It’s official: the Winnipeg Whiteout will be making a return again in April.
Needing just a point to clinch a playoff spot, the Winnipeg Jets did one better Tuesday night, edging the Washington Capitals 3-2 in overtime in a battle of NHL heavyweights that lived up to the hype.
Winnipeg got on the board first at the 6:50 mark of the first when Josh Morrissey took a drop-pass from Mark Scheifele and one-timed it toward the goal. The shot glanced off Martin Fehervary and past Logan Thompson for Morrissey’s 12th of the season.
The game received a dash of spice with just under three minutes left in the first when Colin Miller sent Andrew Mangiapane hard into the boards, earning him a boarding penalty. But right after the whistle blew to stop the play, Mangiapane decked Miller in the chest with a cross-check, causing a skirmish.
After the offsetting minors expired, Mangiapane got the last laugh. With Washington on a 3-on-2 in transition, Mangiapane had a give-and-go with Jakob Chychrun that Mangiapane finished off with a bit of a knuckler that floated past Connor Hellebuyck to level the score after 20 minutes.
Washington controlled play for the bulk of the second period, in part because of a pair of power plays but at even strength they were the better team for most of the 20 minutes. Winnipeg managed just two shots on goal through the first 17:30 of the second before a late-period power play helped to change their fortunes.
With just a handful of seconds left in the period, Cole Perfetti rushed the puck up the ice and into the Washington end, dropping it off to Nino Niederreiter near the point. Niederreiter sent a cross-ice pass to Mason Appleton, who was promoted to the second PP unit because of the injury to Gabriel Vilardi that prompted Alex Iafallo to join the top unit.
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Appleton took a moment to settle the puck before roofing it over the glove of Thompson for his ninth of the season with just 12 seconds left in the period, a few moments after the power play expired.
The Capitals wound up outshooting the Jets 12-7 in the middle frame for a two-period total of 18-15 in Washington’s favour.
Where it mattered most, however, Winnipeg had the 2-1 lead, and the Jets entered the night with an NHL-best record of 36-0-1 when leading after two.
The Jets’ sputtering power play was given a chance to extend Winnipeg’s lead when Taylor Raddysh was called for interference with 13:31 left in regulation. Having gone two-for-17 in their previous seven games, the PP needed a spark but they couldn’t find it, managing just one shot on goal in two minutes.
Winnipeg held onto their 2-1 lead for most of the period before the many Washington fans in attendance got exactly what they wanted.
Aliaksei Protas won a puck battle along the wall in Winnipeg’s end and sent a pass to the far faceoff dot, also known as the office of one Alexander Ovechkin. The sniper took the pass and ripped a wrister through Hellebuyck to tie the game with his 889th career goal.
When the horn sounded at the end of the third period, the Jets had officially punched their ticket to the playoffs. A short video played on the big screen showing the word ‘clinched’, prompting a big cheer from the sold-out crowd.
But there was still business to take care of, and it looked like Washington might find a way to steal the game as they held possession of the puck for over a minute to start overtime. Their best chance came early in OT when Protas rang a shot off the outside of the post.
The Jets finally gained possession of the puck when the Capitals mishandled a pass, prompting the Caps to make a line change. Dylan Samberg collected the puck behind Winnipeg’s net and noticed Nikolaj Ehlers sprinting up the ice despite having been on since the start of OT. Samberg banked a pass off the boards right to the tape of Ehlers as he sped into the Washington end and wired a shot past Thompson, an electric end to a fantastic hockey game.
Hellebuyck made 27 saves to earn the win while most of the NHL will be more focused on the goal chase of Ovechkin, who now needs six goals to pass Wayne Gretzky’s record for career goals scored.
Washington also remains one point ahead of the Jets with a game in hand in the race for the President’s Trophy.
The Jets will look to make it two wins in a row when they host New Jersey Friday night. Puck drop is just after 7 p.m. with pregame coverage on 680 CJOB beginning at 5 p.m.