WINNIPEG Malcom Brown Jersey , Manitoba — Nobody needs to tell Winnipeg Jets fans what happened the last time their team had a 3-1 lead in a playoff series.
After Dave Ellett scored in double overtime in Game 4 of their first-round matchup against the Edmonton Oilers in 1990, Jets 1.0 went on to lose three consecutive games, continuing their decade-long heartbreak against their hated rival.
The other time the Jets were up 3-1 in the postseason, against the Vancouver Canucks in 1992, they promptly went on a three-game losing streak, too.
In fact, you have to go back to Winnipeg’s days in the World Hockey Association to find a killer instinct.
During the 1978-79 season, the Jets, led by super Swedes Kent Nilsson and Lars-Erik Sjoberg as well as Terry Ruskowski, took a 3-1 lead against 18-year-old Wayne Gretzky and the Oilers. They lost Game 5 on the road but locked up their third AVCO Cup championship in four years in Game 6 with a 7-3 victory.
If the Jets are to exorcise some demons Friday night against the Minnesota Wild at Bell MTS Place, they’re going to have to do it without defenseman Josh Morrissey, who was suspended one game for a vicious cross-check to the face of Wild forward Eric Staal during the Jets’ 2-0 victory Tuesday night.
When you factor in the absence of Toby Enstrom Russell Wilson Jersey , who has been out for several weeks with a bad ankle; Dmitri Kulikov, who had back surgery in March; and Tyler Myers, who was hurt in Game 3, three of the Jets’ top four rearguards are expected to be out for this all-important game.
“It doesn’t really cross my mind,” Bryan Little told The Winnipeg Sun after practice Thursday. “It’s going to take a lot more for us to get nervous about that.”
Staal told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that he wasn’t spending any time worrying that Morrissey didn’t receive a longer suspension.
“It doesn’t matter,” he said after Thursday’s practice at Xcel Energy Center. “Regardless of what (the NHL) decided, it wouldn’t have made a difference. I’m worried about trying to help our team win the game up there and take (the series) home. That’s all I’m focused on.”
The Jets recalled defenseman Sami Niku from the Manitoba Moose, mere hours after dipping into their farm club for fellow D-man Tucker Poolman. The young Finn made his NHL debut two weeks ago, scoring his first goal against the Montreal Canadiens.
The Wild will continue to be without two of their best players, too — defenseman Ryan Suter, who broke an ankle April 2, and forward Zach Parise Brian Poole Jersey , who is out long term with a broken sternum.
Ryan Murphy will step in on the Wild blue line for Carson Soucy and play his first NHL postseason game. He told the Star Tribune that he sees a pattern.
“I actually made my NHL debut against the Winnipeg Jets, too, and my Minnesota debut against the Jets,” he said. “So it’s Winnipeg all the time.”
Matt Ryan pulled out his secret weapons to seal the five-year contract extension that made him the NFL's highest-paid player.Ryan brought his infant twin boys, Marshall and John, to Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank's office on Friday, when the deal was signed.
"Tough negotiators," a smiling Ryan said Monday.
The twins, born on April 8 following a complicated pregnancy for Ryan's wife, Sarah, and the new contract are reasons for Ryan to have an optimistic new focus on his future.
The extension announced on Thursday is worth at least $100 million , a league record Andrew Adams Jersey , and could be worth as much as $150 million.
Ryan has been the figurehead of the Falcons during their most successful 10-year run in franchise history. He says he sees the contract as an incentive for the future instead of a reward for leading the team to six playoff seasons, including the Super Bowl run in 2016, when he was named NFL MVP.
"We've had some really good teams," Ryan said. "But I think the best is in front of us and that's what has me so excited about my future here and our future as an organization, that we have a lot of really good pieces in place."
Ryan said when he was drafted in 2008 it was his hope "to be the quarterback that a franchise leans on for a long time, 15, 20 years. That's kind of still where my head is at."
Before the extension, Ryan, who turns 33 on May 17, could have been a free agent after the 2018 season.
The threat of Ryan entering free agency could have been the biggest story of training camp. That was a distraction Ryan and the Falcons were eager to avoid.
Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff described the extension as "our primary focus this offseason."
Now Ryan can focus on football instead of finances as he prepares for the 2018 season.
"I'm happy with the timing of it," Ryan said. "I think the organization is very happy with the timing of it. Certainly when we get back to training camp it's 100 percent about football. ... I always felt confident it was going to get done in a smooth way and in a timely manner and I feel like it did."
There was little question the Falcons would keep Ryan, who has helped to reshape the perception of the franchise.
Before the Ryan era Davante Adams Jersey , the Falcons had only eight playoff seasons in 42 years, and none in back-to-back years. With Ryan, the Falcons have made the playoffs in six of 10 years, including the 2016 Super Bowl run.
The contract extension brings continued stability for an offense that also returns wide receivers Julio Jones and Mohamed Sanu and running backs Devonta Freeman and Tevin Coleman. Dimitroff gave the offense a boost by making wide receiver Calvin Ridley its first-round draft pick last month.
Like Jones, Ridley is from Alabama.
"I guess I'm an honorary Alabama quarterback now," Ryan said. "... I'm very excited about Calvin coming here."
Ryan's new deal topped the total compensation of the $84 million, three-year guaranteed deal that quarterback Kirk Cousins received from the Minnesota Vikings.
Someday, Ryan will be able to show his twins a photo taken by the Falcons of the day they were in the room when he signed the extension.
"It was a special day for our family," he said. "I was excited that they were there. That will always be a great memory for us but also a really cool picture for me to be able to show them when they get older. They won't remember it, but I'll tell them I was OK at one point."
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