by Winnipeg set the tone early Tuesday morning by dominating the neutral zone, and in the third quarter, the Jets had smothered the Vegas Golden Knights.
The Jets allowed just two shots on goal in the final period, highlighting a defensive performance that was bolstered by Adam Lowry’s two goals and Blake Wheeler’s three points in Winnipeg’s 5-1 win in Game 1 of the series. first round
The Jets allowed just 17 shots on goal in the game, the fewest the Knights have had all season.
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The Winnipeg Jets celebrate after right wing Blake Wheeler, center, scored against the Las Vegas Golden Knights during the third period of Game 1 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series on Tuesday, May 18. April 2023 in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
“A big part of our game is to pressure the puck carrier and not give him a lot of time to make plays,” Winnipeg coach Rick Bowness said. “They’re a very good team on the run. They’re looking for that second wave, so I thought our forwards did a great job coming back and taking those guys out.”
Wheeler had a goal and two assists for the Jets, Pierre-Luc Dubois had a goal and an assist, Kyle Connor also scored and Nino Niederreiter had two assists. Connor Hellebuyck made 16 saves.
William Karlsson scored for the Golden Knights, who suffered their first regulation loss in nine games. It was also the first regulation loss for Las Vegas goaltender Laurent Brossoit, who went 7-0-3 in the regular season. He stopped 26 shots.
“What we need to address is playoff hockey,” Knights coach Bruce Cassidy said. “You needed an intensity level that was higher than what we had… But I’ll say this, I don’t think they were doing anything special either. They get all the value for the win, don’t get it.” I made a mistake. They deserved to win and they did, but part of it was self-inflicted.”
The second game is Thursday night in Las Vegas.
Vegas entered the game as the top seed in the Western Conference, and the Jets were the last team in the conference to make the playoffs. But Winnipeg is 6-2 in its last eight games and continued the momentum through Tuesday.
Vegas Golden Knights goaltender Laurent Brossoit (39) catches the puck against the Winnipeg Jets during the first period of Game 1 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series on Tuesday, May 18. April 2023, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
LIGHTNING DOMINATE MAPLE LEAFS IN TORONTO TO TAKE GAME 1
The Jets had 14 shots on goal in the first period, but couldn’t get past Brossoit even on back-to-back power plays at one point. Vegas, who blocked 13 shots, also survived a big scramble in the box where Mason Appleton could have put the puck into the open net, but couldn’t get his stick into it.
His teammate Morgan Barron took a skate to the face from Brossoit on the play as bodies piled up in search of the puck. He went to the locker room and received more than 75 points before coming back in the second period with a full cage on his head.
The Jets broke through on goals by Connor and Dubois within 1:02 of each other early in the second period to take a 2-0 lead. Both goals came from the Jets’ front line, and Bowness said he likes the scoring line to come back quickly.
“I think as soon as you get off, you have to be ready to go back there, whether it’s 45 seconds or five minutes later,” Dubois said. “We know we have to keep the momentum on our side.”
Karlsson got the Knights on the scoreboard with 4:11 to play, but Wheeler built a two-goal lead again 3:53 into the third period.
Winnipeg Jets right wing Blake Wheeler (26) celebrates after scoring against the Vegas Golden Knights during the third period of Game 1 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series on Tuesday, April 18, 2023, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Lowry scored twice in the final 1:21, once from an empty net.
EHLERS RETAINED
Jets forward Nikolaj Ehlers, who has an upper body injury, did not play. Ehlers said on Saturday that he would be ready and on Monday he reiterated that he was feeling “very good”, although Bowness had maintained that he was day by day.
“There wasn’t necessarily a setback, but it wasn’t the progress that we were hoping for,” Bowness said. “We’re not going to put a player who’s not close to 100% on the ice and put him in a vulnerable position where he could take a setback.”
Bowness said Ehlers will be re-evaluated before Game 2.
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RUSTY STONE IN RETURN
This was Knights captain Mark Stone’s first game since he injured his back on January 12. He underwent surgery on January 31 and was cleared to play on Monday.
Stone went minus-3 in 21 minutes.
“It looked rusty,” Cassidy said. “We were hoping for that… Mark will take some time to get going and his linemates will have to help out a bit until he finds his moment. We knew that so I’m not going to judge Stoney other than he’s healthy and ready to play”.
