Jets eliminate Wild with dominant effort in Game 5

WINNIPEG - Jacob Trouba opened the scoring just 31 seconds into Game 5, and the fans inside Bell MTS Place didn't sit down too often after that.
The Winnipeg Jets scored four goals in the opening 20 minutes, and rode that momentum to a 5-0 win over the Minnesota Wild, giving the Jets their first-ever Stanley Cup Playoff series win.

Along with Trouba and Little, Brandon Tanev and Joel Armia also scored their first of the playoffs in the first period, while Mark Scheifele added a power play marker in the third to round out the scoring.
Connor Hellebuyck made 30 saves for his second consecutive shutout of the series, and has now gone 141:37 without allowing a goal.
The Vezina Trophy Finalist made 10 saves in the middle frame, including a stop on a Nino Niederreiter breakaway.

"I thought the team was great in front of me. The guys details were fantastic. Any time you can get that many in the first period, that kind of sinks the other team, especially deep in a series like this," said Hellebuyck.
"I like to be big and boring, and I like to be in position. I think that's the way goaltending is going. I think if you're out of position, that means you did something wrong, and I don't like to do things wrong."

Winnipeg's quick start began when Trouba received a pass from Scheifele at the top of the circle, took a couple strides, and beat Devan Dubnyk with a quick wrist shot to put the Jets up 1-0.
The Jets would increase the lead minutes later, when off a Paul Stastny offensive zone face-off win, Dustin Byfuglien's wrist shot from the point was deflected by Little and past Dubnyk.
"I've had some chances this series, and to get one like that where it just kind of tips in and goes in really slow, I'll take anything," said Little. "It definitely feels nice to be moving on.
"Once you get that action, that taste for it, you want to keep going."

With 8:50 left in the opening period, Matt Dumba's cross-ice pass to Jonas Brodin ended up in the defenceman's skates, and Tanev was right there to pounce. Tanev quickly fired it on goal, beating Dubnyk under the glove.
Just 49 seconds later, a rebound off an Andrew Copp one timer came out to Byfuglien at the point, and his blast went off Armia and in.
Dubnyk was pulled after that, with six saves on 10 shots.
"I think when you have the opportunity to eliminate somebody, you want to jump on them as fast and hard as possible," said Blake Wheeler. "Teams that are on the brink come in with hope. The faster you take it away from them, the faster you can squash them a little bit.

"We wanted to play them hard and fast, and try to buzz them as much as we could in the first period… It was just trying to break their will early on."

Minnesota tried to push back in the second period, but the Jets killed off two minor penalties to keep the visitors off the scoreboard.
"These guys want to win bad," said head coach Paul Maurice.
"You get a 4-0 lead, and they don't have a lot of experience with that. We've got the big lead, and we took a half step to slow.
"Nobody is good in the playoffs playing like that. Then we got back on it."

Just prior to the end of a scoreless second period, the Wild were assessed a bench minor for too many men.
The Jets took advantage 32 seconds into the third, when Scheifele whipped home his fourth of the series from the slot, increasing the Jets lead to 5-0.
"I'm pretty excited right now," said Scheifele, who tipped his cap to the fans inside and outside the rink tonight.
"They've been awesome. They've been awesome all year. Every playoff game we've had here has been unbelievable. They were definitely a huge part of our start tonight."

Now with the First Round in the books, Wheeler and the Jets are focused on keeping their game sharp going forward.
"It's a great step. It's not time to dwell on that, but at the same time we're proud of the work we've put in," said Wheeler. "Minnesota is a great team. To advance in the playoffs is a big accomplishment, especially when you're playing a group like that that has a ton of playoff experience. Every year, it seems like they're a contender. Those guys had a great season. We feel fortunate to be moving on."
ICE CHIPS
Nikolaj Ehlers was a late scratch from the game, and Maurice jokingly described the young forward's ailment as "general malaise" after the final buzzer.
Joel Armia also left the game after the first period and didn't return, but Maurice didn't have an update on the Finnish forward.