Recap: Dallas Stars @ Winnipeg Jets

1 week ago  /  Arctic Ice Hockey

What a way to spend a Friday night…..sitting on the couch with a plateful of salt & pepper wings and my favourite beverage while watching the Winnipeg Jets & Dallas Stars square off at the Canada Life Centre. As I munched on my supper, this is how I saw the game play out…..



GAME RECAP



The Jets started off the game well, with the bottom six providing Winnipeg with two early scoring chances when Brandon Tanev was denied on a breakaway and then Nino Niederreiter hit the post on a wide open net. The home team continued to press a bit later after the top line was stuck defending for the early part of their shift…but good pressure near the Jets’ blueline allowed the True Northers to break out the other way. Kyle Connor carried the puck through the neutral zone before handing the puck off to Mark Scheifele along the boards in the offensive zone. The 1st line center bought a bit of time before hitting Dylan Samberg with a pass at the blueline, allowing the defender to step in only slightly before he rocketed a shot by Dallas’ Jake Oettinger to give Winnipeg an early lead. WPG 1-0. As the period reached the midway point, the visitors had their best shift when the Stars’ top unit almost capitalized on a scramble in front of Connor Hellebuyck. After another strong shift by Dallas, the Jets had another glorious chance when Scheifele deked out the goaltender but failed to slip the puck into the net as it banged against the post and away from danger. With 3 minutes left, Winnipeg dumped the puck into Dallas’ zone with Scheifele in pursuit. After a brief battle along the boards in the left corner, the top pivot managed to quickly pull the puck out and send it to Connor in the low left face-off circle. With a lightning release, the American sniper had put the biscuit by the Stars’ goalie before he had a chance to move. WPG 2-0. While Dallas led on the shot counter after the 1st (9-6), Winnipeg was playing physical (Jets 14-6 in the hit department) and had the better of the expected goals battle (0.77 to 0.33).



The Texans started the middle period off well, pressuring the Manitobans on back-to-back shifts and testing Hellebuyck on a few occasions. Winnipeg’s 2nd line was able to tilt the ice the other way, with Cole Perfetti playing a big role in a long cycle shift in the opponent’s end. The Jets’ top forward line created a great chance when they rushed up the ice to gain the zone, before Scheifele fed the puck to Connor and allowed him to perform a picture perfect give & go with Josh Morrissey. A notable plateau for KFC, as he ties Scheifele for the team lead with 35 goals on the season. WPG 3-0. The True Northers maintained the speed & ferocity they had in the opening frame and it allowed them to clog up the neutral zone and create turnovers with good back pressure. In the end, Dallas once again had more shots than Winnipeg (8-4) in the period and with the help of a late powerplay, the Stars were able to take a slight lead in the expected goals battle (1.11-1.09 DAL). With the Jets’ almost perfect record when leading after two periods (35-0-1) and Dallas’ struggles on the powerplay against our team (0 for 10 this yr), the visiting franchise had a big task ahead of them.



The 3rd period opened up with some cautious play from both squads in the first 5 minutes, but then the Stars were able to string together a couple offensive zone shifts in a row. Winnipeg did a good job of keeping the chances to the perimeter and a nice stand up by Samberg at the Jets’ blueline stopped a Dallas counter attack in it’s tracks. With just their 3rd shot of the period (13th of game), the home team added to their lead when the 4th line had a couple bodies in the shooting lane for Dylan DeMelo to unleash a point shot, only for Morgan Barron to deflect it in (6th of yr). WPG 4-0. The Dallas Stars were able to ruin Hellebuyck’s shutout attempt late in the game when a Winnipeg miscue on coverage in their end allowed Mason Marchment to be left alone in front of the Jets’ net. A lost puck battle behind the goal line saw the puck slip by DeMelo to the uncovered Star and Bucky couldn’t react in time to deny the chance. WPG 4-1. Even though there was still over 3 minutes left, Winnipeg did a fine job of denying further offensive looks and took a 10 point lead over the Stars in the standings when the final horn blew.



*****



FINAL SCORE:  WINNIPEG JETS 4 DALLAS STARS 1



FINAL STATS



Shots: 25-22 DAL / Hits: 35-17 WPG / Face-Offs: 51.8% DAL / x Goals: 2.19 WPG – 1.69 DAL /



MoneyPuck’s Deserve to Win: 59.2% WPG / High-Medium Danger Scoring Chances: 9 to 6 DAL



*****



SCORING SUMMARY from ESPN






*****



SHOT CHART from MoneyPuck






*****



ADVANCED SKATER STATS from MoneyPuck









*****



GOALIE STATS from ESPN & MoneyPuck









*****



If you would like to dive deeper into the game’s stats, follow the links below to the game pages:



MoneyPuck: Dallas Stars vs. Winnipeg Jets – Friday March 14 2025 – MoneyPuck.com



NaturalStatTrick: Dallas Stars @ Winnipeg Jets, 2025-03-14



*****



BOJA’s Observations:




Connor Hellebuyck came very close to a career-high 7th shutout of the campaign, but a defensive miscue cost him that personal distinction. The tender still played very well, turning aside 24 of 25 shots for a .960 save percentage and a +0.69 Goals Saved Above Expected.



Brandon Tanev picked up his first point as a Winnipeg Jet in 2024-25 and his 18th point of the year on fellow 4th liner Morgan Barron’s 6th goal of the season.



The Jets’ top forward line of Kyle Connor, Mark Scheifele, & Gabriel Vilardi came to play last night. The trio combined for 8 shots on net & 7 points in just over 17 minutes of ice-time. Winnipeg will need these guys to play like this in the playoffs if they want to make a long run.



The overall game last night was up there with the Jets’ best games of the year. They stifled the Stars’ offense all night and limited a team that averages about 2.4 expected goals per game to just 1.69.



Holy cow!! The Jets managed not only to out-hit their opposition (something that rarely occurs), but they actually doubled up the Stars in the bodycheck count (35 to 17).



With the win over the Dallas Stars, the Winnipeg Jets’ “magic number” to lock up the top spot in the Central Division is now 12. Every time the Jets get a regulation win or the Stars suffer a regulation loss, that number will decrease by 1 (0.5 decrease for any WPG or DAL overtime loss). Once the number gets to 0, then the True Northers have sealed up the division title.




A very enjoyable way to start the weekend for us Jets’ fans….a dominating win over a hated rival and the franchise’s best outing since the conclusion of the 4 Nations Face-Off. With Winnipeg off until Sunday evening, my attention will switch to the Manitoba Moose, who will play a pair of games against the Iowa Wild this weekend. Will Fabian Wagner continue his four game scoring streak (5 goals) and can the mini-Jets start piling up wins to steal a wildcard spot with a late charge? Guess I will find out.



Enjoy your weekend everyone.



UP NEXT: Winnipeg Jets @ Seattle Kraken  – Sunday, March 16th @ 8:00 pm CST...

Read Full Article.