Jets find offense at right time in Game 1 victory

LAS VEGAS -- "Goal legs" got the Winnipeg Jets to achieve their first goal of the Western Conference First Round against the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday.

The Jets, the final team to qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs in the Western Conference, sprung an upset in Game 1, a 5-1 win against the top-seeded Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena.
Forwards Kyle Connor and Pierre-Luc Dubois scored 62 seconds apart in the opening two minutes of the second period to give Winnipeg a 2-0 lead and force the home team to chase the game.
"We're not advancing until we win at least one game in here," Jets coach Rick Bowness said.
Game 2 is here Thursday (10 p.m. ET; TBS, CBC, SN, TVAS, ATTSN-RM).
RELATED: [Complete Golden Knights vs. Jets series coverage]
A win Tuesday to set the tone for the best-of-7 series was a goal for the Jets, who won four of their final six games to reach the postseason, but who had struggled mightily since the All-Star break in February, falling from the Central Division race to a dogfight for the second wild card in the Western Conference.
And it was Bowness, the wily old hockey mind who has seen it all in his five decades standing behind NHL benches across North America, who gave them the edge.
Connor scored at 1:24 of the second period, the recipient of some hard work from Dubois that led to a perfect pass for a one-timer past Laurent Brossoit.
That line went back to the bench happy, but their rest was short-lived. After one shift, Bowness tapped the line of Connor, Dubois and Mark Scheifele to get back on the ice.
"I like to throw anybody who scores a goal right back out there," Bowness said. "They're feeling good about themselves. It was a short shift when they scored. We always like to go back with the line that scored."
Dubois hopped over the boards, slightly surprised by the short rest, and found himself in the race for a clearance by Winnipeg forward Blake Wheeler, who was heading for a chance. His clearance caught Vegas trying to change as well.
"Just felt like getting the puck back towards their net was going to be a good play," Wheeler said. "Luckily it worked out.
"I knew that we were changing on the play and just wanted to get the puck out. I didn't necessarily know that he was going to be sprung for a breakaway. He was coming out and had a head of steam and made a great play."
Dubois went wide and snapped off a rising shot that beat Brossoit and proved to be the winning goal at 2:26.
"Obviously we had momentum," Dubois said of the rationale for the double shift. "You know, you hear guys talk about goal legs, you know? Obviously, a guy scores, you are pretty fired up. I think he just recognized that we were going there, and he wanted to send us right back out."
The Jets survived a goal from William Karlsson at 15:49 of the second to make it 2-1 and squeezed the life out of the game in the third period, scoring three goals and allowing two shots to the Golden Knights, who finished with 17.
It was a rare night when the Jets had their top forwards all going in one game. It has rarely happened since the calendar turned to 2023; they were 17-19-2 since Jan. 15.
Their top-end forwards were under fire by Bowness, some benched, others called out in press conferences, throughout that stretch.
But on Tuesday, in the Jets' biggest game of their season to date, their stars were front and center.
Wheeler finished with a goal and two assists. Dubois had a goal and assist, and Connor had the tone-setting opening goal. Adam Lowry added two goals late.
It was quite a turn of fortune for Winnipeg, which has been a one-line offensive team for the past three months with the top two alternating depending on who was going on a given night.
Wheeler had scored once since Feb. 16, a streak of 27 games. Dubois had three goals and eight points in 16 games since Feb. 22, Connor had four goals in a 20-game stretch dating to March 4 and was minus-10 in that span.
On this night, they were all on the right side of the puck and it proved too much for the Golden Knights to handle.
"Offensively, we knew they weren't going to give up much. This is what they are," Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. "If you're not prepared to play a game behind their [defense] and forecheck turnovers, then loosen them up and then get your rush chances, then it's going to be a challenge."
Now, the Jets have confidence heading into Game 2. They have seen what their A-game looks like, and they know it can bedevil the favored Golden Knights.
"I think we had a tough time 5-on-5 scoring goals for a long time, and some of it was puck luck some of it was circumstances," Wheeler said. "I think it was great to go through that as a team to find different ways to win. When we're not scoring a bunch of goals, when our top players aren't necessarily filling up the score sheet every night, that's a mark of a good team, if you find different ways to win.
"So, it just adds another wrinkle to our team if we're able to win. Nobody really cares. At the end of the day, it's all about winning games."
Especially at this time of year.