 to give up a four-point lead in the Central Division. Nashville won earlier Saturday night to take its second straight division title, edging the Jets by one point. Connor Hellebuyck stopped 19 shots as the Jets finished tied with St. Louis, but will have home-ice in the opening-round series due to a tiebreaker with more regulation/overtime wins. Alex Galchenyuk and Brad Richardson scored for Arizona, and Calvin Pickard finished with 28 saves. Scheifele scored his 38th goal to tie the score late in the first period, after Galchenyuk's 10tj had given the Coyotes a 1-0 lead 2:21 in. Winnipeg then scored three times in the second to take control. Trouba put the Jets ahead for good with his eighth at 2:35, and Connor scored his 34th to make it 3-1 with 9:55 left in the period - just 2 seconds after a power play ended but before the Coyotes' fifth skater could get in the play. Ehlers gave Winnipeg a three-goal lead with 21st with 4:39 left. Richardson capped the scoring with his 19th about 3 1/2 minutes into the third. NOTES: Hellenbuyck played in 63 regular-season games, third in the league among goalies behind Minnesota's Devyn Dubnyk (67) and Montreal's Carey Price (66). ... Coyotes G Darcy Kuemper finished with a 2.33 goals-against average, the lowest among goalies who played at leasts 50 games. Kuemper and Tampa Bay's Andrei Vasilevskiy had a .925 save percentage, the highest among goalies with at least 50 games. UP NEXTJets: Open the first round of the playoffs at home against St. Louis. Coyotes: Missed the playoffs for the seventh consecutive season.---More NHL: www.apnews.com/NHL and www.twitter.com/-Sports)
Time: 10:00 PM EDT Venue: Gila River Arena, Phoenix, Ariz., 85305 / The Winnipeg Jets have lost five of their last six games (1-4-1) to relinquish possession of first place in the highly competitive Central Division. The Jets (46-30-5, 97 points) look to leap back into first place in the final game of the season on Saturday, when they conclude their four-game road trip against the Arizona Coyotes (39-34-8, 86 points). Winnipeg squandered an early two-goal advantage in Thursday's 3-2 overtime loss to Colorado, a setback that dropped the club one point behind Nashville and even with St. Louis." We did all the right things throughout the game, which we were looking for," Jets forward Mark Scheifele said. "Obviously, we wanted the win, but you have to take positives out of it." Scheifele added to his career-high total by scoring his team-leading 37th goal in the first period on Thursday, although it was just his second point in eight games. Nikolaj Ehlers also scored in the first period to reach the 20-goal plateau." The result, it (stinks)," the 23-year-old Ehlers said. "We wanted the two points here 1/8on Thursday 3/8 and I think everyone who watched this game could see that. We really took a step from our last couple of games. We fought, we got some of our identity back, and that's what we need to keep working on now." Captain Blake Wheeler is mired in an 11-game goal drought after erupting for eight in his previous seven contests. The 32-year-old, who has just two of his career-high 70 assists in the past nine games, scored a goal in Winnipeg's 5-3 home win against the Coyotes in October and set up a tally in a 4-1 setback in Arizona on Feb. 24. The upstart Coyotes may harbor a bit of resentment against Winnipeg, as the Jets' defeat at the hands of the Avalanche officially eliminated Arizona from postseason contention. Then again, the Coyotes didn't do themselves any favors after following up a sizzling 10-2-0 run by losing seven of their next nine (2-4-3). Arizona got back on its feet with a 4-1 victory over Vegas on Thursday before it officially was eliminated from postseason contention for the seventh straight year later in the night." This room is bummed," said Derek Stepan, who recorded his third multi-goal performance of the season by tallying twice in the second period on Thursday." You play an 82-game schedule, we're in the thick of things and obviously came up a little bit short. When it's official and you're officially out, it stinks. We worked extremely hard, gone through a lot as a group, so it's never easy being told that your season will be done after your last game." Goaltender Darcy Kuemper returned to the lineup after leaving Tuesday's setback to Los Angeles because of an eye injury. He stopped all 15 shots he faced in the third period and 37 overall against Vegas. Against the Jets in February, he turned aside 34 of 35 shots. While Saturday's contest won't mean much in the standings for the Coyotes, they can claim their 40th win of the season for just the third time since moving from Winnipeg in 1996." We'll go home and take care of business at home," the 28-year-old Stepan said of the game against the Jets. "We want to make sure we finish this right. ... We want to make sure that we tip our cap back to those fans." --Field Level Media
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