The Stars extinguish the Jets

Johnston strikes short-handed, Stars burn on

One candle had to fall

The Dallas Stars and the Winnipeg Jets each came to Canada Life Centre having already snuffed a candle on qualification night: the Stars took down the Sharks, the Jets the Blues. Neither club had any Gauntlet past, and they had never met in one. In the Round of 16 there was no second chance. One flame would go cold, and by the end of the night only 12 still burned.

A second-period blaze

After a scoreless first, Dallas caught fire. Thomas Harley, a defenseman, ripped a slap shot at 2:13 of the second off a feed from Ryan Suter. Then, with Nils Lundkvist in the box for slashing, Wyatt Johnston struck short-handed with a wrist shot at 5:20. Cole Perfetti answered 3:08 later, Vladislav Namestnikov and Nikolaj Ehlers assisting. Then Brenden Dillon went off for tripping at 9:58, and Matt Duchene made Winnipeg pay, snapping a power-play goal at 11:57 with Johnston and Evgenii Dadonov on the assists. It stood up as the winner.

Wedgewood holds the line

Dillon, whose minor had opened the door for Duchene, beat Scott Wedgewood with a wrist shot at 10:05 of the third, 18:08 after the goal before it, set up by Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor. That was all Winnipeg got. Wedgewood finished with 31 saves on 33 shots, and Connor Hellebuyck made 26 at the other end. The Jets went dark. The Stars burned on.