that has served him well during his first taste of Stanley Cup Playoff hockey.

Hellebuyck meets Fleury in the Western Conference Final, which begins with Game 1 at Winnipeg on Saturday (7 p.m. ET, NBC, CBC, TVAS).

Here is an in-depth look at each goalie's game:

Marc-Andre Fleury, Vegas Golden Knights Fleury is long past the puck-chasing habits that led to playoff meltdowns with the Pittsburgh Penguins from 2010-13, nicely blending the improved post integration that helped turn around his career in Pittsburgh with the more aggressive positional preferences of Vegas goaltending coach Dave Prior. But as Fleury plays outside the crease more, there are targetable trends, some of which the San Jose Sharks took advantage of to score 14 goals in the middle four games of a six-game Western Conference Second Round series that began and ended with a Fleury shutout.

Goal trends Traffic at edge of crease: Fleury playing past the edge of his crease has been a factor in playoff goals. Screens played a role in 41 percent of goals in the playoffs compared to 14 percent during the regular season, and well above the 22.4 percent average for goals tracked in breaking down playoff starting goalies for this project the past two seasons. Deflections factored in on 29 percent of playoff goals compared to 17 percent in the regular season and a 20.5 percent average, and rebounds were up to 29 percent in the playoffs compared to 22 percent during the season and a 21.7 percent average. There was contact outside the crease on defenseman Brent Burns' wraparound goals in Game 2, and forward Evander Kane's clean-shot goal shortly after a power play expired in Game 3, and Vegas lost challenges for goalie interference in each case. Adding a couple scramble goals in tight with traffic forcing Fleury deeper into his net means it will be important for the Jets to make life outside the blue ice uncomfortable.

Below the goal line: San Jose scored three goals off wraparound plays and another on a pass from below the goal line. Fleury's sharp-angle and low-high numbers weren't markedly worse than average during the regular season, but there were trends worth noting. Burns took advantage of Fleury squaring up outside his post on a rush down the wing and beat him to the other side, and though Fleury doesn't do that every time, it's something shooters can look for when attacking wide. More common is Fleury using an active stick to cut off passes through his crease. Like the poke check, Fleury uses it aggressively and effectively, but it can leave him leaning past his post on the short side and exposed on the far side to quick shots off pass-outs or even rebounds off his stick, as was the case on center Tomas Hertl's goal in Game 5.

Off pads for rebounds, over to score: Fleury tends to kick low shots out with active pads rather than steer them into corners with his stick, but it's important to put those rebounds back over his pads because he rarely is out of a play laterally along the ice.

Patience up high: Prior's preferences paid off on high shots, especially on the glove side, with Fleury's mid- and high-glove goal totals 10 percent below average and well down from his totals last season. He showed off that glove against the Los Angeles Kings in the first round, but the Sharks scored five goals there.

Connor Hellebuyck, Winnipeg Jets Hellebuyck had a breakout season after rebuilding his body last summer, training to keep it in one piece when moving around his crease and into shots. But the work to update key elements of his game actually began the season before with Jets goaltending coach Wade Flaherty. It paid off with 44 wins, a .924 save percentage, being a Vezina Trophy finalist and, after a little reaching early during the Western Conference First Round against the Minnesota Wild, helped him get past the President's Trophy-winning Nashville Predators in the second round.

Goal trends Make him move: Even though he plays deeper in his crease, Hellebuyck's size (6-foot-4, 207 pounds) and tight stance usually forces shooters to beat him around the edges on straight-line attacks. It's important for opponents to create lateral plays, which accounted for 51 percent of tracked goals in the regular season and 70 percent of his goals in the playoffs, 35 percent higher than the average. Quick shots after plays across the slot line, an imaginary line that divides the zone between the goal line and the top of the face-off circle, are harder for goalies because they have to completely readjust their angle from one side to the other. But Hellebuyck has been beaten by same-side and above-the-circles lateral plays on 40.7 percent of playoff goals so far. Movement inefficiencies that leave him not always square when he arrives played a role, especially moving to his blocker side, something Nashville took advantage of with defenseman P.K. Subban's right-shot one timers.

Clean shots: Hellebuyck was also above the 21.9 percent average for clean-shot goals when he was set and could see the release, with 30 percent in the regular season and 25.9 percent in the playoffs, including four on the glove side against Nashville. He got caught drifting and shifting on two shots down the left wing, and was pushing into the middle when he got beat short side on good 1-on-1 chances down the right side. Good shots by good players were a factor, but that tendency to move before or while making a save was costly and continues to play a role in against the grain goals, when the play is moving one way and then shot or pulled back in the other direction. Hellebuyck was worse than the 14.8 percent average during the regular season (21 percent, including seven clean shots), and so far in the playoffs (25.9 percent).

Blocker, not glove: One of the biggest changes Hellebuyck made last season was his glove position, which he used to hold unusually low along the edge of his pad, leaving him over-reliant on his elbow to make chicken wing saves high. His numbers were all higher than the average above the pad on the blocker side, however, and accounted for 43 percent of his tracked goal total. Unlike the glove, he has a tendency to turn and pull away on high blocker shots rather than cutting them off in front of him, which contributes to more pucks under that arm.

Sportsnet.ca https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/like-not-fleury-back-spotlight-golden-knights/

Like it or not, Fleury back in spotlight with Golden Knights

By Iain MacIntyre

WINNIPEG – The best goalie by far in the Stanley Cup Playoffs this spring wasn’t even the best goalie on his team last season, which is how Marc-Andre Fleury ended up with the Vegas Golden Knights.

After losing his starting job to Matt Murray in 2016 during the first of two straight Stanley Cup runs by the Pittsburgh Penguins, Fleury’s exit from the only National Hockey League team he had known took more than a year to orchestrate. The goaltender’s four-year, $23-million contract and no-movement clause made Fleury a cumbersome asset to trade.

He could have gone to the Calgary Flames or Toronto Maple Leafs or even the Winnipeg Jets, whose inability to get very far two years ago in trade discussions left the Winnipeg crease open for a fifth-round draft pick named Connor Hellebuyck to seize.

After a playoff curtain call for the Penguins last spring, when an injury to Murray gave Fleury the chance to lead Pittsburgh to the conference final before he was again replaced, the 33-year-old from Sorel, Que., finally waived his no-movement clause last June so he could go to Vegas in the expansion draft.

Great weather. Nice play to live. Anonymity in a non-hockey market. No pressure to win. Who knew?

"I’m not looking for the spotlight; I’m not that kind of guy," Fleury said Friday, the day before facing Hellebuyck and the Jets in Game 1 of the Western Conference Final. "All I wanted was to keep playing and I wanted my team to do well. That’s all I care about.

"There was lots of unknown going to this team — the talent, the organization, the players, seeing how we would do. Everything has turned out for the best with how much support we get from the fans, how much we’re winning, the consistency that the guys play with. I’m proud of where we are and happy I get a chance to be part of it."

And like it or not, Fleury is back in the spotlight.

If there was a Conn Smythe Trophy for the first half of the playoffs, Fleury would have won it.

In four- and six-game series wins against the Los Angeles Kings and San Jose Sharks, Fleury has stopped 327 of 344 shots for a save percentage of .951. His goals-against average of 1.53 also leads the playoffs.

That level of performance is unsustainable over a long period. But the last month hasn’t been a fluke for either Fleury or the record-smashing Knights, who won 51 games as an expansion team and are 8-2 in the playoffs.

Fleury’s playoff run is merely an elevated extension of a regular season that saw the veteran post career-best numbers: .927 save rate and 2.24 average.

Had he not missed 25 games early in the season due to a concussion, Fleury might be a Vezina Trophy finalist along with Hellebuyck, who has followed his 44-win regular campaign by going 8- 4 in the playoffs with a .927 save percentage and 2.25 GAA.

No active goalie has more playoff wins than Fleury, whose 70 victories are 10th all-time, one win behind Jacques Plante. Fleury has won three Stanley Cups, the first in 2009 as the Penguins’ undisputed starter.

Everything is new to Hellebuyck, 24. Fleury has been here, done that before.

"He kind of got that little swagger back, that starting role," Vegas teammate James Neal, who played with Fleury in Pittsburgh, said Friday after the Knights’ arrival in Winnipeg. "It’s his team. He didn’t want to disappoint and he’s been our backbone. He has kind of taken his game to the next level, even if you weren’t sure there was another level for him. He’s been so good.

"Right from Day 1, I knew we would be fine, knew we’d be a competitive team because we had Flower in our net. You can have a team that maybe doesn’t score the most goals or doesn’t defend the best when you have a great goalie (because) he gives you the chance to stay in games. Then we put our team together and we actually had some scoring and we had great defence. Then you add a great goaltender, and things really started to come together.

"He had something to prove. He wanted to show everyone how good he was."

By definition — as players deemed expendable by other teams — every Golden Knight wanted to show how good he was, how somebody else made a mistake.

"I wasn’t thinking about proving anything," Fleury insisted. "I was just trying to do my best and help the team any way I could. I didn’t overthink things; I just went out and played.

"It’s all about winning at the end. That’s all that matters. It is more fun when you’re in the net and you get to live the ups and downs, and the intensity and the crowd. It’s what I love to do."

And what he’s getting a chance to do again. https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/jets-golden-knights-meet-west-final-see-believe/

Jets, Golden Knights meet in West final you have to see to believe

By Chris Johnston

WINNIPEG – They are the last two cities to be seated at the NHL’s head table. The final pieces of the Original 31.

There was no notion a decade ago that we’d ever see a team rooted in Vegas face one from Winnipeg in a best-of-seven of anything. You could have won a lot of money as recently as a few months ago if you believed that the Golden Knights and Jets would meet for the chance to play for the Stanley Cup right now.

Yet here we are, fresh spring air blowing off the prairies, bracing for something entirely new with this Western Conference final. Everything will stop when they play Game 1 on Saturday night and not just because a huge portion of the population adores its Jets. There’s a sense of occasion building. The feeling you might be witnessing something you tell your kids or your kids’ kids about one day.

“I think we continue to have to shut down streets because fans want to come in and really party with us,” said Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck. “That’s a great feeling, being able to see the highlights and just having so many people behind us. It’s pretty exciting.

“It’s a moment that I believe that all of us are going to cherish for the rest of our lives.”

And, perhaps, beyond.

When Winnipeg dispatched Nashville in Game 7 on Thursday night, a man brought an urn with his mother’s ashes to the impromptu street party at Portage and Main. He’s promised to do so again should the Cup ever make a stop at the city’s signature intersection.

The demand for the viewing party outside Bell MTS Place has grown so great that they decided to institute a lottery to distribute 27,000 tickets each for Games 1 and 2. They were given away free of charge to those selected but were immediately fetching as much as $100 apiece on secondary ticket sites.

Some of the 15,000-plus that actually make their way into the building are no doubt borrowing from college funds to do so.

It speaks to the great wait that’s gone on here. First they had to wait for Wayne Gretzky’s greatness to run its course, so often was he the foil to the ambitions of Jets 1.0. Then they had to wait 15 years for the NHL to return after the painful departure in 1996. Then they’ve had to wait another seven years for Jets 2.0 to be sculpted into a championship-calibre outfit.

Now they’re halfway up the mountain and favoured over Vegas in this series.

“It’s exciting for the fans. It’s exciting for the players to be able to give back to the fans,” said general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff. “But as exciting as it is, I think really the driving force within the group is there’s so much more to give and there’s so much more that the players want to give.”

It’s amazing to think that one of these organizations is going to play for a championship this spring after never previously having won a playoff game. So much for having to “learn” how to get there.

They established themselves among the NHL’s best in the regular season by embracing an aggressive game built on speed. Winnipeg and Vegas each enter this series having generated more than 60 even-strength shot attempts for per 60 minutes played in the playoffs, which suggests we could be in for some high-event hockey.

“Well, the 109 points tells you how good they were. Specifically, outstanding at transition and speed,” Jets coach Paul Maurice said of the Golden Knights. “How they move the puck from their end in straight lines and make plays off that rush. It’s going to be a very fast, speed-based series.

“There’ll be contact for sure, as always, but that won’t be the story. It’s going to be the team that defends, I think, the best through the neutral zone and attacks simply through the neutral zone that’s going to have the best chance to win.”

It’s going to be either the “Golden Misfits” – as they’ve lovingly dubbed themselves – a team of castoffs that have virtually all played deeper into these playoffs than the organizations that just let them go. (The lone exception is defenceman Nate Schmidt, formerly of the Washington Capitals).

Or it’s going to be the carefully-assembled Jets, who have made eight first-round draft picks since moving north from Atlanta in 2011 and are already using six of those players on a nightly basis.

“For me, they’ve put on a clinic in drafting and developing,” said Vegas assistant GM Kelly McCrimmon. “And, I guess, along with that great patience and leadership from Mark Chipman as an owner because what they did takes time. It’s easy now for people to see just how good this team is and it’s easy to project that they’re going to be good for a long time. I’m sure that Kevin Cheveldayoff and [assistant GM] Craig Heisinger had nights where they wished it would have happened faster, but I had the benefit last year of probably seeing the Jets 20 times and it was pretty easy to see that it was going to happen.

“This year, certainly it has.”

You just had to see it to believe it. https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/breaking-winnipeg-jets-chances-vegas-golden-knights/

Breaking down the Winnipeg Jets’ chances against the Vegas Golden Knights

By Andrew Berkshire

Both the Winnipeg Jets and the Vegas Golden Knights are in the Conference Final for the first time in team history, with Vegas managing to get there in their inaugural season, perhaps one of the most impressive accomplishments in the history of the sport.

Even more impressive for the Golden Knights is that they’ve made quick work of their opponents, needing just 10 games to reach the third round, and in the process they’ve controlled 57 per cent of the scoring chances at 5-vs-5, 62 per cent of the scoring chances on net, and 61 per cent of the passes to the slot. Essentially, they’ve had an incredible amount of shot quality control that has allowed them to score in bunches and make things easy on Marc- Andre Fleury, who has rewarded them with a .951 save percentage.

The Jets were dealt a much tougher second-round opponent than the Golden Knights, and as a result their scoring chance numbers aren’t as strong. But their 53.72 per cent score-adjusted Corsi is slightly better than the Golden Knights despite a higher-quality opponent.

By those metrics you’d have to give the advantage to the Golden Knights, but I think we can look a little deeper at the tendencies of each team to see where each has an advantage.

The Golden Knights have only managed to be even from the high danger area or inner slot, preferring a very low event game there; only the Los Angeles Kings produced fewer shots from there in the playoffs. The Jets, meanwhile, have typically been excellent at getting to that area, and boast the highest rate of shots from the inner slot of any remaining team in the playoffs.

The Jets allow more shots from that area as well, but it’s important to note that the two teams they’ve faced in the playoffs so far were both very strong at generating those types of chances and defending them, and the Jets still managed a positive differential.

The Golden Knights meanwhile, stayed even, but most of their good work in that area was against Los Angeles, as they only controlled 45 per cent of the high danger chances against the Sharks. This is an area you can expect to see the Jets dominate in the third round.

The high slot is a very different story for Vegas, an area of the ice they dominated all regular season and continue to in the playoffs to an even greater degree. The Jets have a positive differential there as well, but the Jets lead the playoffs in shots from the high slot, and allow the fewest against of any team. They control nearly 72 per cent of the shots from that area at 5-vs- 5, an absurd rate that is dependent on both their ability to generate offence and their smart defending.

Another area to watch in this series is how well the Golden Knights defend off the rush. They’ve been allowing just over three scoring chances off the rush every 60 minutes in the playoffs, less than half of the playoff average, however that particular skill may not be of as much use against the Jets, who aren’t shy about attacking off the rush, but generate a large majority of their scoring chances off the forecheck and off the cycle.

With the ability Vegas has to defend the slot area, one thing that works in the Jets’ favour compared to the other teams they have faced is their ability to score from the perimeter. Not only do they lead all playoff teams in goals from the outside with 14, but they also possess arguably the best weapon from the perimeter in the NHL: Patrik Laine.

Laine has had a bit of an underwhelming playoffs so far, with the Predators and Wild both heavily focused on taking away pre-shot movement for his one-timer, but with the way Vegas defends, they may be more focused on defending Kyle Connor, Mark Scheifele, and Paul Stastny, which could leave more room for Laine at 5-vs-5 and on the power play.

I think the Jets are going to take this series, and Laine should be a big reason why. https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/jets-vs-golden-knights-either-way-history-will- made/ (VIDEO LINK)

JETS VS. GOLDEN KNIGHTS: EITHER WAY, HISTORY WILL BE MADE

Gene Principe previews the upcoming Western Conference Final, with two teams- the Winnipeg Jets and Vegas Golden Knights- both prepped to make history, as neither team has made the Stanley Cup Final for far different reasons. https://www.sportsnet.ca/shows/tim-and-sid-show/sids-official-prediction-winnipeg-jets-will-win- stanley-cup/ (VIDEO LINK)

SID’S OFFICIAL PREDICTION: WINNIPEG JETS WILL WIN STANLEY CUP

Sid doesn’t hold back here, officially proclaiming that the Winnipeg Jets will win the Stanley Cup after beating the Predators three times in Bridgestone Arena. https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/wheelers-growth-astounding-gm-cheveldayoff/ (VIDEO LINK)

WHEELER'S GROWTH HAS BEEN ASTOUNDING TO GM CHEVELDAYOFF

Winnipeg Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff tells HC at Noon that the emergence of Blake Wheeler as a player and person has astounded him, also discusses what Paul Stastny has brought to the team since his deadline deal.

TSN.ca https://www.tsn.ca/video/what-s-the-key-for-the-jets-to-beat-the-golden- knights~1392799 (VIDEO LINK)

What's the key for the Jets to beat the Golden Knights?

That's Hockey discusses what areas the Jets have to focus on to beat the Golden Knights, and explains how hard it is to reset for a different opponent in just 48 hours. https://www.tsn.ca/video/golden-knights-happy-to-prove-people-wrong~1393125 (VIDEO LINK)

Golden Knights happy to prove people wrong

Written off by many at the start of the season, then again come playoff time, the Golden Knights are bursting with confidence, and are happy to continue to prove people wrong who underestimate them. https://www.tsn.ca/nhl/video/poulin-expects-high-paced-exciting-hockey-between-jets-and- golden-knights~1392115 (VIDEO LINK)

Poulin expects high-paced, exciting hockey between Jets and Golden Knights

TSN Hockey analyst Dave Poulin looks ahead to the Jets and Golden Knights' series, explaining that he expects high-paced, exciting hockey. He also talks about how Winnipeg needs to eliminate Nashville from their minds and focus on Game 1 or they'll quickly be behind to Vegas.

The Athletic https://theathletic.com/351025/2018/05/11/duhatschek-notebook-conn-smythe-watch-memories- of-2002-hurricanes-moves-marchands-maturity/

Duhatschek Notebook: Conn Smythe watch, memories of 2002, Hurricanes moves, Marchand’s maturity

By Eric Duhatschek

Now that we’re halfway through the 2018 NHL playoffs, it’s time to parry possible Conn Smythe candidates down to a more manageable few, starting with the Winnipeg Jets’ Mark Scheifele, who became the first player in NHL history to score seven goals on the road in a single playoff series in their win over the President’s Trophy winners from Nashville. As the highest remaining seed, the Jets have home ice advantage from here until the end of the playoffs and it’s hard not to start whispering about the possibility of a Canadian team finally winning the Stanley Cup for the first time since 1993. Scheifele has edged his way into the heart of the conversation for playoff MVP. The top four scorers after two rounds are all gone, leaving Scheifele sitting atop the active list, with 11 goals in 12 games heading into a date with the Vegas Golden Knights.

Scheifele had an especially dynamic second round, but the Jets have had oodles of important contributors – him, Blake Wheeler, Paul Stastny, Dustin Byfuglien, goaltender Connor Hellebuyck. If Patrik Laine, Nikolaj Ehlers and Kyle Connor can ramp it up, they have the firepower to push the Golden Knights, except …

There’s the matter of Vegas goaltender Marc-André Fleury who, through the first half of these playoffs, has to be the leader in the clubhouse for the Conn Smythe – and the biggest single obstacle standing between Winnipeg and a place in the Stanley Cup final for the first time in franchise history. Unstoppable force meets immovable object. It should be fun.

In 10 games so far, the Golden Knights are 8-2, and in four of those wins, Fleury has recorded a shutout. The NHL record for shutouts in a single playoffs in seven, established by the ’ Martin Brodeur in 2003. Dominik Hasek, playing for the Detroit Red Wings in 2002, recorded six. If the Golden Knights can beat the Jets and advance to the Stanley Cup, Fleury could win the MVP award, win or lose, because of his dominance so far – a 1.53 goals- against average, a .951 save percentage. Five times in NHL history, a player from the losing team in the Stanley Cup final won the Conn Smythe – and on four of those occasions, it has been a goaltender (Roger Crozier, Glenn Hall, and J.S. Giguere).

Game 7 of the Nashville-Winnipeg series was reminiscent of Game 7 of the 2002 playoff series between the eventual Stanley Cup champion Red Wings and the Colorado Avalanche. The two teams played a bitter and enthralling first six games, but the deciding game was a rout, Detroit winning easily, 7-0, Colorado eventually lifting Patrick Roy after the sixth goal. Roy, who’d been the MVP of Colorado’s previous year’s Stanley Cup championship team, lasted until the early part of the second period, before coach Bob Hartley gave him the mercy hook when things had been long ago decided. That’s far longer than Pekka Rinne lasted Thursday night, one final cold outing in a playoff year when he ran incredibly and unpredictably hot and cold. Predators coach Peter Laviolette gave Rinne the hook after surrendering two iffy goals in the first 10:47 of play. In the history of Game 7s, it is the earliest a coach has ever lifted a goalie.

But Game 7 of the 2002 second round also jogged a memory about a genuinely oddball discussion about Conn Smythe Trophy winners because of the dazzling playoff that Colorado’s Peter Forsberg had. That year, Forsberg missed the entire regular season, recovering from a variety of injuries that included a splenectomy that he suffered in the second round of the 2001 playoffs.

Think about that. He’d been off for virtually 11 months and then on the opening night of the playoffs, made his season debut in Game 1. It was extraordinary – and by the way, so was he, for the next six weeks. Forsberg never missed a beat. His performance led the Avs all the way to that seventh game of the Western Conference final, where it all ground to a halt.

But in 20 playoff games that year, Forsberg scored nine goals and added 18 assists, for 27 points, which ended up leading all playoff scorers by four points – even though he didn’t play in the final round. Instead, Detroit advanced and made short work of the Carolina Hurricanes – winning the Stanley Cup in five games. In the end, the Conn Smythe went to Forsberg’s fellow Swede, Nicklas Lidstrom, who had 16 points in 23 games for the Red Wings. Lidstrom was first on my ballot, though there were a lot of options to choose from on that star-studded Detroit side. Steve Yzerman led them in postseason scoring – 23 points in 23 games. Brendan Shanahan and Sergei Fedorov each chipped in 19. Brett Hull was one point back at 18, but he led the team in goals with 10. Hasek, as mentioned previously, had those six shutouts. Lidstrom was the glue that kept it all together. Chris Chelios wasn’t bad either.

That Detroit team was so deep and relied on so many different players at different times that there was some talk that the playoff MVP might actually be Forsberg, even though he wasn’t even playing the night the Stanley Cup was awarded. The NHL doesn’t ever release the Conn Smythe voting results, which is too bad, because I wonder if anyone actually gave Forsberg a third-place vote, just as a nod to his exceptional performance. I know I thought about it but chickened out in the end. In hindsight, maybe that was the wrong call. For anyone with a long- enough memory, there was something magical about Forsberg’s performance that year – being so dominant after so long a layoff – and probably deserved some sort of special recognition. Depending upon what happens with Fleury this round and next, I wonder if voters may need to ponder a similar scenario this spring. He really has had a performance for the ages – so far. www.winnipegjets.com https://www.nhl.com/jets/news/jets-expecting-fast-paced-series-against-golden-knights/c- 298572688

Jets expecting fast-paced series against Golden Knights Western Conference Final starts Saturday night at Bell MTS Place by Mitchell Clinton @MitchellClinton / WinnipegJets.com

WINNIPEG - After arriving just after 2 am CT in Winnipeg following the 5-1 win over the Nashville Predators in Game Seven, Winnipeg Jets captain Blake Wheeler was a bit "groggy" when he woke up Friday morning.

But he wouldn't have it any other way.

"Coffee tastes great this morning," said Wheeler, as his team prepares for Game One against the Vegas Golden Knights Saturday night at Bell MTS Place.

"We're still in the mix, still playing. When you have games like last night, you crawl out of bed, you're a little bit groggy, but you're excited to come to the rink today, see the guys, and get ready for another tough series. But it's going to be a lot of fun."

Both the Jets and the Golden Knights are playing in the first Western Conference Final for either franchise.

Vegas eliminated the Los Angeles Kings in the First Round, before ousting the San Jose Sharks in six games in the Second Round.

While Vegas may be an expansion team, Jets head coach Paul Maurice doesn't look at them with that label. He hasn't for a long time.

"The 109 points tells you how good they were," said Maurice, referring to the 51-24-7 record in the regular season, the best in the Pacific Division. "Outstanding transition and speed. So how they move the puck from their end in straight lines, and they'll make plays off that rush. It's going to be a very fast, speed based series. There will be contact in the zones, but that won't be the story.

"The team that defends the best through the neutral zone, and attacks simply through the neutral zone, is going to have the best chance to win."

The two teams met three times in the regular season. Vegas won on home ice at T-Mobile Arena, while the Jets handed the Golden Knights a 7-4 loss at Bell MTS Place in the second.

The third game went to overtime, with Vegas prevailing in the final regular season match-up.

All three meetings came before the NHL's Trade Deadline in late February. Both teams were active, with the Jets acquiring Paul Stastny, and Vegas adding Tomas Tatar from the Detroit Red Wings.

The Stastny acquisition was huge for the Jets, especially in the Second Round against Nashville.

The 32-year-old Stastny had five goals and 10 points in the seven games against the Predators, including two goals and three points in the series clinching Game Seven.

"The biggest thing he brought to this team is he's a great professional," said Mark Scheifele. "Obviously he can share his stories. He can share his experiences with all of us, especially the young guys. I think his game did all the speaking, especially yesterday.

"That's just the person he is. He's a guy that leads by example. He does all the right things on and off the ice. That stuff just gets rewarded."

Scheifele, like many Jets, had a series to remember against Nashville. The seven goals he scored on the road set a new NHL record for road goals in a series.

The 25-year-old's 11 goals lead all players in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, while his line with Wheeler and Kyle Connor have combined for 14 points in the last three games.

But Wheeler knows they'll have their hands full against the top line from Vegas, which includes Jonathan Marchessault, Reilly Smith, and William Karlsson.

Marchessault and Smith have 11 points in eight games, while Karlsson is right behind with 10.

"I think they do a little bit of a combination of offence, and they seem to play against the other team's best players too - especially at home," said Wheeler.

"They're a great mix of responsibility, play hard underneath the puck, and they can make some pretty dynamic plays. I think all three of those guys can put the puck in the net. Real explosive so far in the playoffs. They're playing real well. It's going to be a key match-up for us.

"Players like that, and a line like that, that's playing really well, it's tough to altogether eliminate them, but you want to contain them as much as you can."

So far this postseason, the Jets have been rewarded by sticking to the 'one day at a time' approach, or as they call it "handling the day."

True to form, the emotional Game Seven win over Nashville was in the past when Maurice was asked about it Friday afternoon.

That being said, he wants them to enjoy every minute. In his mind, it makes the Jets a better team.

"Every year, when you all did your predictions - and coaches as well - who the contenders are in September, they're in on that," Maurice said. "How difficult it is - making the playoffs surely - just to get out of the First Round, then to get out of the Second, then there's only three other teams left.

"Think of all the very strong teams - like Nashville - that don't get the opportunity. Everybody is going to be focused. Everybody is going to be wired.

"Figuring out a way to enjoy it, and I'm not talking casually enjoying it, but bringing that enjoyment into the intensity of your game, is what I thought we did very well in Game Seven."

The puck drops tomorrow night at 6 pm CT for Game One between the Jets and Golden Knights, and the Winnipeg Whiteout can hardly wait.