Bowness 'disgusted' after Golden Knights end Jets' season in 5 games

The Vegas Golden Knights cruised to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs with a 4-1 victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday night.

The Jets took the first game of the opening-round series, but the Golden Knights won four straight to doom Winnipeg into becoming the first team to be eliminated this spring.

Winnipeg head coach Rick Bowness was incensed after the defeat and let loose on his team in a brief, fiery postgame presser.

"Overall thoughts? I'm so disappointed and disgusted right now," he said. "That's my thoughts."

"But it's the same crap we saw in February," he added. "Soon as we were challenging for first place and teams were coming after us, we had no pushback. This series, we had no pushback. Their better players were so much better than ours, it's not even close."

Vegas was in control as soon as the puck dropped on Game 5, with forward Chandler Stephenson scoring less than a minute into the first period.

That trend continued in a three-goal second period, as Mark Stone struck just 42 seconds in. William Karlsson tacked on a little extra insurance, while Stephenson netted his second goal of the game on the power play.

Jets sniper Kyle Connor spoiled ex-teammate Laurent Brossoit's shutout in the third period with the goalie pulled, but it was ultimately too late for Winnipeg to mount a comeback. Pierre-Luc Dubois had a goal called back for a missed game stoppage in the final minutes of regulation.

Winnipeg outshot the Golden Knights 31-25, but Brossoit stood tall with a 30-save effort, good for a series-best .968 save percentage on the night. Jets netminder Connor Hellebuyck turned aside 21 shots and he was pulled for the extra attacker with over eight minutes remaining in the contest.

Dynamic Jets winger Nikolaj Ehlers made his series debut during the contest, but his return wasn't enough to help Winnipeg overcome absences to key cogs Josh Morrissey and Mark Scheifele, who were both out with injuries.

The Golden Knights were without a key defenseman of their own - Shea Theodore was a late scratch from the clash with an illness.

Vegas, which failed to make the playoffs for the first time last season, will take on either the Edmonton Oilers or the Los Angeles Kings in Round 2. The Oilers currently hold a 3-2 series lead.