Jets' fairytale ending at odds with Golden Knights' storybook rise
'It's not a Cinderella story,' says Winnipeg captain Blake Wheeler, 'they're real'
Winnipeg Jets fans are salivating over the chance to take home the Stanley Cup for the first time ever. But to do it, they'll have to solve an expansion team that coalesced from nothingness into a Cup contender.
"They opened people's eyes real quick," said Jets captain Blake Wheeler. "Just watching them in the playoffs, it's not a fluke, it's not a Cinderella, they're real. It's gonna be a real tough matchup."
The Jets don't have much of a breather after knocking off the Presidents' Trophy-winning Nashville Predators in round 2 on Thursday night.
Overall, Golden Knights players have accumulated nearly twice as many playoff games as Wheeler's teammates (264 to 528 going into this season) — including three Cups for goalie Marc-Andre Fleury alone.
The Jets pride themselves on being a fast team, but so do the Knights.
"There's a lot of similarities," Wheeler said. "Real up tempo, try to force the other team into our game … throughout their lineup, they have guys that can push the pace. And we feel the same way about our team."
"It's gonna be a very fast, speed-based series," said head coach Paul Maurice, saying the series will be fought in the neutral zone.
As for what will be different this series – starting off with a two-game homestand – Maurice dropped one of his trademark quips: "The start time."
Games starting at 9:30 p.m. ET (8:30 p.m. CT) punished fans and couldn't have been easy on players either. But three of the first four games this round start at 8 p.m. ET (7 p.m. CT) or earlier.
After their ferocious Game 7 effort, Wheeler had said he would sleep all day Friday.
Yet he was front and centre as the Jets faced the media Friday afternoon.
"The coffee tasted great this morning [but] we're still in the mix, still playing," he said. "You're groggy but you're excited, you're pumped … to get ready for another tough series, but it's going to be a lot of fun."
The Jets went 1-1-1 in the regular season against the expansion Golden Knights, who've been idle since last Sunday after knocking the San Jose Sharks out of the post-season with a 3-0 win in Game 6.
Jets centre Mark Scheifele, who leads the league with 11 playoff goals, was proud to still be competing for a Canadian club.
"Laying it all on the line, each and every night, that's what it's all about," said the Kitchener, Ont., native, who has 16 points in 12 games. "It's not about personal accomplishments in the playoffs."
Watch: Scheifele on being Canada's team
Winnipeg goalie Connor Hellebuyck, known for his intensity, said the Jets enjoyed the Game 7 victory for "a minute," but now the focus is on round 3.
"It's only round 2. We're here to win a Stanley Cup, we haven't achieved anything yet," he said.
Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff is pals with Vegas' assistant GM Kelly McCrimmon (a longtime head coach of the Brandon Wheat Kings) and texted him congratulations when they clinched.
McCrimmon returned the favour on Thursday night.
The Jets have built themselves through the draft and savvy trades over the past few years.
Asked about grabbing Jets centre Paul Stastny at the trade deadline, Cheveldayoff said he put his due diligence in and hasn't been surprised with how well it turned out.
"Some of his best performances are stuff that none of us get to see, and really happens inside the dressing room, on the plane, and sitting beside the players — just the experience he has," Cheveldayoff said. "Quality player, you can see that on the ice, quality person … until you have a player, someone like that, that can provide those experiences, you really don't know how much you have."
The Knights are only the third expansion team to make the playoffs in their inaugural season, and they kicked off this fall with wins in eight of their first nine games.
"The next expansion team's got a tough act to follow," Maurice quipped.
He didn't bring up the Cinderella motif, but Maurice's estimation of what it will take to defeat them hit pretty close to the mark.
"Think of all the very strong teams — like Nashville — that don't get the opportunity. Everybody is going to be focused. Everybody is going to be wired," Maurice said.
"Figuring out a way to enjoy it, and I'm not talking casually enjoying it, but bringing that enjoyment into the intensity of your game, is what I thought we did very well in Game 7."
They're focused now, but Hellebuyck says no matter what happens, the magic of this playoff run will not be forgotten.
"It's a moment that I believe all of us are going to cherish for the rest of our lives."
Watch: Hellebuyck on how fans are making this playoff run special
