Jets defeat Flames, will finish second in Central Division

WINNIPEG -- The Winnipeg Jets will finish in second place in the Central Division, defeating the Calgary Flames 2-1 at Bell MTS Place on Thursday.
The Nashville Predators won 4-3 against the Washington Capitals on Thursday to win the division.
The Jets will play the Minnesota Wild in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Wild finished third in the Central.

WATCH: [All Flames vs. Jets highlights]
"With the way this is set up, you play a lot of the same teams all of the time," said Jets forward Paul Stastny, who has played against the Wild four times in the playoffs during his NHL career. "That's what has happened in the last four or five years. Once you get a couple of games under your belt, you really grow to hate your opponent. That's the beauty of playoffs. Once you play a team once, then you always have that history with them and it never goes away."
Blake Wheeler and Stastny scored for the Jets (51-20-10). Connor Hellebuyck made 31 saves for his 43rd win, which ties Tom Barrasso (Pittsburgh Penguins, 1992-93) for the most victories in a season by a United States-born goalie. Hellebuyck is 43-11-9 this season.

"It feels pretty good," Hellebuyck said. "All the hard work that we put in this room, it goes to the guys in front of me. My hat's off to them. They've been blocking shots all season long and really staying focused on our details and making my life a lot easier back there.
"I know [the 43 wins is] rare, but I couldn't do it without these guys. I owe 'em. I owe 'em."
Spencer Foo scored his first NHL goal for the Flames (36-35-10), who are eliminated from playoff contention. Jon Gillies made 24 saves.

"It feels great, obviously," Foo said. "I just went to the net hard there and had it go off my foot. Feels good. I'll take it."
Wheeler tipped Dustin Byfuglien's point shot past Gillies at 19:13 of the first period to give the Jets a 1-0 lead. It was the 90th point of the season for Wheeler, who became the fourth player in franchise history to reach that mark and first since Ilya Kovalchuk (91 points) in 2008-09.
Stastny made it 2-0 at 12:59 of the second period, tipping in a slap pass from Ben Chiarot.
"That was an unbelievable skill play," Gillies said.
Foo pulled the Flames within 2-1 at 15:14 after Michael Stone's point shot went off his foot and behind Hellebuyck.
"The puck got up to the point and Stoner, I saw him taking the shot," Foo said. "I just tried to get to the net. The [defenseman] boxed me out a little bit, but obviously found my skate and went in."

Goal of the game

Stastny's goal at 12:59 of the second period.

Save of the game

Hellebuyck's save on Johnny Gaudreau at 15:33 of the first period.

Highlight of the game

Gillies' save on Patrik Laine at 2:26 of the third period.

They said it

"Our mandate today… we wanted to be better defensively and I thought we did that tonight. That's a high-powered team. To keep them [at] two in their building, I thought we had the better chances, especially in the first, a couple breakaways. Their goalie was real sound, he looked sharp tonight. We were better defensively and that's what we wanted to be tonight." -- Flames coach Glen Gulutzan
"We looked like a team that hadn't practiced in a week, maybe 10 days, and that's true. We came off a trip and in the first game back, in the first 20 minutes, it looked like it. It happens sometimes. We weren't particularly good, we got a little better in the second." -- Jets coach Paul Maurice

Need to know

Flames forward Michael Frolik left after falling awkwardly into the boards in the third period. There was no update. … Gaudreau has one assist in his past seven games after having eight points (three goals, five assists) in his previous six. … Calgary is 1-9-0 in its past 10 games. … Wheeler has 14 points (five goals, nine assists) in his past 11 games. Jets forward Kyle Connor has 15 points (eight goals, seven assists) in his past 12 games.

What's next

Flames: Host the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday (10 p.m. ET; SNE, SNO, SNW, ATTSN-RM, NHL.TV)
Jets:Host the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; SN, WGN, NHL.TV)