It’s almost like the Winnipeg Jets can’t believe this whole Vegas Golden Knights thing either. The expansion team is now one win away from an appearance in the Stanley Cup Final.

The only thing standing in their way? The Jets, who, before this season hadn’t won a playoff game since they played in Atlanta as the Thrashers.

But even the Jets, a young team that wasn’t close to the playoffs last year, seem like the ‘establishment’ team in this Western Conference Final. Everyone’s just been waiting for Vegas and its team chock full of second-liners to fizzle out. It hasn’t happened. 

If this were any other two teams, pundits and fans alike would be leaving the Jets for dead. A 3-1 series deficit is a massive hole in any round. In the Conference Finals, it’s pretty much a death knell, as teams rarely have the juice required at this stage in the game to prop themselves back into it. 

So, is it done? 

No, it’s not. The Jets are up against a wall, but everything the team was saying after Game 4 (in which the Jets dominated Vegas but couldn’t beat goaltender Marc-André Fleury) was correct.

https://twitter.com/NHLJets/status/997686858422276096

https://twitter.com/reporterchris/status/997678981456453632

The Jets have outshot Vegas in every game of the series. They have the better underlying numbers in the series, by far. Yes, Fleury is playing out of his mind and all it takes in the playoffs is a hot goalie. And yes, we know, it’s somewhat ridiculous at this point to proclaim that Fleury and the rest of the team just has to come back to earth at some point.

But they do. And they will. The rest of this series, and maybe the Stanley Cup itself, rests on Game 6. The Jets will win Game 5 at home, and they’ll be tasked to go into the hostile T-Mobile Arena for Game 6.

If they can come out of that victorious, they’ll win Game 7 at home. It won’t be easy, but the path is there for the Jets to come back and win this series.

Or, you know, we’re just being stubborn and should accept at this point that the Vegas Golden Knights are like nothing anyone has ever seen before and shouldn’t ever be doubted.

It’s probably foolish, but we still think the Jets stand a good chance of winning this series.