CHICAGO — That was supposed to be the week where the Winnipeg Jets’ playoff dreams went up in smoke.
Where the proverbial roof was about to cave in.
After they eked out a shootout win over the New York Rangers last Sunday, the Jets were set to face a dramatically higher degree of difficulty with a visit from the Vegas Golden Knights and a pair of games against the league-leading Colorado Avalanche.
David Zalubowski / The Associated Press
Winnipeg Jets left wing Cole Koepke (45) drives past Colorado Avalanche defenceman Brent Burns, right, to score in the second period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, March 28, 2026, in Denver. Increased secondary scoring by Koepke and others is part of the reason the Jets are still in the playoff race.
This was clearly sink or swim territory for a team having difficulty cutting into a five-point gap between them and the Nashville Predators.
But a funny thing happened on the way to the Jets being forced to lean into where their first round draft pick might be — and whether or not it was going to be in the top five later this June.
Instead of crumbling against a team that has had their number in both the regular season and playoffs lately or serving as road kill for a team that’s been first overall for the bulk of the campaign, the Jets found a way to stay afloat.
A victory over the Golden Knights on Tuesday set the stage, but a 3-2 loss to the Avalanche on Thursday threatened to leave the Jets in critical condition.
However, a tidy 4-2 victory in the rematch on Saturday only enhanced the belief the Jets have been building since coming out of the Olympic break.
When you throw in a 3-1 win over the Avalanche on Mar. 14, you can understand why the Jets weren’t worried about the mathematical equation or how big a longshot they had become.
No, winning two regular-season games against the team setting the pace in the NHL doesn’t guarantee success during the final nine outings on the docket that are guaranteed.
Nor does it mean the Jets have planted a seed of doubt in the minds of the Avalanche if they somehow complete the comeback and slide into the final wild-card berth in the Western Conference.
It does show that the Jets still deserve to be in the discussion — and that they’re not going to go down without a fight, even if those on Team Tankathon would prefer the losses pile up to increase the odds of a top-five draft pick.
“We are playing confident right now, I really like our game defensively and it is leading to us getting opportunities on the offensive end, and we have started to put pucks in a little bit more and that is huge,” Jets forward Cole Koepke told reporters in Denver. “We have to keep chipping away, keep winning our games and hopefully get a little bit more help on the outside but we have to make sure we take care of our own games first.”
As the Jets prepare to continue a four-game road trip against the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday at United Center, only one thing is certain.
Each of the teams remaining in the chase for the eighth seed in the West have flaws, including the Jets.
So, how have the Jets transformed from underachieving disappointment to forcing themselves back in the race?
Well, since suffering through the 11-game winless skid that is still threatening to leave them on the outside looking in, the Jets have responded by going 16-8-7.
By collecting 39 of a possible 64 points, the Jets put together a .609 winning percentage.
For the sake of context, when the Jets put together the best record in franchise history and captured the Presidents’ Trophy last season, their winning percentage at the end of 82 games was .707.
That was aided by an incredible 15-1 start out of the gate, which doesn’t make it any less impressive, it just meant the level of stress was mildly different than the pressure on the current group as they’ve battled to remain relevant and put some heat on the teams they’ve been trying to hunt down and eventually leapfrog.
Now, a 32-game sample size doesn’t make their run sustainable, nor does it ignore the 15-22-5 record posted during the first 42 games of the campaign.
Let’s not forget, this was a group that started out 9-3 in the current season before posting only six wins in the time between Nov. 4 and Jan. 8.
This isn’t about getting bogged down by the numbers or projecting what it would take to sneak past the Seattle Kraken, Los Angeles Kings or the Predators either.
It’s virtually impossible to figure out who is going to do what during the stretch run, as each of the teams have been erratic at various points.
The Jets have 18 points available to them and they’ll need to accumulate at least a point and usually two in each remaining game if they plan to overcome the odds.
No matter how these final nine games go, there will be plenty of time to sift through what went wrong and where the Jets didn’t measure up.
For the time being, the players and coaching staff are planning to live in the moment, leaning into what they’re doing well while trying to augment the areas that haven’t been at an optimal level — like a power play that needs to return to crisper puck movement and embrace a shooting and attack mentality.
One of the keys to the Jets’ turnaround revolves around playing faster and a renewed commitment to defensive structure.
Having Connor Hellebuyck as locked in as he’s been in the majority of his starts since Mar. 1 (and during the Olympics) and backup Eric Comrie riding a personal six-game winning streak, goaltending has been a strength — and it must continue to be.
“I thought Helly was outstanding and that’s what we’re going to need nine more of,” Jets head coach Scott Arniel told reporters in Denver after Saturday’s win. “He came up large when he needed to be and that’s what you need. When Helly can see pucks or he gets a look at that first shot, he’s usually pretty strong.”
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Winnipeg Jets Game Days
On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop.
The template that’s led to success also includes a highly productive top line, a second line centred by Adam Lowry that has found the scoresheet more often and examples of secondary scoring that have become far more prevalent, like Koepke provided on Saturday.
A revamped defence corps is benefiting from a return to health for Josh Morrissey and Neal Pionk, improved play from Dylan Samberg and the boost Elias Salomonsson has delivered during this latest recall from the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League.
Can the Jets keep it up and do what looked virtually unthinkable just a few weeks ago?
It won’t take long to find out.
winnipegfreepress.com/kenwiebe
Ken Wiebe is a sports reporter for the Free Press, with an emphasis on the Winnipeg Jets. He has covered hockey and provided analysis in this market since 2000 for the Winnipeg Sun, The Athletic, Sportsnet.ca and TSN. Ken was a summer intern at the Free Press in 1999 and returned to the Free Press in a full-time capacity in September of 2023. Read more about Ken.
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