Perhaps the most important game of the Jets regular season (up until this point) went down tonight in Dallas, Texas. The Jets entered this game 4 points ahead of the Stars for 1st place in the Central Division, with each team having 4 games remaining prior to this one. With a win, the Jets would go ahead of the Stars by 6 points, and would only need 1 point (or the Stars to not go undefeated) to clinch the Central Division. The season series between these two teams was 2-1 for the Jets, with the previous matchups ending with scores of 4-1 Jets, 3-1 Stars and 4-1 Jets.

Tonight marked the return from injuries for Nikolaj Ehlers and Neal Pionk. The Jets lineup is almost back to full health minus Gabriel Vilardi, which is good timing with the playoffs approaching. Connor Hellebuyk and Jake Oettinger was the all-American goalie matchup, with the “expected” plan being that the Jets will give Hellebuyck 2 starts and Comrie 2 starts in their final 4 games. After a solid opening period, the Jets played 40 more minutes of quality hockey, scoring four goals and allowing none against the Stars on this Thursday night.

This game had a “low scoring” Central Division matchup written all over it. Both teams played with good energy in the opening frame, and Hellebuyck and Oettinger looked locked in with the early chances they faced. With both teams not wanting to make that 1st “mistake”, this period went without a single penalty.

With around 90 seconds to play in the 1st period, Nino Niederreiter opened the scoring for the Jets. After a nice zone entry, Adam Lowry dropped the puck back to Josh Morrissey, who fired one on goal. Niederreiter was going to the net, and redirected the puck out of the air enough to fool Oettinger and have the puck go past him. This game lived up to its hype in the opening period, as the Jets took a 1-0 lead into the intermission while leading in shots on goal 13-10 and leading in hits 23-8.

The Jets had a strong start to the 2nd period, looking to create some chances that would extend their lead. 3 and a half minutes into the 2nd, Morgan Barron tallied his 8th of the season to give the Jets a 2-0 lead. Logan Stanley and Brandon Tanev moved the puck up to Barron at centre ice. After a quick deke around a defender, he went wide and cut towards the goal before putting one past Oettinger.

At the halfway point in the 2nd period, the shots were 5-3 stars, while this game remained without its first powerplay for either team. Both teams continued to battle for possession and scoring chances, but the defence from both teams were limiting the shots on goal as much as they could. Nikolaj Ehlers took a slashing penalty against Ilya Lybushkin with 21 seconds left in the 2nd, giving the Stars the first powerplay of the night. The Jets went into the 2nd intermission feeling pretty good about their performance through 40 minutes, leading 2-0 despite being outshot by the Stars in the 2nd 7-4.

The Jets opened the 3rd period on the penalty kill. The Stars managed 2 shots on goal on their 1st powerplay of the night, but the Jets penalty kill, which has been nearly perfect lately, continued its strong play in shutting down the opposing team’s powerplay.

Kyle Connor put the Jets fully in control of this game when he scored his 39th of the season. After an interception by Alex Iafallo in the Jets zone, Mark Scheifele collected the puck and found Connor racing into the Stars zone. With nobody but the goalie to beat, Connor snapped one under Oettinger to make it 3-0 Jets.

2 and a half minutes later, Kyle Connor hit the 40 goal mark for the 2nd time in his career. Morgan Barron made a partial interception and sent Josh Morrissey down the ice. After entering the Stars zone, Morrissey fired one across to an open Connor, who snapped one past Oettinger to make it 4-0 Jets.

4 minutes after the Jets made it 4-0, we got to see an extremely rare Nikolaj Ehlers fight, after he dropped the gloves with Sam Steel. Prior to the fight, Steel was in the process of getting called for holding on Ehlers, which may have led to the fight happening in the first place. The Jets were unsuccessful on their 1st powerplay of the night, but the team continued to play well as the final 5 minutes of the game approached.

The Jets played their strongest 20 minutes of hockey in the 3rd period, not letting up after making it 3-0. The Stars were trying to get on the board in the final minutes of play, but Hellebuyck denied the few chances that were thrown his way in the 3rd. Final shots on goal in the 3rd period were 17-7 for the Jets, as they led the final shots on goal tally 35-24.

Tonight was a wonderful performance from the whole team, as they looked already in playoff mode. Hellebuyck secured his league best 8th shutout of the season, making 24 saves, as he continues to show why he’s the Vezina and maybe even the Hart Memorial favourite. The Jets physicality and toughness was on display all night, finishing with 44 hits and 15 blocked shots. Kyle Connor led the way with 2 big 3rd period goals, as he gets that much closer to becoming the 1st Jets 2.0 player in history to reach 100 points in a season.

Up next for the Jets is their final back to back of the season, beginning in Chicago on Saturday night. Puck drop will be at 6 pm CT for that game, before the Jets play their final 2 regular season games at home on Sunday against the Oilers and on Wednesday against the Ducks. With the playoffs starting in just over a week, make sure to check back here daily for the latest Jets news and updates!