The Jets’ playoff chances disappeared before their 4-2 loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.

Winnipeg finished ninth in the Eastern Conference, one spot out of the playoffs and better than last season.

“I’m going to have a hard time drawing on any positives you know, when you’re going home and watching the important hockey being played from your couch again,” Wheeler said.

“Hopefully, we can all look in the mirror and make a change, I think we’re on the right path, but ninth place is a first-class ticket home.”

The Jets were ahead 2-1 as they started the third period, but most already knew their result wouldn’t be enough to advance.

“We knew after the second we are out,” goaltender Ondrej Pavelec said.

“It’s not an excuse at all but it’s tough to play when you know you’ve got 20 minutes left in the season.”

Both the New York Rangers and Ottawa Senators clinched playoff spots with overtime wins Thursday night.

David Desharnais scored the go-ahead goal for Montreal, which came on strong in the third. Rene Bourque, Max Pacioretty and Brendan Gallagher had the others as the Canadiens (28-14-5) broke out of a slump that had seen them lose five of their previous six games.

James Wright and Wheeler scored for the Jets, who finished the season 24-21-3.

Montreal’s win keeps it in the hunt for the top spot in the Northeast Division where it remain tied with Boston.

But the win guarantees the Canadiens at least fourth in the East and home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

“It’s a big win against a desperate team,” Montreal captain Brian Gionta said.

“It’s huge. Home ice is really big in the playoffs. … You keep forcing plays, you keep being relentless on the puck, eventually they’re going to turn it over and they’re going to get tired and we took advantage in the third.”

Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban, who had two assists Thursday night, agreed with his captain.

“You want to use that fan base to your advantage. Now that we’ve got home-ice advantage we want to use that.”

The game started well for the Jets.

Chris Thorburn and Wright teamed up in the first to put the Jets ahead 1-0. Wright’s wrist shot from the slot found the upper corner of the Montreal net.

But the Canadiens still managed to spend a lot of time in Winnipeg’s zone.

The Jets were outshot 8-5 in the first and had managed only two more midway through the second when Bourque evened things up.

His shot from the faceoff circle found its way through a mad scramble in front of the Winnipeg net.

Wheeler put the Jets ahead again about five minutes later when he dug a puck out of a scrambling Carey Price in front of the Montreal net and slipped it in.

The third was only about two minutes old when Pavelec intercepted Gallagher’s shot, only to see it rise high in the air and bounce behind him, dribbling over the line before he could grab it.

Desharnais then scored on a 5-on-3 in the third to put the Canadians ahead for the first time.

Pacioretty scored later in the period for a little insurance.

The Jets looked like a good bet to make the postseason until a five-game slide. Even a 6-1-1 record in their last eight games failed to make up all the lost ground.

Their only chance was to win Thursday and have both New York and Ottawa lose all their remaining games.

Coach Claude Noel said he would talk about Winnipeg’s season and future Friday and confined his brief comments to the game.

“I thought the game was OK. They spent too much time in our zone, which I didn’t really like. … I would have liked us to play with a little more zip in the first two periods,” he said.

Note: Jets captain and scoring leader Andrew Ladd finished the season with the best points-per-game average by a Jets (Thrashers) player since Ilya Kovalchuk in 2008-09.

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Logan Couture and Joe Pavelski scored goals 30 seconds apart late in the third period to help the Sharks clinch the playoffs in their final home game of the season with a come-from-behind 3-2 victory over the Dallas Stars on Tuesday night.

“There’s a sense of relief, but it can’t be a sense of relaxation,” coach Todd McLellan said. “When we came in, we immediately looked at what happened tonight around the league, and there’s still a chance for home ice. It would be a nice thing to have.”

Raffi Torres also scored for the Sharks, who moved into a tie for fourth place in the West with Los Angeles with two games remaining in the race for home-ice advantage. The Sharks visit the Kings in the season finale Saturday after playing at Phoenix on Wednesday night.

It’s been quite a roller-coaster season for the Sharks, who won their first seven games and lost 17 of the next 23 before going on their current 12-3-1 stretch to save their season.

“It was a crazy year. It’s obviously not over yet,” Couture said. “Just the 48-game schedule, so many games back to back and inconsistency of the seven-game winning streak, the big losing streak and then the stretch we’ve gone on now. It’s been a weird year. Our main goal from day one was to get into the playoffs. We’ve done that now so I guess that’s all that matters going forward.”

Antoine Roussel and Loui Eriksson scored for the Stars, whose playoff hopes were dealt a serious blow. Dallas remains two points behind ninth-place Detroit and three behind eighth-place Columbus in the race for the final playoff spot. The Red Wings have a game in hand over both teams.

The Stars end the season with home games against Columbus and Detroit, and need to win both and get help to make the playoffs for the first time since 2008.

“It’s very disappointing,” defenseman Stephane Robidas said. “We battled hard all night. Since the deadline, everyone had written us off, and here we are. I think everyone has shown a lot of character. We needed a point tonight but couldn’t get it. It’s very disappointing.”

Dallas looked as though it would gain two points behind a strong night from Kari Lehtonen but it was all erased in a flash late in the third period.

First, Pavelski tipped Brad Stuart’s point shot in with 5:37 remaining to tie the game.

While the sellout crowd was still celebrating that goal, Justin Braun’s point shot went to Patrick Marleau, who slid the puck to an open Couture, who knocked in his 20th goal of the season.

“Basically a full game of frustration turned into happiness with the go-ahead one there,” Couture said.

Lehtonen made 34 saves but had no chance on Couture’s game winner with 5:07 remaining.

“They had been pressing, and we had had good goaltending the whole game and we just couldn’t hold them at the end when we needed to,” coach Glen Gulutzan said. “We need help now. So we are going to have to bounce back, and we need help. We have to get two more wins.”

Antti Niemi made 24 saves in his 24th straight start for San Jose.

The teams traded goals in the first period with the Sharks striking first. Torres tipped in a centering pass from Scott Gomez for a power-play goal, and the Stars answered when Roussel beat Scott Hannan to a long rebound of a shot by Cody Eakin.

Dallas had chances to take the lead when Stuart was sent to the box for interference with 1:21 remaining on an elbowing penalty against Hannan. The best chance on that 5-on-3 came when San Jose’s Braun was stopped on a partial breakaway by Lehtonen.

Shortly after that two-man advantage ended, Marc-Edouard Vlasic was called for slashing at the end of the first period, giving Dallas 28 seconds more of 5-on-3 play to start the second.

The Stars didn’t squander that chance when Eriksson knocked in a rebound 17 seconds into the period to make it 2-1.

Lehtonen protected that lead the rest of the period, making tough stops on Vlasic, Dan Boyle and Andrew Desjardins to keep Dallas ahead heading into the third.

Game notes

Stars F Alex Chiasson, who scored three goals in two wins over San Jose earlier this month, sat out with a shoulder injury. … San Jose D Jason Demers missed his second straight game because of a lower-body injury. … The Sharks sold out every regular-season game for the third straight season.

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Brent Seabrook and Jonathan Toews each had a goal and an assist to help the Blackhawks beat the Kings 3-2, extending their season-opening points streak to 15 games.

Patrick Sharp also scored for the Blackhawks (12-0-3), who matched the 1984-85 Edmonton Oilers for the second-longest season-opening points streak in NHL history. Chicago is one away from the tying the league record set by Anaheim in 2006-07 and will try to match the mark on Tuesday when it hosts Vancouver.

Mike Richards scored two power-play goals in the third period to pull the Kings within one after Chicago outplayed the Stanley Cup champions in the opening 40 minutes and built a 3-0 lead.

But the Blackhawks and goalie Ray Emery hung on.

“The guys wanted to get a good start, a good jump on L.A.,” Seabrook said. “Ray made the big saves when he needed to.”

The Blackhawks’ start to the season is beginning to reach historical proportions in more way than one.

Anaheim won the Stanley Cup in 2007 after its record-setting points start. The 1984-85 Oilers and Montreal, which opened with 14 straight in 1943-44, also won the Cup in those seasons.

Toews, Chicago’s captain, says the Blackhawks aren’t getting ahead of themselves, however.

“We’re 15 games into the season,” Toews said. “What’s important to us is getting home ice advantage, making the playoffs. Those are our goals. Once you get there, the real season starts.

“When you get to that point, no one really cares or remembers those streaks at the start of the season.”

Emery, Chicago’s backup, made 25 saves. He lost a bid for his first shutout in more than three years when Richards connected 56 seconds into the third period. Emery made back-to-back starts for the first time this season with Corey Crawford missing his second game because of an undisclosed upper-body injury.

And things got a little frantic for Chicago at the end after Richards notched his second goal — just his fourth this season — with 7:10 left. The Blackhawks spent the final 1:04 short-handed after Johnny Oduya was sent off for slashing, and Jonathan Quick was pulled for an extra attacker during that span.

“I thought we had a great first 40 minutes and they got some momentum off their power-play goal early in the third,” Chicago coach Joel Quenneville said. “They had a great third period. We had 40, they had a great 20, and the clock ran out, which was nice.”

Not so for Los Angeles (5-6-2), which has struggled on offense and with injuries. The only bright spot for the Kings was their power play, which came in ranked 27th in the NHL before connecting twice in a game for only the second time this season.

“We probably didn’t play well enough to win this game,” Richards said. “The slow start kind of cost us. We gave them a lot in the first period with penalties and some turnovers and they scored some goals, which put us behind the eight-ball pretty quick.”

Sharp, who led Chicago with 33 goals last season, ended a 10-game drought without a score.

The Blackhawks outshot Los Angeles 37-27 and defeated the Kings for the second time this season to end Los Angeles’ two-game winning streak. Chicago won 5-2 in the teams’ season opener at Staples Center.

Quick started in goal and finished with 34 saves for the Kings after backup Jonathan Bernier was in net in Los Angeles’ previous two games.

Chicago was a step faster than the Kings in the first period and held a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes.

Seabrook opened the scoring 6:29 in to cap a Chicago flurry in the Kings’ zone, and after Quick had made several in-close saves.

Seabrook pinched down to the low edge of the left circle and took a pinpoint feed from Duncan Keith, who threaded a cross-ice pass from the top of the right circle. Seabrook then slid a shot into an open net before Quick could dive across.

Toews’ power-play goal 4 minutes later made it 2-0. Stationed in the slot, Toews first tipped Keith’s feed off the right post, but buried the loose puck before Quick could cover it.

Sharp exploited a Kings coverage breakdown and increased Chicago’s lead to 3-0 just 56 seconds into the second period. Quick dropped to the ice to block Toews’ stuff-in attempt at the side of the net, but the puck popped into the slot. Sharp was wide open and fired high into the net before Quick could recover.

The Blackhawks were in control for most of the second period and outshot Los Angeles 21-10. But Emery had to make several tough saves late in the period — including in-close stops on Dustin Brown and Jeff Carter — to keep the Kings off the scoreboard.

Richards cut it to 3-1 early in the third. With Brown providing a screen at the edge of the crease, Richards’ high shot from the top of the slot sailed past Emery. Richards’ second power-play goal trimmed it to 3-2 with 7:10 left. This time, he beat Emery from the top of the left circle with Brown screening.

Game notes

Before the game, Quenneville said Crawford was “progressing” and is day-to-day. When asked if Crawford’s condition might be long-term, Quenneville replied, “I don’t foresee that yet.” Crawford — who has a 7-0-3 record, 1.65 goals-against average and .935 save percentage — has not skated since sustaining his injury, apparently in a 3-2 shootout loss to Anaheim last Tuesday.

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