WINNIPEG — The Winnipeg Jets won their second elimination game of this year’s playoffs, beating the Dallas Stars 4-0 in Game 5 on Thursday with a four-on-four goal from Mark Scheifele, power-play goals from Nikolaj Ehlers and Vladislav Namestnikov and an empty-netter from Ehlers.
The Jets also got a second consecutive home shutout from Connor Hellebuyck — and his best save of the series. The Stars still lead the series 3-2, with Game 6 on Saturday in Dallas.
Hellebuyck, with 22 saves, came through with his biggest game and best moments, most notably gloving Thomas Harley’s second-period slot shot with a desperate, windmill save.
Jake Oettinger kept the Stars in it early, making 11 first-period saves and looking unbeatable until Scheifele’s rush attempt beat him after bouncing off Wyatt Johnston’s stick and then Harley’s skate. Oettinger had made seven short-handed saves after 40 minutes, withstanding a late second-period flurry from the Jets, including four near-goals from Gabriel Vilardi alone, but ultimately his 31-save performance wasn’t enough.
Ehlers gave the Jets a much-needed insurance goal on an early third-period five-on-three power play, taking Kyle Connor’s pass and sweeping a shot past Oettinger’s poke check attempt to make it 2-0. Namestnikov’s power-play goal was a rocket wrist shot from the slot, teed up by Alex Iafallo and shot through Harley’s outstretched stick on its way to the top shelf. Ehlers added a second goal with the Stars’ net empty.
Emotions boiled over in the third period, with a raucous scrum by the benches, which featured Jamie Benn tackling Scheifele to the ice at one point. Both Benn and Winnipeg’s Brandon Tanev got roughing minors and 10-minute misconducts for the fracas.
The Jets were always going to need great goaltending, more life from their special teams and the decisive finishing strike at the end of all of their scoring chances if they were meant to stay alive. They got all of those — and some puck luck, too — and have survived to play another day.
Hellebuyck makes a huge glove stop on Harley in tight#GoJetsGo | #StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/FlwipfGjLY
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) May 16, 2025
Jets’ flood of first-period scoring chances
When Scheifele won his first power-play faceoff to Connor, who unloaded on a one-timer to the top corner, there was a fraction of a second when it looked like Winnipeg had scored the game-opening goal. One flash of Oettinger’s glove later and you could imagine Canada Life Centre’s collective dread. This was going to be one of those nights.
Oettinger went on to handle multiple deflections, including Cole Perfetti’s chance, later on that same power play. He stopped Connor’s rush shot, following up after Vilardi tried to beat Cody Ceci and Johnston. He navigated Nino Niederreiter’s net-front traffic, got a piece of Ehlers’ rush shot — after Ehlers had blown by Evgenii Dadonov on the right wing — and moved effortlessly post-to-post to get a pad on Scheifele’s one-timer off a Jets faceoff set play.
The Jets finished the first period with an 11-4 lead in shots, despite the Stars’ two power plays to their one, but with nothing to show for it.
A line drive in the scorebook
The Jets couldn’t beat Oettinger during the first two periods, but the Stars could. The dam burst at 6:17 of the second period, when Scheifele’s shot from the right faceoff dot deflected off Johnston and then banked in off Harley, all alone in front of his goalie. All Harley could do was stand there and look at the rafters.
It continued a playoff-wide trend of own goals, one that has hit the Stars a few times, most notably when Sam Steel banked in Colorado’s game winner off Colin Blackwell’s shoulder in Game 6 of the first round. Some nights, it seems a fortunate bounce is the only way to beat Oettinger. Colorado also had one go in off Stars defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin, and there also was Artturi Lehkonen’s accidental soccer-style goal — the puck fluttering over Oettinger’s shoulder — in Game 1 of the first round as he was being hauled down to the ice.
But hey, they all count the same.
In need of a depth charge
With approximately three minutes left in the second period and Dallas down by a goal, Matt Duchene got the puck in space in the left circle and flung a seam pass to Tyler Seguin, all alone in the right circle.
Seguin hit the crossbar.
Up to this point, it was almost a sign of strength that the Stars were so close to a return trip to the Western Conference final despite having so many underperforming forwards. But now that the series has tightened and the stakes have heightened, it’s long past time for some of Dallas’ scorers to start, well, scoring. Mikael Granlund’s hat trick in Game 4 was a good start, but he’s far from the only one who had been getting carried offensively by Mikko Rantanen.
Duchene has zero goals in these playoffs. Seguin hasn’t scored since Game 3 of the first round. Benn, Mason Marchment and Dadonov each have one goal, none in this round. And Jason Robertson has been back for five games with just one assist to show for it. That’s probably not going to cut it. Not against the Jets, and not against the Edmonton Oilers, should the Stars reach the third round.
“I always felt it was a matter of time if we just stuck with what we were doing,” coach Peter DeBoer said when asked about the depth scoring before Game 5. “We have too good of players, too good of track records not to score eventually. But I think part of the playoffs is, you have to be comfortable not scoring. Everyone makes a big deal about scoring. Vegas gets eliminated (Wednesday) night by Edmonton in a 0-0 game, you know? 1-0 in overtime and you’ve got two of the greatest offensive players in the world on the ice. If you throw Jack Eichel in, maybe three of the top five or six. So you have to be comfortable, and it’s OK that you’re not scoring, that you’re still finding ways to win.”
Jets’ power play: Just enough, just in time?
Winnipeg’s power play entered Game 5 scoring on just 15.8 percent of its opportunities — the worst rate of any team that made it to Round 2. The Jets had scored on only 4.2 percent of their power-play shots — roughly half of the worst team shooting percentage in the NHL this season.
They’d also struggled on five-on-three opportunities toward the end of the season, but Ehlers reversed all of those problems with a single, third-period sweep of his stick in Game 5.
The Stars were assessed back-to-back tripping penalties early in the third, giving the Jets’ top unit 1:47 of five-on-three time in search of a much-needed insurance goal with a 1-0 lead. Winnipeg had just finished the second period with a barrage of scoring chances on its second power-play opportunity of the game, and this time, Ehlers finally got the Jets’ power play on the board.
NIKOLAJ EHLERS COMES THROUGH ON THE JETS POWER PLAY!!! pic.twitter.com/29X5CN61xc
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 16, 2025
Ehlers sold five-hole but finished far side, putting the Jets ahead by two at a pivotal moment.
Vilardi had four Grade-A scoring chances on Winnipeg’s late-second-period power play. His pass attempt through the slot: blocked. His shot attempt from the slot: blocked. A seam pass to him at the left post: broken up at the last second.
Then, with the Jets circling Oettinger and the Stars’ goaltender down, out and trying to get back into the play, Vilardi’s shot hit the bottom of Oettinger’s right skate while his back was to the play. It was Winnipeg’s first major series of power-play scoring chances since Vilardi’s Game 2 goal — and it proved to be a sign of things to come.
Winnipeg did score on that power play, but Scheifele batted in the puck and it was immediately waved off. The Winnipeg crowd responded with a cheeky “should have kicked it” chant, a reference, of course, to Alex Petrovic’s game winner in Game 3.
A bright spot for the Stars
Miro Heiskanen is nowhere near 100 percent, but he took a step in the right direction in his second game back. Heiskanen was more active offensively in Game 5 than he was in Game 4, and had one of Dallas’ best scoring chances during a first-period power play, when Hellebuyck just got a piece of his shot from the right circle. DeBoer again went with 11 forwards and seven defensemen so as not to overload Heiskanen, but he finished with 18 minutes, 33 seconds of playing time, after playing just 14:52 in Game 4.
Heiskanen also bounced back up from a couple of big hits, including an early Adam Lowry cross-check. Heiskanen said before the game that getting hit a few times in Game 4 gave him some confidence in his surgically repaired knee.
“Yeah, for sure,” he said. “In practice, there’s not a lot of hits, so you don’t really know what to expect. It’s good and it felt really good, so it’s a good thing.”
(Photo: Terrence Lee / Imagn Images)