'Tough to swallow': Winnipeg left with empty feeling, searching for answers after getting eliminated by Vegas

Blake Wheeler stood in disbelief.

The idea that the Winnipeg Jets had just lost four straight games to end what had been such a promising playoff run simply didn’t make any sense.

“It’s been over for 10 minutes,” Wheeler said, trying to process his feelings, before adding, “Pretty empty. Emotionless.

“Throughout this whole thing until that buzzer blew tonight, I never thought we were out of it, never thought we wouldn’t find a way back into it. It just seemed like every time we grabbed some momentum, they took it.”

It had been the story for all four of Winnipeg’s losses. As soon as the Jets scored to pull themselves back into the game, Vegas would respond with a goal of its own.

“They made it really tough for us,” Wheeler continued. “We had to work for everything we got, and even when we broke them down, we just couldn’t seem to ever gain the type of momentum we needed to get this thing on our terms.”

Whether it was Jonathan Marchessault scoring 88 seconds after Kyle Connor’s strike in Game 2, or James Neal capitalizing on a Connor Hellebuyck turnover in Game 3, or Tomas Nosek crashing the net 43 seconds after Patrik Laine had tied Game 4, it seemed like the Golden Knights had answers for everything.

Meanwhile, the Jets are left searching for them.

“It’s hard to believe it’s over,” said Mathieu Perreault, who was a big part of Winnipeg’s late-game efforts to tie the score. “We tried so hard, too. We left it all out there. It’s so disappointing when you put so much effort into it and the result’s just not there.”

Laine was equally candid.

Asked about his emotional state following the Jets season-ending loss, the 20-year-old sniper articulated his feelings in just one word.

“Shit,” Laine said. Given the pain in his eyes, it was clear that he meant it.

“It was their time,” Wheeler said. “They’re just playing really well. And you have to give them all the credit. Typically in a seven-game series, the better team wins. Coming into it, I thought we had the best team. I felt that way, and obviously I’m a little bit biased, standing in this room feeling that we had a great opportunity. And that team just … it was their time.”

One of the biggest reasons Vegas is off to the Stanley Cup final is the strength of its counterattack. The Golden Knights played an aggressive man-to-man defense and then, as soon as they generated a turnover, went on the attack.

Alex Tuch’s goal to open Game 5 is perhaps the perfect example. After rushing Hellebuyck’s pass to Josh Morrissey behind the net, Tuch tracked back to the slot as Ryan Carpenter closed in on Morrissey. When Carpenter deflected Morrissey’s pass attempt, Tuch picked up the puck and scored in one fluid motion, firing a wrister past Hellebuyck’s blocker the instant he got possession. It was a quick-strike goal by a quick-strike team.

Winnipeg’s starting netminder could hardly believe it.

“Luck was on their side, definitely,” said Hellebuyck after the game. “I’ve never seen anything like it. Even their goals tonight were two tips. I don’t know. It’s tough to swallow.”

In a series in which goaltending and bounces in front of the net were big stories, it looked like Hellebuyck finally had a bit of luck on his side in Game 5.

Late in the first period, Morrissey blasted home a one-timer off a faceoff win and – for once in the series – Vegas didn’t immediately find an equalizer. Instead, Hellebuyck fended off a flurry on the Golden Knights next shift before Winnipeg took control of the game to finish the first period.

While Winnipeg’s pushback wasn’t enough to give the Jets the lead, it did send them into the second period on equal terms. That’s when Hellebuyck began to shine.

First, Winnipeg finally got a fortunate bounce in front of its own goal.

Just more than a minute into the second period, Neal got a stick on a long wrist shot from Erik Haula, handcuffing Hellebuyck with a tip that trickled into the crease. As Hellebuyck desperately swiped to clear the puck to safety, he swatted the puck into his left post.

It stayed out, and at least for a moment, it appeared as though Winnipeg might finally get the luck it needed to win.

In fact, if it weren’t for an incredible deflection by Winnipeg product Ryan Reaves 13:21 into the second period, the storyline might have been about Hellebuyck’s heroics.

After an offensive zone faceoff win, Luca Sbisa took a shot from the point that Reaves deflected off the crossbar and in past a stunned and helpless Hellebuyck.

“I didn’t see much,” said Hellebuyck of the series-winning goal. “But any time a guy tips it and it goes bar south you know something’s going right for them. That was tough to swallow, but I guess that’s the game.”

Hellebuyck would go on to make 30 saves – many of them of the highlight-reel variety – on his way to an impressive .938 Sv% on the night.

In the end, it wasn’t enough. Despite four power plays and 32 total shots, Winnipeg simply couldn’t find a second goal.

The Jets acknowledge their fans after being defeated by the Golden Knights 2-1 in Game 5 on Sunday. (Photo by David Lipnowski/Getty Images)

Once again, Marc-Andre Fleury was the Jets biggest nemesis.

“Their goaltender was extraordinary,” Wheeler said of Fleury’s 31-save performance. “There were numerous times the puck was in spots where it looked like it was in the net or going in the net. And he’s playing lights out right now.”

As Wheeler praised Fleury, Laine wondered out loud about his own efforts to beat the Golden Knights goaltender.

“I couldn’t shoot,” said Laine, clearly frustrated. “I don’t know what was wrong with that. I had a lot of good chances – just couldn’t hit the puck or the net. That’s my responsibility to be able to shoot, and I couldn’t do that today.”

After a grueling seven-game series against the Nashville Predators in Round 2, it could be argued that Winnipeg’s inability to come back against Vegas was the result of fatigue. Even though the Jets carried the flow of play in the series, the Golden Knights made fewer mistakes.

Jets head coach Paul Maurice, though, refused to use exhaustion as an excuse.

“I don’t think we ran out of gas at all,” Maurice said after the series was over. “When you look at the second half of our last two games, especially, we were driving as hard as we could. So there was fuel in the tank. There was a hard and heavy push, and it was right.”

Unlike in Games 3 and 4, when Winnipeg dominated the third period on the way to a loss against the flow of play, Vegas pushed the pace in Game 5. Hellebuyck was tested several times in the third period, making key saves off of William Karlsson and Reilly Smith.

Hellebuyck gave the Jets a chance in Game 5, but Winnipeg’s own offensive onslaught didn’t come.

After scoring four goals in Game 1, the Jets only managed six through the rest of the series. Maurice said it comes down to a lack of sharpness.

“A lot of the plays did not come off our stick the way they had prior to it, and it wasn’t a matter of tightness,” Maurice said. “Our hands felt it. Your brain goes a little slower, it gets off your stick a little quicker, your reads are a little slower. But the will was still there.”

The will was quite clearly there for the Winnipeg Jets. You could see it in Morrissey and Brandon Tanev throwing their bodies in front of pucks, in Tyler Myers’ quick return in the third period from what looked like an injury, in Perreault’s forecheck, tenacious like clockwork. You could see the will in Jack Roslovic and Jacob Trouba, each of whom crashed Fleury’s crease in the third period with exceptional individual efforts.

Most of all, you could see it in the efforts of Winnipeg’s top line. Connor pushed the pace of play all night and throughout the series, demonstrating a bright future. Mark Scheifele, whose 14 goals lead the Stanley Cup playoffs, made several dangerous passes and finished the night with two shots. Finally, Blake Wheeler, who is quite clearly the heart and soul of the Jets team on the ice and in the room, drove right until the final buzzer.

When the game was over, every Jets player had given all they had. Jets fans may never forget the sight of Wheeler and Laine, each bent over on one knee, and Scheifele and Bryan Little leaning on their sticks, with Paul Stastny and Dustin Byfuglien looking on.

There are many questions left for Winnipeg in the offseason. How much will it pay its RFAs? Is there room for Stastny? Was Toby Enstrom a healthy scratch in his final game as a Jet? Certainly, Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff will have his work cut out for him throughout the summer.

For the moment, the focus is on Winnipeg’s performance and the efforts of its players.

When the final buzzer sounded and with all of those Jets slumped over exhausted, the fans at Bell MTS Place burst into one final chant of “Go Jets, go.” For one last time this season, the volume climbed past 110dB.

As the crowd’s roar came to a crescendo, there was a poetic moment. The Jets players responded by raising their sticks and saluting the crowd, who applauded in return.

It was a touching scene, made all the more poignant by the heartbreak among fans and players alike.

“It’s the most proud I’ve ever been to be on a team,” Wheeler said. “The guys are the most prepared group of guys. They came to work every day, and you look forward to see everyone and everyone takes care of themselves so well, and I feel like every guy was trying every day to make themselves a better player.”

Even as the locker room cleared out and the news conferences had ended, you could still hear fans chanting in the building and in the streets.

“Go Jets, go. Go Jets, go.”

With so much young talent, the future in Winnipeg is bright. Where the Jets go next may be to yet loftier heights.

(Top photo by James Carey Lauder-USA TODAY Sports)