Winnipeg Jets wrap up regular season with OT win over Anaheim, playoffs start Saturday – Winnipeg

It was a fitting ending to a phenomenal regular season for the Winnipeg Jets.

Mark Scheifele scored the winner in overtime to send the fans home happy in a 2-1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks Wednesday night in the regular season finale.

The Jets broke their franchise record for most points in a season as they finished the campaign with 116 points, two points better than the previous mark from the 2017-2018 season.

“Amazing accomplishment for these guys to put a season together like that,” said Jets head coach Scott Arniel. “We’ve done some really outstanding things this year and when you start day one, game one, you don’t anticipate something like this happening and there’s been a lot of fantastic things. I can’t credit the players enough for what they’ve done.”

Pionk scored the other Jets’ marker as they finished the season with a franchise-record 56 wins.

“Best time of year,” said Jets defenceman Neal Pionk. “Tonight was just about keeping good habits and making sure we’re doing the right things, so, now we play for real.”

The Jets will open the Stanley Cup Playoffs with Game 1 of their first round series against the St. Louis Blues on Saturday at 5 pm at the Canada Life Centre.

“A lot of anticipation,” said Jets forward Cole Perfetti. “Obviously this is something that we’ve strived for since training camp, but in the second half of the year it started to feel a little bit more real.

“It’s been a lot of anticipation, excitement. I only got one taste of it last year, so it was one of the coolest things ever to play in front of a whiteout, so I’m excited for Saturday.”

Connor Hellebuyck also secured the William M. Jennings Trophy for the second straight season as the Jets allowed the fewest goals in the NHL.

“Everybody knows that when it comes to game 83 and on, the teams that defend the best are the ones that usually end up at the end of the day holding that trophy,” Arniel said. “The buy-in from these guys the last couple of years has been amazing and it isn’t just defensive players, it’s your top players, your offensive guys, your role players, it’s everybody believing in a certain way to play.”

Eric Comrie does not get his name on the trophy as he suited up in 20 games, five shy of the threshold for recognition by the league.

Winnipeg dominated the opening period, peppering Ville Husso with 19 shots but couldn’t find the back of the net. Hellebuyck also turned aside all nine shots he faced in the opening 20 minutes.

Both teams continued to pepper the goalies in the second until the Jets finally broke through on their 28th shot of the night.

Off a faceoff win in the offensive zone, Pionk fired a shot from the point that beat a screened Husso at the 13:49 mark of the second for his 10th goal of the season, matching his career-high from two seasons ago.

Perfetti also picked up an assist on the goal to give him 50 points for the first time in his NHL career.

Winnipeg outshot Anaheim 15-13 in the second and had a 34-22 edge through 40 minutes.

The Ducks evened the scoring 5:45 into the third when Troy Terry banged home a rebound, beating Hellebuyck on their 24th shot of the night.

The Jets got a great chance to regain the lead with 5:29 to go in the third when the Ducks took their fourth minor penalty of the game, but for the fourth time Anaheim killed it off, keeping the score tied 1-1.

Winnipeg had some good chances to score in the final moments of the third but Alex Iafallo missed the net on a partial break and Kyle Connor was robbed in tight by Husso, sending the game to overtime.

In OT, Josh Morrissey made a great sliding poke-check to break up an Anaheim odd-man rush, creating one for the Jets that Connor and Scheifele could not finish off but as the play continued, Connor got the puck behind the net and sent it to Morrissey before he slid it cross-ice to Scheifele who made no mistake for his 39th of the season. It was also his 11th game-winning goal of the season, setting a new franchise-best.

With an assist on the play, Connor finished the campaign with 97 points, building on his Jets 2.0 era record. Scheifele also finished the season with a career-high 87 points.

Hellebuyck turned aside 30 shots to secure his 47th win of the season, tied for third-most all-time for single-season wins by a goalie and just one shy of matching the record.

The Jets will now move on to the postseason where they will host the Blues for the second time in franchise history after losing to the Blues in six games in the first round of the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

&copy 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.