The Winnipeg Jets will finish no lower than second in the Central Division after a 3-1 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Air Canada Centre on Saturday.
“You take every win as a positive; you have to do a lot of good things in this league to win games, no matter who you are playing,” Jets captain Blake Wheeler said. “This is obviously a team that’s trying to load up for a deep postseason run. We came in respecting the way they play the game and just wanted to be all over them, so I thought that was a real positive for us.”
The Jets (48-20-10) lead the Minnesota Wild by 10 points for second in the division and trail the Nashville Predators by five points for first. The Wild lost 4-1 to the Dallas Stars and the Predators lost 7-4 to Buffalo Sabres on Saturday. The Jets, Wild and Predators each have four games remaining.
Patrick Marleau scored, and Curtis McElhinney made 26 saves for the Maple Leafs (47-25-7), who had won 14 of 15 home games and won 5-4 at the New York Islanders on Friday.