from Mark Spector of Sportsnet,

Finally, it is Winnipeg’s turn. At last, after all these years of front row seats to someone else’s run towards a Stanley Cup, Jets fans are cheering on a dominant, stacked home team that left someone else in their dust in Round 1.

Finally, Jets fans have a team that can take them somewhere, without a dynasty Oilers or Blackhawks club standing in their road. They are Western Canada’s team this morning. By Monday they’ll likely be Canada’s team — if they aren’t already.

“I’m not pinching myself. I’m not,” said one of the original Jets 2.0, Blake Wheeler, who came with this team from Atlanta for the 2011-12 season. “This isn’t a fairy tale. It feels real, so I’m staying in the moment.”

For the first time in Atlanta/Winnipeg franchise history, the Jets won a playoff series Friday, closing out the Minnesota Wild in five games with a 5-0 blow out. The Wild didn’t score a goal in the last seven periods of this series, and there wasn’t a player, coach, GM or scribe who left Bell MTS Place Friday wondering which was the superior team — injuries or no.

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from Ted Wyman of the Winnipeg Sun,