There’s must-win games, and then there are two teams fighting to keep their season alive.

The Winnipeg Jets entered tonight’s contest against the Seattle Kraken just three points out of a wildcard spot. Meanwhile, the Kraken sat six points out, and they had just a little extra to lose tonight compared to Winnipeg.

San Jose is facing off against Chicago, while Los Angeles and Nashville, both tied for the second wildcard spot, are battling for the second time in six days.

When it came to the game, it was a matter of getting ahead and maintaining momentum. Winnipeg didn’t get ahead, but they managed to gain ground and maintain momentum.

The biggest story for Winnipeg was their power play clicking, going three-for-three on the night, but it was overshadowed by Mark Scheifele, who notched his 900th career point, and inched closer to 100 points on the season.

The Kraken struck first as Jordan Eberle scored on the rebound with his backhand, and that broke the deadlock nearly halfway through the period to make it 1-0 Seattle.

Turning the tide was special teams, and it certainly turned the tide as the Jets found new life, scoring their first of three consecutive power-play goals. Jonathan Toews got close on Phillip Grubauer to pick up the rebound and tie the game 1-1.

Berkly Catton’s holding the stick penalty was costly, and it was the main reason that Seattle didn’t get out of the first period with a lead.

While the period was over, Winnipeg didn’t take their foot off the gas. They had a bunch of strong scoring chances, but Seattle’s defence limited them to close the period out.

Another costly penalty behind the Jets’ net went to Adam Larsson, who high-sticked Nino Niederreiter. The Jets didn’t waste time on the power play, striking 38 seconds into the man advantage and making it 2-1 near the halfway mark of the second frame.

A nice passing sequence saw Scheifele find Gabriel Vilardi, but it was Toews’ smart deception behind the net to set up Vilardi in front of Grubauer for the go-ahead goal.

Winnipeg got another power play a few minutes later, and 57 seconds is all it took this time around for the Jets to strike. Scheifele got the puck across the ice to Kyle Connor for his first goal of the game. The Jets’ 3-1 lead and third power play goal of the game completely tilted the ice in their favour, and the crowd was behind them completely.

On Scheifele’s second assist of the game, he notched his 900th career NHL point, and the crowd erupted yet again for Scheifele.

Following the Jets going up 3-1, a mad dash in the pressbox occurred as the emergency backup goaltender raced downstairs. Phillip Grubauer left the game with an injury, and Joey Daccord would take over in the crease for Seattle.

The third period started with a quick Seattle goal and a continuing trend of early-period opposing goals. Jared McCann fired a beautiful wrist shot that beat Hellebuyck in the midsection to make it a 3-2 game.

Winnipeg didn’t let this phase them as Brad Lambert caught speed and had plenty of time and space to fire a wrist shot of his own to restore Winnipeg’s two-goal lead to make it 4-2.

Kyle Connor wasn’t done scoring for the night, and neither was Scheifele done assisting. Scheifele got the puck to Connor, who fired the puck as he was falling to make it a 5-2 game, and it continued a unique season of milestones for Mark Scheifele.

The fans loudly started chanting “KFC” and immediately broke out in a wave. The vibes were high at Canada Life Centre, and for good reason.

On Scheifele’s third assist of the game, that put his point total to 97 points on the season, tying him with Kyle Connor for the most in Winnipeg Jets 2.0 history. Connor set that point total in 2024-25, and Scheifele tied it the following year with 100 points in sight.

Scheifele also earned the first star of the game honours with his three-assist performance.

Winnipeg pushed harder as the period came to a close while trying to keep their lead intact, and Seattle would pull their goaltender to try to cut the deficit down. An empty net wouldn’t last long as Vladislav Namestnikov scored in his return game to make it 6-2 for Winnipeg and send the fans into a frenzy.

Keeping the wildcard point gap to just three points was huge for Winnipeg if they wanted to stay in the race.

With five games left in the season, it certainly feels like Winnipeg’s playoff chase will go down to the wire.

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