BILLEK: In the Dallas win, the Flyers looked like old, impenetrable men

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Nikolai Ehlers said it best Thursday night.

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“It was a lot like the game we've had with a lot of games where we didn't score a lot,” he told reporters after his Winnipeg Jets blanked the Dallas Stars 3-0 at the American Airlines Center.

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But that was just the first part of a brilliant response from the speedy winger, who scored his 200th NHL goal and 24th of the season — a goal that ultimately proved to be the game-winner.

“It's not just the opposing goals, it's seeing how everyone is working together out there, and we need that, so it's exciting,” he said.

Ehlers chose to go over the score line and went a little smaller. The Jets' performance in Dallas was critical.

This draft is the key to success if the Jets are going to make any playoff runs.

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It should look like that.

Thursday's game featured only brief moments of concern, rather than extended stretches or entire periods at a time.

Winnipeg was ready from the moment the puck dropped and they looked comfortable up 2-0 in the third period under pressure from Dallas.

This team played this style of play for 34 games before the wheels started to fall off in late January.

Thursday was a great reminder for them that they can do it again, not against the Western Conference or the Central Division, but against one of the strongest teams in the NHL.

Ehlers, who took to the pine in the third period against Nashville on Tuesday, also put his finger on that vein.

“They have a great team. “It shows what we can do if we play the right way, like we did against a great team,” he said. “We just have to buy.”

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In the first half of the season, there was no problem with buying, it was often rewarded with victories and there was a sense of doing it right.

A few games over the past couple of months have had that same feeling.

Sure, the Jets continued to win, but some of them were pretty hollow. Check out Tuesday's 4-3 overtime win in Nashville. Two points, yes. But after that, there was no one to praise the team.

The win in Dallas was something the team could be proud of.

“This is a game we want to play,” head coach Rick Bowness said. “Obviously, this team is a great hockey team. We knew we had to bring our A-game every shift and we did. That's how we want to play.”

The Jets' challenge now is not to get caught up in the emotional highs of victory.

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Next up is Colorado, and the Jets could face the Avalanche in the first round.

Saturday is an opportunity for this team to show they can repeat the process.

It takes four to win the round and 16 to win the Stanley Cup.

• “He wasn't happy with his performance,” Bowness said of Ehlers' breakthrough performance in Dallas. We had a good talk this morning. And it was really good. Listen, he was good at both ends of the ice, you saw that back check in the second period. As impressive as that goal was, I thought he had a really good game.”

• David Gustafsson's return to action after five games in the press box as a healthy scratch was exactly what he expected. Positioned to thrive on the third line, Gustafsson braced his 6-foot-2 frame to the front of the net and hit a spot kick to snap a 30-game drought — a nice gift for his 24th birthday.

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• I see Winnipeg's 13th and 14th forwards entering the playoffs as the seventh guy for each of the top and bottom six. If someone in the starting six is ​​injured, Cole Perfetti, who returned Thursday as a healthy scratch, would be a prime candidate to take his spot. Likewise, if someone in the bottom six were to get injured, Gustafsson would be a solid place to fill in. (There are also potential replacements, with someone like Nino Niederreiter stepping into the top six to fill in, while Gustafsson was a great audition on the third line, taking his spot.)

• The line of Ehlers, Sean Monahan and Tyler Toffoli has gone 8-2 in 15 games since Toffoli was added at the trade deadline last month. This is the click line. The Jets need the same from Mark Scheifele up top.

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• Speaking of which, Scheifele's line was good against Dallas. As we've seen in this line before, they didn't budge. They had some opportunities. Connor, set up by Scheifele in the slot, scored in the second period. The shift also saw strong control from Scheifele to negate an impressive rush.

• Will Winnipeg's third pairing of Dylan Samberg and Logan Stanley make the playoffs? They played well, minus the 0-for-2 they allowed, and the five Jets seemed to forget they had a few Stars behind them in the second. Still, Samberg crashed into the net, knocked it off the ropes, and saved the ball despite a delay-of-game penalty.

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