1. Was it an icing? Or wasn't it?
Maybe it wouldn't have made a world of difference on Friday night. The Jets were that good in the first period. But Winnipeg's first goal came after what appeared to be a questionable icing call on the ice.
There's no doubt Minnesota dumped the puck in from behind the red line. But after bouncing off the end wall and towards the crease, Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck played the puck with the closest Jets player in a footrace near the top of the left circle.
Hellebuyck touched the puck well before the linesman blew his whistle.
Wild coach Bruce Boudreau was visibly upset with the call, and moments later, off the ensuing faceoff in the Jets' offensive zone, Jacob Trouba gained control of the puck and wired a shot past Devan Dubnyk for a 1-0 lead 31 seconds into the game.
Again, it very well could have been a footnote. Perhaps the Jets would have piled on offensively without it. But there's no doubt that the goal took the wind out of Minnesota's sails before the game had even truly begun.
2. It was all downhill from there.
Bryan Little's nifty deflection of a Dustin Byfuglien point shot went into the net at 5:42 of the first. Less than six minutes after that, Brandon Tanev forced a turnover and beat Dubnyk with a shot to make it 3-0. Just 49 seconds after that, another Byfuglien shot was deflected in, this time by Joel Armia.
It took 11 minutes, 59 seconds for the Jets to score four goals, a lead it took with them to both the first and second intermissions.
3. The loss closed the books on the 2017-18 season for the Wild.
The year will go down as one leaving a whole bunch of questions. What would have happened with a full season of Zach Parise? How good this group have been with a healthy roster of players for more than a game or two at a time? Would this series have been any different with Parise and defenseman Ryan Suter healthy for every game?
It was also one with a number of revelations.
Eric Staal still has plenty in the tank. Jason Zucker took the next step in his career. Nick Seeler showed down the stretch and in the playoffs like he can be a potential building block on the back end. Jordan Greenway looks like he has the potential to be a quality power forward.
The Wild is one of 16 teams in the NHL to reach the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but there will undoubtedly be some changes made this summer. How many, and how drastic, remains to be seen. Stay tuned.
Related:
- Tough start dooms Wild in season-ending loss
- Eden Prairie duo reunites in playoffs
- Playoff Central
