With Andrew Ladd's three goals, including the shootout winner, the Winnipeg Jets moved back into a tie with the New York Rangers for the eighth and final playoff spot in the NHL's Eastern Conference with a 4-3 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The win puts the Jets in a position where they now control their own destiny. With the loss by the Rangers to the Philadelphia Flyers last night, the Jets can now take advantage of the struggling Rangers as the two teams now have 46 point each and share the eighth and final playoff spot in the East, although technically the Rangers still claim the spot as although the Rangers have one less win than the Jets, the Jets have played an extra game. The Jets now have their games played evened out with the rest of the conference, as they led with games played most of the season; and the games in-hand factor will be evened out come the next few games. To make the playoffs now, even without an unlikely collapse by the Washington Capitals and hopefully without a surge of some kind by the Rangers, I figure the Jets need to go 3-1-1 in their last five to beat out the Blueshirts for the last spot in the Eastern Conference, barring any late heroics from the Buffalo Sabres, and the first playoff birth for the Jets/Thrashers franchise since 2007.
It's a real shame however, that the Jets seemingly won't be able to grab the South-East division title and deliver to Winnipeg their first NHL championship banner. Especially when they were so close.
It was the Jets fourth straight victory. A season high.
