DeMelo's Late Winner Helps Jets to 2-1 Win Over Seattle

The Winnipeg Jets ran into a red-hot goaltender on Thursday night.

Falling behind early, the Jets got the game-tying tally from Mark Scheifele in the second period, before defenceman Dylan DeMelo wired home the third game-winner of his career with exactly 27 seconds left to play.

Connor Hellebuyck performed well, but it was his counterpart Joey Daccord who stole the show for most of the Western Conference showdown.

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Hellebuyck earned his 28th win of the season with 18 saves on the night, while Daccord turned aside 34 of Winnipeg's 36 shots.

“Yeah, that was awesome. Obviously, I’m a guy who doesn’t score a lot," DeMelo said of skating in his 600th career game post-game.

"That was special in its own right. And then to get the game winner, that just kind of put the cherry on the top, and then to get the win. It was a really special night and one that I’ll remember.”

Youngster Matty Beniers got things going for Seattle just 8:12 into the game. A floating pass from the defensive zone caught the Jets standing still, before Kaapo Kakko fed Beniers for a redirection from the top of the crease which beat Hellebuyck for the early 1-0 score.

After falling behind on the scoreboard and the shot chart through one period of play, Winnipeg bounced back in the second. Scheifele found his 27th of the year, while Winnipeg put up 20 shots on goal to Seattle's 5, taking a 28-16 shot advantage through 40 minutes.

The 28th-place Kraken took a penalty midway through the middle stanza, resulting in the Jets' first goal of the game. With Jamie Oleksiak in the box for interference, Scheifele hammered home the power play marker, with Kyle Connor and Josh Morrissey grabbing the helpers.

Hellebuyck turned aside an Andre Burakovsky breakaway chance off a lazy Logan Stanley line change, while Daccord made a number of tremendous stops on Jets forwards in tight, setting up an all-or-nothing third period.

The Jets pummelled Daccord with shot after shot, to no avail through the midway point of the third period. The closest they came to bulging the twine was off of two shots that found iron. Both Stanley and Adam Lowry hit the crossbar as the period wore on, before DeMelo finally found a way to break through the dam.

Ripping a bullet through a crowd off a Nik Ehlers offering, DeMelo brought the fans to their collective feet on his second tally of the season.

"A great bounce off the boards and I saw it coming out, right into the middle and tried to get my stick on it," Ehlers said. "And saw the forward bite down on me, and Smoky came in in a pretty good position. Lows and Al going to the net, creating some traffic, and a great shot."

Seattle pulled for the extra attacker, but with 27 seconds it was too little, too late, as Winnipeg shut things down.

“I think it was just euphoria to be honest with you," DeMelo said of his goal celebration. "I was just so pumped. I had my hands up in the air for quite a while, so I just thought I’d look up there as well to see if there was anything up there. You just kind of let your emotions take over. And with the time of the game, you just kind of let loose a little bit. It wasn’t too crazy, but like I said, I wasn’t necessarily surprised, but you just let your emotions get the best of you a little bit there.”

Hellebuyck finished the night with 18 stops on the 19 pucks sent his way, while Daccord made 34 saves on Winnipeg's 36 shots.

Next up for Winnipeg is the final test of the season-high, eight-game homestand on Saturday, to which the Jets will host the Calgary Flames in some Hockey Night in Canada action.

*With files from Donald Nernberg