 combined for just two assists in the four games.Calgary, meanwhile, had scoring up and down the lineup and kept the Jets on their heels for the most part with a relentless forecheck.Dube got the Flames on the scoreboard 3:21 into the game. Battling in front of the Jets' net against Nicholas Shore, he got off a shot that Hellebuyck stopped. However, Dube got his own rebound and flipped it up and in.The Jets outshot Calgary 11-8 in the period, but went down 2-0 with less than a second to go when Bennett pounced on a rebound off an odd-man rush to knock the puck past Hellebuyck.The Jets made sporadic attempts over the final two periods to get back in the game, only to have Talbot shut the door.Monahan and Andersson scored empty-net goals in the dying minutes to seal the victory.There were 11 different goal scorers for Calgary in the four games: Mikael Backlund, Elias Lindholm, Johnny Gaudreau, Bennett, Dube, Milan Lucic, Matthew Tkachuk, Monahan, Tobias Rieder, Andersson and Andrew Mangiapane.It was the only all-Canadian matchup of the eight qualifying series.Calgary won the opener 4-1, lost Game 2 by a 3-2 score, then rebounded to beat Winnipeg 6-2 in Game 3. The games were all played without fans in the stands at Rogers Place, which is hosting the Western Conference tournament, keeping players in isolation to avoid contracting COVID-19.Calgary is the first team through in the expanded Western Conference and will play one of the top four seeds in the round of 16: the Colorado Avalanche, St. Louis Blues, Dallas Stars or Vegas Golden KnightsThe Flames were the eighth seed, finishing the truncated regular season at 36-27-7 (.564 winning percentage). The Jets were seeded ninth (37-28-6, .563).Calgary will get a chance to redeem a crushing first-round playoff exit last spring at the hands of the Avalanche despite topping the Western Conference with 50 wins in the regular season.There was also controversy and disruption in November, when Geoff Ward was promoted from associate to interim head coach after Bill Peters resigned amid allegations of misconduct, including directing racial slurs at a player when he was a coach in the American Hockey League.Goaltending was a question mark heading into the series, but Talbot, understudy to David Rittich in the regular season, outplayed him in the exhibition game before the tournament and played every minute in the series.The tenor of the series shifted dramatically in the first five minutes of Game 1, when Scheifele (29 goals, 73 points in the regular season) got his leg twisted up with Tkachuk along the boards, and fell to the ice in pain and had to be helped off.Jets head coach Paul Maurice said Tkachuk was deliberately trying to injure Scheifele, something Tkachuk denied.Laine later appeared to injure his wrist and bottom-six forward Mason Appleton was also hurt and never reappeared in the series.Hellebuyck played well but the Vezina Trophy nominee was not at level needed to steal some games.One bright spot for Winnipeg was Nicolaj Ehlers. Ehlers (25 goals and 58 points in the regular season) tallied in Game 2, his first goal in 23 post-season games, then added another in Game 3.)
With his team facing potential elimination from Stanley Cup playoff contention, Winnipeg Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck knows his own importance next time his team hits the ice.Thursday night's clash in Edmonton is a must-win for Hellebuyck and the Jets with the Flames leading the best-of-five Western Conference qualifying round series by a 2-1 count.As under-manned as the Jets are due to a plethora of injuries suffered in the first three contests, Hellebuyck's performance between the pipes will be crucial. Hellebuyck had a spectacular regular season -- earning well-deserved Vezina Trophy consideration -- but has not been as sharp as necessary in this series with the Flames, especially in Tuesday's 6-2 loss."I've got to use this and I plan on using this," Hellebuyck said afterward. "This was an upset for me. I don't see it being easy for them at all for the rest of the series. So they better scratch and claw for everything that they get." Winnipeg lost a pair of top-notch forwards in Mark Scheifele and Patrik Laine in the series opener, as well as depth forward Mason Appleton, due to injury, and then saw Mathieu Perreault leave Tuesday's clash after he was on the receiving end of a hard check. Whether any or all of them play in Thursday's must-win remains to be seen, but it is imperative the goalkeeper and other players elevate their play or the Jets' season will be over."If there's one thing I have confidence in, I think the compete is going to be as good as we've got," Winnipeg coach Paul Maurice said. "What they leave on the ice in Game 4 will be all they have." "We're in the same situation we were in a couple of days ago," added captain Blake Wheeler. "We just need to win one hockey game, that's it." The Flames are looking to eliminate a team for the first time since 2015, when they dispatched the Vancouver Canucks in the opening playoff round. Since that series victory, they've won only two games in three series losses and been twice eliminated in the first round, including last year's 4-1 humiliation at the hands of the Colorado Avalanche."I think the best way to learn how to win at this time (of the year) is to go through it," said forward Matthew Tkachuk. "I've had two quick exits and in my first two playoff series that I was a part of, we were 1-8. And last year, for example, we were on our high horse after Game 1. They got momentum from Game 2 and never gave it back to us."We have a chance to close it out on Thursday and we're going to prepare as much as we can to make sure that happens." The Flames certainly can look at the last game to see what they must do to finish off the Jets. They dominated in all facets, including five-on-five play, in a complete outing. Calgary's top two lines were especially effective, with the six forwards combining for 12 points on Tuesday."We're just thinking about getting ourselves prepared for the game," Flames coach Geoff Ward said. "We know it's going to be a hard game. They always are. But I think the biggest thing for us is I think we managed the game, at points, a little bit better (Tuesday). I thought the (previous) game we took some unnecessary penalties. We didn't manage a few moments as well as we should have." --Field Level Media
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