Fansided

The Winnipeg Jets have won their first playoff series in 31 years

By Bruin Belisle

WINNIPEG, MB - APRIL 20: Winnipeg Jets fans wave white towels prior to puck drop between the Jets and the Minnesota Wild in Game Five of the Western Conference First Round during the 2018 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at the Bell MTS Place on April 20, 2018 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. (Photo by Jonathan Kozub/NHLI via Getty Images)
WINNIPEG, MB - APRIL 20: Winnipeg Jets fans wave white towels prior to puck drop between the Jets and the Minnesota Wild in Game Five of the Western Conference First Round during the 2018 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at the Bell MTS Place on April 20, 2018 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. (Photo by Jonathan Kozub/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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The Winnipeg Jets won Game 5 of their series with the Minnesota Wild on Friday, and no one was happier than the entire City of Winnipeg and the whiteout fans across North America.

It has been 31 years since the Winnipeg Jets have won a playoff series, 31 years since the original version of the Winnipeg Jets beat the Calgary Flames in the Selke Division semifinal to move on (and get swept by the dominant Edmonton Oilers, but still) in 1987. Yes, there was a 15-year period of time where this franchise was in Atlanta, but still, these fans and this team were long overdue for some playoff success.

And good God were they successful tonight. The Jets won this game in the first minute when Jacob Trouba scored the first of four first period Jets goals. The Jets won Game 5 by a score of 5-0. Winnipeg was firing on all cylinders tonight, and as good as Devan Dubnyk and the Wild have been at keeping games close in this series, they ran out of gas in this game.

A touching moment came before this game started, when the Jets took a moment to recognize the attendance of Humboldt Broncos forward Matthieu Gomercic:

Great to see a standing ovation from the Winnipeg crowd for Gomercic and his family.

The Winnipeg crowd was insane once again, inside and out, with approximately 15,000 covering four blocks of the city and matching the 15,000 inside the MTS center. If you plan on enjoying a night out at the bars in Winnipeg tonight, best get in line two hours ago.

For a team that had 114 points in the regular season, the Jets have been slightly overlooked coming into these playoffs. Most of the focus in the Western Conference has been on the Nashville Predators, and in Canada, on the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Jets showed tonight (and all season, if you followed them at all) that they have the talent and the goaltending to hang with absolutely anyone in the NHL playoffs.

Ask any Jets fan the following two questions:

  1. Can the Jets win the Stanley Cup? And …
  2. Are you happy with the media attention the Jets have gotten this season?

The answers to those questions will be an emphatic “yes,” followed by a downright disgusted “no.” Canadian media took every chance they had to talk about Auston Matthews and the Toronto Maple Leafs, and if there is one thing Western Canada hates, it’s Toronto.

With the Leafs on the ropes and the Jets looking damn near unstoppable, we’ll start to see a shift in the media coverage. Outlets will start talking about whether or not the Jets have a real chance at the Cup. Any Jets fan will tell you that they do. They did from day one when no one was talking about them and they do now, as they steamrolled their way through this first round.

These Jets are deep and built for a long playoff run. Yes, they beat a banged-up Minnesota Wild team, but they did so in a very impressive fashion. Devan Dubnyk was near impossible to score on in this series but the Jets capitalized on every single mistake made by Dubnyk or the Wild. There is no room for error against the Jets.

If Nashville closes out their series against the Colorado Avalanche, the two best teams in the Western Conference will face off in the second round. Don’t be surprised if the Jets double down on this effort and fly through the Predators. The road only gets tougher from here, but we see you, Winnipeg. Even if it took most of us a little longer than it should have.

Next: 10 reasons Stanley Cup Playoffs are better than NBA Playoffs

Prepare for more winter conditions, Winnipeg. There’s nothing but whiteouts for you on the horizon.

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