Tensions rising in Jets-Stars series after Benn ejected
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The Winnipeg Jets showed they still have some life in their series against the Dallas Stars with a 4-0 victory in Game 5, but tensions in the series are on the rise for a different reason from that game.
Late in the third period, with Winnipeg leading 3-0, a scrum formed after a whistle where Jamie Benn knocked Jets star forward Mark Scheifele to the ice with a punch.
Scheifele appeared to be caught off guard by the quick punch, as he got up and was visibly angry at the veteran Stars forward.
Benn was given a penalty for roughing as well as a 10-minute game misconduct and an ejection. He was later fined $5,000 by the league's department of player safety, the maximum allowable under the collective bargaining agreement. Jets forward Brandon Tanev was also handed a game misconduct for his role in the fracas.
Scheifele was also assessed a penalty for roughing on the play, leaving Winnipeg shorthanded for two minutes.
“I wasn’t really happy with how that…” said Jets head coach Scott Arniel after the game. “I mean, we’re the ones who are up in the game, I didn’t think we should have come out of that pileup having the extra minor.”
Winnipeg killed the penalty and held on for the 4-0 shutout victory, but now attention turns to snapping a disastrous skid on the road in the playoffs for the franchise.
Game 5 also ended with a pair of cross-checking penalties exchanged between Jason Robertson and Haydn Fleury, and an extended scrum immediately after the final whistle.
Game 6 will be played Saturday in Dallas, and the Jets will need to snap a nine-game road skid in the playoffs in order to keep their season alive and force a Game 7.
“No, I don’t think there is one rallying cry. It is just the messaging to come to find the belief in one another. We don’t want our season to be done,” said Jets captain Adam Lowry.
“We believe in this group and know what this group is going to accomplish and just get the next one. We live to fight another day. We are thrilled with the result and we now go back to Dallas. Rest, recover, get ready and there’s another big one in front of us.”
Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck, who is a near lock to take home his third Vezina Trophy in the last four seasons and is a Hart Trophy finalist, will need to correct his unfavourable home/road splits in the postseason if Winnipeg is to have any chance to survive in Texas.
The veteran netminder has a .915 save percentage at home - with two shutouts - in the postseason thus far. But on the road, his save percentage plummets to .793. He has allowed at least five goals in four of the team's five road games this playoffs.
“Even times when we weren’t helping him out, he’s still looked great,” said Jets winger Kyle Connor, who chipped in with a pair of assists in Game 5. “His confidence never wavers. He’s the type of guy that comes to the rink every day with a smile on his face and gives us his best.
“His game throughout the whole first round, second round, the way he’s approached it, he’s been the same. We’ve been better in front of him and helped him out in a lot of ways. And he’s been awesome when he needs to be.”
Winnipeg now trails Dallas 3-2 in their seven-game series.