Jets end season with seventh win in a row
WINNIPEG, Manitoba -- Blake Wheeler scored a shorthanded goal with 44.6 seconds left in regulation to lift the Winnipeg Jets to their seventh straight win, a 2-1 victory over the Nashville Predators.
The win was ultimately without much meaning for the Jets other than sending their MTS Centre fans home on a happy note after the season wrapped up Saturday without a postseason appearance.
The loss was potentially more devastating for the Predators (41-29-12), who still must await their first-round playoff opponent.
Winnipeg (40-35-7) rallied with two third-period goals after falling behind 1-0 in the first period.
Kyle Connor, the rookie who spent much of the season with the AHL's Manitoba Moose, scored the tying goal and Wheeler later converted a two-on-one to give the Jets the edge.
After killing off four power plays, including a five-on-three, in the first 30 minutes of the game, the Jets were victimized on their own power play -- their first of the game.
The Predators made it 1-0 while shorthanded after Jets forward Bryan Little, breaking out of his own zone, made an errant pass in the neutral zone right to the stick of Ryan Ellis, who broke the other way and beat Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck with a quick deke 11:31 into the second period.
Nashville thought it extended its lead seven minutes later when James Neal poked a puck past Hellebuyck with a lot of commotion in front of the Jets' net.
After initially signaling a goal, the referees convened and overturned it, deciding that Predators forward Viktor Arvidsson skated into Hellebuyck and interfered with his ability to play the puck. A Nashville coaches challenge went for naught after video review and the score remained 1-0.
The Jets later forced a neutral-zone turnover of their own and quickly converted it into the tying goal.
Connor, who started the season with the Jets but played the bulk of the year in the AHL before being called up earlier in the week, forced the Nashville miscue that turned into a two-on-one the other way.
Connor fed it to Adam Lowry, who returned the pass to Connor and he promptly broke in on Predators goalie Pekka Rinne to make it 1-1.
Nashville outshot Winnipeg 21-6 in the second period, but the Jets finished the game with a 36-34 edge in shots.
Helleybuck made 33 saves for Winnipeg and Rinne stopped 34 in the Nashville goal.
NOTES: For a team not going to the postseason, the Jets have had success against their own division. Winnipeg came into the game 18-8-2 against Central Division teams, including an 11-6-1 mark against the four divisional teams going to the playoffs. ... The Jets got hot at the wrong time. They came into Saturday's game 9-2-1 in their last 12 games. Further, they've gone 13-0-2 in their last 15 games played in April. ... The Jets are one of two teams (Toronto is the other) with four 60-point scorers in the NHL this season. ... Blake Wheeler entered the game on a seven-game point streak, his longest of the season. ... The Predators have picked up at least a point in five of the last six games against Winnipeg. ... Nashville, which will play in the Stanley Cup playoffs, has clinched a playoff berth in 10 of the last 13 seasons. ... The Jets handed out season individual awards before faceoff. Patrik Laine was named the 3 Stars Award winner, Josh Morrissey won the Community Service Award and Bryan Little won the Daniel Snyder Memorial Award.