That’s About As Hot As It Gets In Winnipeg

It feels almost unfair that the Winnipeg Jets, with their all-universe goalie and their league-fewest goals allowed, are also constructed to be able to win a slugfest if necessary. Third-most goals in the NHL this year, paced as always by the dynamic Kyle Connor–Mark Scheifele duo, the Jets are very much unlike some of the defense-first rosters out there in that they can and will happily absorb a haymaker or two and answer in kind. That came in handy on Saturday, as a white-hot crowd watched the Jets trade goals with the Blues in a wild first period, only to asset their dominance as the game wore on.

The final score read 5-3 Jets, but after a 2-2 first period, it felt like it might be one of those very silly playoff openers where the combination of nerves, an extended feeling-out period, and the small sample size add up to a game with no particular contextual anchor, where everyone kind of agrees to pretend it was an anomaly that just sort of happened. "That first period it was kind of a little bit wacky and we were a little bit sloppy," Jets coach Scott Arniel said. But when Jordan Kyrou scored on the power play just 1:13 into the second to give St. Louis the lead, it was hard not to wonder if this was the return of Playoff Helle.

Hellebuyck has been a lot more pedestrian in the postseason than his usual regular-season rock-hood, and allowing three goals on the first 10 shots he faced put a damper on the "MVP" chants from the raucous crowd. And when Kyrou earned a breakaway later in the period, with the chance to go up two, it had the makings of an inflection point. "You just have to make one big save and that’s going to be the difference-maker," Hellebuyck said after. "I thought that was it."

Goalies, after a rough start to a game like Hellebuyck's, have a choice going forward that's not actually much of a choice, but more an ingrained reaction. They can melt down, start overthinking or underthinking, or they can try to reset and take things shot by shot, save by save. Hearing Hellebuyck's breakdown of his mindset on Kyrou's shot, and how he didn't bite on a deke to open his five-hole, it's clear he didn't let panic take hold.

“He kind of drove wide. He had a couple options but he kind of looked like he was trying to use his speed to get around me,” Hellebuyck explained. "In that moment I was just trying to smother him because he got a little tight to me and it stuck to me.”

Over the course of the second period and throughout the third, the Jets increasingly flexed their control of the game, to the extent one wondered if the ice was tilting in a way that wasn't just metaphorical: St. Louis mustered just two shots on goal in the final frame. Still, it took time to the Jets to break through. Alex Iafallo tied it up nine minutes in, and it wasn't until 18:24 that Connor punched home a one-timer from—who else!—Scheifele. An empty-netter later, and 5-3 was your final score.

(It's almost criminal how much hotter the crowd sounded on the Sportsnet telecast compared to TNT's, which was done remotely. No more remote broadcasts for the playoffs!)

With a goal and two assists, Scheifele became the Jets' all-time playoff point leader, passing Blake Wheeler. Connor's just six back. Between them and Hellebuyck, and Winnipeg is in fine hands when they're down, and when they're up, and when it's tied. It's a good place to be.