In Winnipeg, Kyle Connor ended a long night on the clock and an even longer night for the Edmonton Oilers early Tuesday morning when he potted the series-winner in the third extra session in 4-3 win for the Jets.
The win clinched the first round series in a surprise sweep, and sent the Oilers to the off season, far earlier than anyone could predicted.
“[Neal Pionk] made a great play,” Connor said. “He was on McDavid there, just to get his stick on it and whack it up the boards, and I saw it coming and tried to skate as fast as I can. It’s our mentality, the whole overtime, just get pucks to the net and just shoot that one and, yeah, that one feels pretty good.”
Connor Hellebuyck made 37 saves in the game.
“You don’t want to miss out on that opportunity to close a team out, especially a team that’s capable of coming back (and) winning four games straight as Edmonton,” Winnipeg’s Blake Wheeler said. “I mean, razor-thin margin. They easily could have won every one of those games.”
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored for the Oilers.
“It’s just disappointing at this point,” Nugent-Hopkins said. “We battled all night, I mean, three overtimes. This is the third overtime game in four games. There’s not much to say except it’s tough to swallow right now.”
Mark Scheifele scored twice in regulation for Winnipeg.
“It definitely didn’t feel like a sweep, that’s for sure,” Scheifele said. “We grind every single game. There was no easy ice out there. They played fantastic too. They came back in games. They pushed us to the limit, but we just were on the right side of it for those four games. It was a battle each and every game. Every shift it was a battle.”
Mason Appleton also scored for the Jets.
“Josh Morrissey, when the rest of the group looked fatigued tonight, he got stronger,” Jets head coach Paul Maurice said. “He killed the play when everybody else was gassed on the ice and then came into the hole and got faster on the ice. … He defended against the best player in the world and he put up points and he scores the tying goal last night (5-4 overtime win in Game 3). You can play against Connor McDavid and you can score probably the series’ biggest goal. Even though the overtime goals were huge, that goal may have changed the face of the series.”
Alex Chiasson scored for Edmonton and Connor McDavid had his first goal of the postseason in the game.
“Everyone put everything they had into it,” McDavid said. “Definitely proud of everyone. I thought we were the better team most of the night too. Just frustrating, but that’s the way it goes.
“It’s a weird series, it’s a weird sweep for sure. You don’t usually see them like that, but it is what it is.”
Mike Smith made 39 saves in the loss.
“Every time you don’t win the last game of the year then it’s disappointing,” Edmonton head coach Dave Tippett said. “But I thought our team took some strides this year. We were expecting more in the playoffs. It was a tight, tight series. We couldn’t find a way to get on top of it.
“I give our players credit, they battled hard. That’s not an easy game. We didn’t get the result we wanted last night. You come in here and you’ve got to play a back-to-back, and a lot of players played real well. It’s just disappointing we couldn’t get the win.”
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