4 Takeaways From Jets’ 4-0 Game 2 Win Over Stars

Then, after killing a Morrissey tripping minor, Nikolaj Ehlers doubled the lead on a fortuitous bounce as his attempted centreing pass to Mark Scheifele deflected off Esa Lindell’s skate and past Jake Oettinger.

The Jets didn’t add on from there in the first, but entered the intermission deservedly up a pair and with a 13-7 edge in shots.

2: Jets Played Best Game of Postseason Thus Far

To put it quite simply, the Jets’ overall structure and play in Game 2 looked closer to their Presidents’ Trophy-winning form than at any other point through their first eight playoff games.

Having Morrissey, Ehlers, and Vilardi all in the lineup together, and therefore their regular lines and defensive pairings in tact, obviously helped on that front.

“That’s the first time since Game 71 (of the regular season) that everybody’s back,” Arniel said postgame. “It was good to see. There was obviously the familiarity… when you have your roster like that, everybody gets aligned into their spots, having your top-four defensemen, having your top-six offensive guys, then you’ve got two checking lines, two heavy lines. We’re back to looking finally like we’ve looked for most of the season.”

The Jets kept their foot on the gas in the early second to the point the broadcasting crew of John Bartlett and Garry Galley pulled out the “skating downhill” cliche. The pressure paid dividends as the Jets extended the lead to 3-0 at 11:02 of the frame when Adam Lowry finished off a great shift by corralling a Dylan DeMelo point shot that bounced off the end boards and putting the puck top shelf.

The Stars started to push back and generate some good chances in transition in the back half of the second, but Connor Hellebuyck stepped up with a couple of 10-bell saves and the Jets’ defenders did a good job of limiting the chances to one-and-done.

That 3-0 lead through two was more than enough, as the Jets allowed just six shots in the third despite the Stars pulling Oettinger for the extra attacker twice.

3: Jets Found a Way to Slow Down Rantanen

Stars forward Mikko Rantanen entered Game 2 riding back-to-back hat tricks (in Game 7 of the first round series with the Colorado Avalanche and in Game 1 against the Jets) and with 14 points in his past four games. One of the biggest storylines entering the contest was what the man known as “Moose” would do for a third act.

As it turns out, not much.

Arniel deployed the Nino Niederreiter/Lowry/Mason Appleton line against Rantanen’s and they keyed on him all night in an attempt to stop him from running roughshod again (Neal Pionk was also notably harassing him throughout the first.) Overall, Rantanen was limited to one shot in 21:42 of ice time and had a minus-2 rating.

They won’t be able to stop him completely in the series, but continuing to smother him and playing him hard in the dirty areas to keep him from using his his 6-foot-4, 215-pound frame to his advantage will be key.

4: Hellebuyck Was Locked In

Jets’ fans have chanted “MVP” throughout the postseason when Hellebuyck is introduced in the starting lineup, a reference to his Hart Trophy nomination. After a lot of struggles through his first eight games, he finally played up to that standard.

While his 21 saves don’t jump off the scoresheet, he looked confident, in control, and came up big when he had to. He started hearing “MVP” chants again at the end of the second after he preserved a 3-0 lead with excellent stops on Jamie Benn, Evgenii Dadonov, and Rantanen.

It was the 31-year-old’s fourth-career playoff shutout and first since Game 2 of the 2021 first-round series against the Edmonton Oilers.

“He was fantastic. Like I’ve mentioned a few times, sometimes we take him for granted because he makes the hard look easy, so easy. He had some acrobatic ones tonight,” Arniel said, going on to praise the goalie for standing tall in the late second when the Jets made some “self-inflicted” defensive errors.

The Jets have to hope Hellebuyck can put his very poor series against the Blues — and his subpar play in the first rounds in 2023 and last season for that matter — in the rearview mirror. It was his second-straight solid performance (despite taking the loss in Game 1, he played reasonably well with 21 saves on 24 shots) and he obviously has the ability to steal games, but just hasn’t done so at all over the past few postseasons. Him continuing to play as well as he did in Game 2 would go a long way in improving the Jets’ chances.

The series now shifts to American Airlines Center in Dallas for Games 3 and 4. Game 3 goes Sunday at 3 p.m. CT.