Jets sweep Oilers with 3OT win in Game 4

WINNIPEG -- Kyle Connor scored at 6:52 of the third overtime, and the Winnipeg Jets swept the Edmonton Oilers with a 4-3 win in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup First Round at Bell MTS Place on Monday.

Connor won it on a breakaway after receiving a stretch pass from Neal Pionk, who forced a turnover by Connor McDavid in Winnipeg's zone to complete the longest game in Jets/Atlanta Thrashers history (106:52 of action) and reach the second round for the second time (2018) since relocating from Atlanta in 2011.
"[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."

Mark Scheifele scored twice, and Connor Hellebuyck made 37 saves for the Jets, the No. 3 from the Scotia North Division, who will play the winner of the series between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens.
"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," said Winnipeg captain Blake Wheeler, who had two assists. "I mean, razor-thin margin. They easily could have won every one of those games."
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had a goal and an assist, and Mike Smith made 39 saves for the Oilers, the No. 2 seed.
"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."
Scheifele gave the Jets a 1-0 lead at 6:16 of the first period with a one-timer from the left face-off circle on a power play.
"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."

McDavid scored his first goal of the series on a wraparound to tie it 1-1 at 7:33.
"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."
Mason Appleton deflected a point shot from Josh Morrissey to put Winnipeg back in front 2-1 at 15:55.
"Josh Morrissey, when the rest of the group looked fatigued tonight, he got stronger," Jets 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."
Nugent-Hopkins collected his own rebound before scoring with a backhand in front to tie it 2-2 at 3:44 of the second period.

Alex Chiasson then gave the Oilers a 3-2 lead at 16:37, gathering the rebound of Draisaitl's shot and tucking the puck inside the right post on the power play.
"Every time you don't win the last game of the year then it's disappointing," Edmonton 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."
Scheifele's second goal of the game tied it 3-3 at 6:01 of the third period. He scored with a slap shot from the left circle following a turnover by Oilers defenseman Ethan Bear.
"We had faith in our room," Scheifele said. "We trusted the process, and by doing the right things over and over and over, we knew that we were going to come out on top. Whenever that adversity hit -- they scored a goal, or we took a penalty, kill off a 5-on-3 -- whatever that was, we stuck with it. I think it just speaks volumes for this room, the character we have in this room. Guys just never get down. We don't get down on ourselves. We stuck with our game plan, and because of that, we came out on top."
NOTES:It was the first time the Jets swept a playoff series in their history. … Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse played 62:07, including 15:32 in the first overtime. It is the most by an Edmonton player since 1997-98, when time on ice was first officially tracked.