The game that most Winnipeg Jets’ fans have been counting down to for weeks has finally arrived…the rematch with the Dallas Stars and a big opportunity for the True Northers to take a firm grip on the Central Division title. The Texans were coming in on a losing streak, but they were able to beat the Jets the last time they visited the American Airlines Center.
Our club got a big boost when Nikolaj Ehlers & Neal Pionk were both able to suit up…but would it be enough to get Winnipeg the win in Dallas??
GAME RECAP
When the puck dropped in Texas, our Jets shot out of the gates and spent the first 5 minutes of the game in the Stars’ end. Despite the pressure, Dallas did a good job of keeping Winnipeg to the perimeter of the offensive zone, limiting the scoring chances against. As the period unfolded, the hometown club woke up and eventually were able to gain an advantage in the puck possession. As the 1st neared a conclusion, the True Northers started to find more space during rushes up the ice and on one of those Adam Lowry skated the puck into the Stars’ end before eventually working it back to Josh Morrissey at the point. With Nino Niederreiter charging the net, Winnipeg’s top defenseman wristed a shot towards Dallas’ Jake Oettinger, allowing El Nino the opportunity to deflect it and give the Jets the lead. WPG 1-0. The Stars tried to even things up with a glorious late period chance when Mikko Rantanen set up Jason Robertson for a dangerous 1 timer from the left face-off circle…but Connor Hellebuyck was there to deny the look with a flashed glove.
The early parts of the 2nd period saw the franchises trade chances off the rush, but it was Winnipeg that capitalized next when Brandon Tanev started a zone exit by passing the puck to linemate Morgan Barron at his own blueline. The center affectionally known as Bear by his teammates, skated through the neutral zone before feinting a rush to the outside of Dallas’ defender, but just as the player started to turn to react to that, Barron cut back to the middle of the ice and drove straight in on the Stars’ net. Not done impressing the True North fans, the big center made a slick move to beat the goaltender and give his squad an important two goal lead early in the 2nd. WPG 2-0. The Texans did lay back and take the loss, but did their best to try and break down Winnipeg’s defense. They out-shot the Jets 7-3 in the middle frame and forced Hellebuyck to make some top notch saves to keep the score the same. As the period neared it’s end, the officials decided to switch from “let them play” mode and called Nikolaj Ehlers for a very questionable slash. With only 20 seconds left in the frame, our club was able to escape the period unscathed.
Winnipeg had to kill off the rest of the man-advantage to open the 3rd period, allowing a couple of shots on Bucky before the teams returned to even strength. The Jets went on an offensive flurry post-penalty kill for a few shifts, but Dallas countered with a Mason Marchment look off a rush. A bit later in the match, the Stars were on a 2 on 2 rush up the ice but Alex Iafallo was able to intercept a pass just inside his own blueline. The veteran winger wasted no time starting a Winnipeg counter-attack by sending the puck up the left wing for Mark Scheifele to chase. The Jets’ top center was going to lose the race to the Dallas defender, so he stretched out with his stick to poke the puck into the middle of the ice. There to pounce on it was probably the guy all Stars fans didn’t want to see….Kyle Connor on a clean breakaway. The sniper did what he does as he skated in before making a move that opened up Oettinger’s 5 hole, allowing him to slip the puck between the pads to give the True Northers a big lead. WPG 3-0. Dallas did their best to try and get back in the game, but pushing for offense opened things up for the Jets to counter-attack. On one of those, Morrissey flew up the left wing before he attempted to find Jaret Anderson-Dolan driving to the low slot. The newly recalled Manitoba Moose player was being tightly checked, so either had his stick lifted or purposely allowed the puck to go all the way to the right face-off circle, where Connor was waiting to blast home his 40th goal of the campaign. WPG 4-0. The final 8 minutes of the match saw Ehlers take a cheap shot and then drop the gloves with the Stars’ Sam Steel, giving Winnipeg their only powerplay chance for the game. The True Northers had a couple of unsuccessful looks with the man-advantage and then turned their attention to clogging up the neutral zone to frustrate Dallas’ dwindling attempts at offense.
*****
FINAL SCORE: WINNIPEG JETS 4 DALLAS STARS 0
FINAL STATS
Shots: 35-25 WPG / Hits: 44-27 WPG / Face-Offs: 57.4% WPG / x Goals: 2.73 WPG – 2.65 DAL /
MoneyPuck’s Deserve to Win: 50.0% TIE / High-Medium Danger Scoring Chances: 12 to 7 WPG
*****
SCORING SUMMARY from ESPN
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SHOT CHART from MoneyPuck
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ADVANCED SKATER STATS from MoneyPuck
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GOALIE STATS from ESPN & MoneyPuck
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If you would like to dive deeper into the game’s stats, follow the links below to the game pages:
MoneyPuck: Winnipeg Jets vs. Dallas Stars – Thursday April 10 2025 – MoneyPuck.com
NaturalStatTrick: Winnipeg Jets @ Dallas Stars, 2025-04-10
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BOJA’s Observations:
- Despite the scoreboard indicating that the Winnipeg Jets blew out the Dallas Stars, the contest was more closely contested than a 4 goal spread. The expected goals were almost even and at times in the 1st & 2nd periods, the Stars were getting more of the offensive zone time. But the Jets bent, but didn’t break and part of that was due to the play of the bottom six.
- 3rd liner Nino Niederreiter got the goal scoring started late in the 1st period with a lovely deflection…making SaskatoonJet jump out of his seat, I’m sure. Just his 2nd goal in the past 23 games, El Nino was involved offensively with the 2nd most shots on Thursday (4).
- Then it was 4th liner Morgan Barron, who received a pass at his own blueline before skating up the ice, getting the defender to bite on a move to the outside before cutting back, then taking the puck to the net and showing some sweet mitts to give Winnipeg a 2 goal lead. Bear has been excellent since being moved to center and his 4th line did great with their forecheck & cycle (83.1% xG/75% Fenwick).
- After a big penalty kill to start the 3rd period, Kyle Connor broke things open with 2 goals to reach the 40 goal mark for the second time of his career. He led the Jets in shots (5) and also set a new career-high in points with 94 in 2024-25.
- Some other Winnipeg players hit personal milestones last night, with Mark Scheifele picking up an assist to reach the 85 pt mark and Connor Hellebuyck getting his career-best 8th shutout of the year (45th of his excellent career) and extending his personal best for wins in a regular season to 45 (just 3 off the NHL record, but not worth chasing in lieu of resting Bucky before the playoffs). Bucky is just the 7th goalie in NHL history to reach the 45 win plateau.
- Blocks, blocks, everywhere the blocks. The Jets defensemen were putting their bodies on the line with 10 blocks against the Stars. Four of the defenders had 2 blocks in the game, but Adam Lowry & Alex Iafallo made sure the forwards got involved too with a pair each.
- Before I sign off, I want to talk about the huge turn around Winnipeg has undergone in the Hit department since the trade deadline. Before the Jets added Luke Schenn (12 gms w/ WPG) & Brandon Tanev (15 gms w/ WPG) , they were throwing about 41% of the bodychecks. In their past 20 games, that percentage has increased to 50.25% and over the last 10 it has gone up to 52.13%. Tonight Schenn led the True Northers with 7 of their 44 hits, but many other players were throwing their bodies around too: Tanev/Lowry (6), Stanley (5), & Anderson-Dolan/Pionk/Niederreiter (4).
A big performance and an even bigger win by our Winnipeg Jets. They now need to pick up just 1 more point in the remaining three games to lock up the Central Division…or they could wait until the Dallas Stars lose 1 more point in their last 3 contests. Either way, the True Northers will get the #1 seed in the Western Conference.
I am loving how our squad is performing in “big games” this year…..seems to bode well for not letting the atmosphere & competition level get to them once the post-season kicks off.
UP NEXT: Winnipeg Jets @ Chicago Blackhawks – Saturday, April 12th @ 6:00 pm CST
