Dallas StarsDallas Stars vs. Winnipeg JetsWinnipeg Jets Pick Center

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Time: 8:00 PM EDT Venue: Bell MTS Place, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, R3C 5S5 / There's a good chance the NHL playoffs will open with Winnipeg and Dallas squaring off in the first round. Yet while the Jets have already secured a place in the postseason, the Stars have not, making Monday's meeting in Winnipeg a crucial contest for the visitors. The Jets (45-26-4, 94 points) still have some work to do to clinch the Central Division, but got closer to that accomplishment with a 5-0 home win Saturday over Nashville, the team closest to them in the division chase. The win clinched a spot in the playoffs for Winnipeg and came via Kyle Connor's first career hat trick and the 14th career shutout for Connor Hellebuyck. Hellebuyck stopped 32 stops to garner his second straight clean sheet. Kevin Hayes added a goal and assists on each of Connor's goals, while Andrew Copp also scored for Winnipeg. Connor now has 32 goals and 61 points, both career highs." Hard work pays off, and Kyle's been on the puck all year," Jets winger Blake Wheeler said. "He's only two years into this thing but it's still a surprise it took him that long to get a hat. I would have thought he had one before that. A job well done by him. He's a guy we rely on." The Jets have wins in five of their past six games and rebounded after a tough loss in Vegas on Thursday." There was lots of energy -- it felt as close to a playoff game in the building," Jets coach Paul Maurice told the Winnipeg Free Press after Saturday's win. "I really think we needed that. I was worried about this one, more for just coming off the West Coast. This is our toughest stretch, and where would the emotional level be? The fans didn't give you a chance not to be wired." The Stars (38-31-6, 82 points) travel to Winnipeg after losing four times and earning just three points during a five-game homestand. The latest setback came on Saturday, 3-2, to Pittsburgh. Tyler Seguin and Andrew Cogliano scored goals for Dallas, and Anton Khudobin made 27 saves in the loss. The Stars lost on a short-handed goal early in the third period." Not good enough, that's what the bottom line is," Cogliano said. "You can't take moral victories at this point in the season; you just need to get points. Did we play bad? Probably not, but it just was not good enough this time of the year with our desperation to grind out points, and those are kind of the ones that we needed this time." The Stars' margin for error has all but evaporated with seven games remaining in the regular season, five of them on the road." We could be sitting in a really comfortable position if we'd won three of five on this homestand, but we haven't done that," Dallas coach Jim Montgomery told nhl.com after Saturday's loss. "We've got to look ahead now, and we've got to go and earn it on the road. And there's nothing wrong with that." The Stars scored a total of 10 goals during the homestand despite outshooting the opposition in all five contests. The Stars lead the season series with Winnipeg 2-1, with both teams having defended their home ice.--Field Level Media

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