Jets' Scheifele has goal and crucial penalty in Game 6 at Dallas after his father's unexpected death

DALLAS (AP) — Winnipeg top center Mark Scheifele scored a goal in the Jets' must-win Game 6 of their second-round playoff series at Dallas on Saturday night, hours after the unexpected death of his father.

But he also had the penalty that set up the Stars' power-play goal in overtime of a 2-1 loss that knocked the top-ranked Jets out of the playoffs.

Jets captain Adam Lowry went and got Scheifele out of the box when the game ended, and was clearly emotional afterward talking about it.

“We’re a family. Just to let him know that we’re there for him. It’s just an awful day for him,” Lowry said. "You want to give him the strength, you want to get that kill so bad. We just couldn’t do it.”

During the handshake line afterward, Scheifele hugged and talked to just about everyone, with Stars players clearly offering their support to him in a heartwarming moment.

“For him to go through what he had to go through, and perform the way he did, so proud of him. And his dad would be so proud of him. He wanted to win so bad,” coach Scott Arinel said. “The circumstances, so, so tough. Being in a situation like that, I couldn’t imagine it. The pro that he is, the leader that he is, the year that he had with us, his dad and his family would be very proud of him.”

Scheifele scored his fifth goal of the playoffs 5 1/2 minutes into the second period to give the Jets a 1-0 lead. He scored on a short snap shot from just outside the crease after gathering the rebound of a shot by Kyle Conner.

It was tied at 1 when Sam Steel, who had already scored for Dallas, was on a break. Scheifele lunged forward desperately trying to make a play when he tripped up the forward at the blue line with 14.8 seconds in regulation. Scheifele and the Jets avoided a penalty shot on the play, but ended up losing on the power play when Thomas Harley scored 1:33 into overtime to end Winnipeg's season.

“There’s just so many emotions surrounding it," Lowry said. “Obviously, with Scheif’s dad passing away, you want to be there, you want to support him, you want to be a good friend, a good teammate. And then you have your season come to an end where ultimately fell short of the goal. You worked so hard all year. ... It's just a lot.”

Scheifele was the last Jets player to leave the ice following pregame warmups, and during at least part of the singing of “O Canada,” he had his head bowed and eyes closed. He took the opening faceoff against Roope Hintz.

“The thing about Mr. Scheifele is he’s part of our family. He’s part of the Jets family. He goes back to 2011 when Mark was first drafted here,” Arniel said before the game. “We have a lot of players that came in around the time that are still here that he’s been a big part of their life, along with their family. So it’s certainly, obviously devastating for Mark, but also for a lot of guys on this team.”

There was no immediate word on the cause of Brad Scheifele’s death.

The 32-year-old Mark Schiefele finished with 11 points (five goals, six assists) while playing in 11 of the Jets’ 13 games this postseason. He missed Games 6 and 7 of the first-round series against St. Louis with an undisclosed injury after taking a pair of big hits early in Game 5 of that series. He had 87 points (39 goals and 48 assists) in the 82 regular-season games.

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Winnipeg Jets' Mark Scheifele shouts in the direction of an official after being issued a penalty for tripping in the third period of Game 6 of a second-round NHL hockey playoff series against the Dallas Stars in Dallas, Saturday, May 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)

Winnipeg Jets' Gabriel Vilardi (13), Kyle Connor, left rear, Mark Scheifele, center rear, Neal Pionk (4) and Dylan Samberg, right, celebrate after Scheifele scored against the Dallas Stars in the second period of Game 6 of a second-round NHL hockey playoff series in Dallas, Saturday, May 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)

Winnipeg Jets' Mark Scheifele (55) talks to referee Dan O'Rourke (9) after Scheifele was issed a tripping penalty in the third period of Game 6 of a second-round NHL hockey playoff series against the Dallas Stars in Dallas, Saturday, May 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)

Dallas Stars' Sam Steel (18) is tripped by Winnipeg Jets' Mark Scheifele as Steel chases after the puck in the third period of Game 6 of a second-round NHL hockey playoff series in Dallas, Saturday, May 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)

Dallas Stars center Sam Steel (18) is tripped by Winnipeg Jets' Mark Scheifele, right rear, on an attack in the third period of Game 6 of a second-round NHL hockey playoff series in Dallas, Saturday, May 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)

Winnipeg Jets center Mark Scheifele waits on a face-off against the Dallas Stars in the second period of Game 6 of a second-round NHL hockey playoff series in Dallas, Saturday, May 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)

Winnipeg Jets center Mark Scheifele warms up before Game 6 of a second-round NHL hockey playoff series against the Dallas Stars in Dallas, Saturday, May 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)

Winnipeg Jets' Cole Perfetti (91) and Mark Scheifele, right, talk during warmups before first Game 6 of a second-round NHL hockey playoff series against the Dallas Stars in Dallas, Saturday, May 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)

Winnipeg Jets center Mark Scheifele warms up before Game 6 of a second-round NHL hockey playoff series against the Dallas Stars in Dallas, Saturday, May 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)

Winnipeg Jets' Nikolaj Ehlers (27) celebrates after his goal against the Dallas Stars with Mark Scheifele (55), Haydn Fleury (24) and Dylan Demelo (2) during the first period of Game 2 of a second-round NHL hockey playoff series in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Friday, May 9, 2025. (Fred Greenslade/The Canadian Press via AP)

Winnipeg Jets center Mark Scheifele moves to the puck in the first period of Game 4 of a second-round NHL hockey playoff series against the Dallas Stars in Dallas, Tuesday, May 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran launched retaliatory missile strikes on Israel into Saturday morning, killing at least three people and wounding dozens, after a series of blistering Israeli attacks on the heart of Iran’s nuclear program and its armed forces.

Israel's assault used warplanes, as well as drones smuggled into the country in advance, to assault key facilities and kill top generals and scientists.

Israel asserted the barrage was necessary before Iran got any closer to building an atomic weapon, although experts and the U.S. government have assessed that Tehran was not actively working on such a weapon before the strikes. It also threw talks between the United States and Iran over an atomic accord into disarray days before the two sides were set to meet Sunday.

Iran retaliated by launching drones and later firing waves of ballistic missiles at Israel, where explosions lit the night skies over Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and shook the buildings below. The Israeli military urged civilians, already rattled by the raging Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, to head to shelter for hours.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a recorded message Friday: “We will not allow them to escape safely from this great crime they committed.” Iran’s U.N. ambassador said 78 people were killed and more than 320 wounded in Israeli attacks.

Iran launched waves of missiles at Israel late Friday and early Saturday.

A hospital in Tel Aviv treated seven people wounded in the second Iranian barrage; all but one of them had light injuries. Israel’s Fire and Rescue Services said they were injured when a projectile hit a building in the city. A spokesperson for Beilinson Hospital said one woman was killed.

Hours later, an Iranian missile struck near homes in the central Israeli city of Rishon Lezion, killing two people and injuring 19, according to Israel’s paramedic service Magen David Adom. Israel's Fire and Rescue service said four homes were severely damaged.

Meanwhile, the sound of explosions and Iranian air defense systems firing at targets echoed across central Tehran shortly after midnight on Saturday. An Associated Press journalist could hear air raid sirens near their home.

Iran’s semiofficial Tasnim news agency reported a fire at Tehran’s Mehrabad International Airport, with a video posted on X of a column of smoke and orange flames rising from what the outlet said was the airport.

Israel’s paramedic services said 34 people were wounded in the barrage on the Tel Aviv area, including a woman who was critically injured after being trapped under rubble. In Ramat Gan, east of Tel Aviv, an AP journalist saw burned-out cars and at least three damaged houses, including one where the front was nearly entirely torn away.

U.S. ground-based air defense systems in the region were helping to shoot down Iranian missiles, said a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the measures.

Israel's ongoing airstrikes and intelligence operation and Iran's retaliation raised concerns about all-out war between the countries and propelled the region, already on edge, into even greater upheaval.

Countries in the region condemned Israel’s attack, while leaders around the globe called for immediate deescalation from both sides.

Israel had long threatened such a strike, and successive American administrations sought to prevent it, fearing it would ignite a wider conflict across the Middle East and possibly be ineffective at destroying Iran’s dispersed and hardened nuclear program.

But a confluence of developments triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack — plus the reelection of U.S. President Donald Trump — created the conditions that allowed Israel to finally follow through on its threats. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the U.S. was informed in advance of the attack.

On Thursday, Iran was censured by the U.N.’s atomic watchdog for not complying with obligations meant to prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon.

Israel's military said about 200 aircraft were involved in the initial attack on about 100 targets. Its Mossad spy agency positioned explosive drones and precision weapons inside Iran ahead of time, and used them to target Iranian air defenses and missile launchers near Tehran, according to two security officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.

It was not possible to independently corroborate the officials' claims.

Among the key sites Israel attacked was Iran's main nuclear enrichment facility in Natanz, where black smoke could be seen rising into the air. It also appeared to strike a second, smaller nuclear enrichment facility in Fordo, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) southeast of Tehran, according to an Iranian news outlet close to the government that reported hearing explosions nearby.

Israel said it struck a nuclear research facility in Isfahan, too, and said it destroyed dozens of radar installations and surface-to-air missile launchers in western Iran. Iran confirmed the strike at Isfahan.

Israel military spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said the Natanz facility was “significantly damaged” and that the operation was “still in the beginning.”

U.N. nuclear chief Rafael Grossi told the Security Council that the above-ground section of the Natanz facility was destroyed. He said all the electrical infrastructure and emergency power generators were destroyed, as well as a section of the facility where uranium was enriched up to 60%, which is a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%.

The main centrifuge facility underground did not appear to have been hit, but the loss of power could have damaged the infrastructure there, he said.

The first wave of strikes had given Israel “significant freedom of movement” in Iran’s skies, clearing the way for further attacks, according to an Israeli military official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss details of the attack with the media.

Over the past year, Israel has been targeting Iran’s air defenses, hitting a radar system for a Russian-made air defense battery in April 2024 and surface-to-air missile sites and missile manufacturing facilities in October.

The official said Israel is prepared for an operation that could last up to two weeks, but that there was no firm timeline.

Among those killed were three of Iran’s top military leaders: one who oversaw the entire armed forces, Gen. Mohammad Bagheri; one who led the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, Gen. Hossein Salami; and the head of the Guard’s ballistic missile program, Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh.

Netanyahu said the attack had been months in the making. In a video statement sent to journalists Friday, he said he ordered plans for the attack last November, soon after the killing of Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah in Lebanon, one of Iran’s strongest proxies. Netanyahu said the attack was planned for April but was postponed.

In its first response Friday, Iran fired more than 100 drones at Israel. Israel said the drones were being intercepted outside its airspace, and it was not immediately clear whether any got through.

Israel’s military said it called up reservists and began stationing troops throughout the country as it braced for further retaliation from Iran or Iranian proxy groups.

Trump urged Iran on Friday to reach a deal with the U.S. on its nuclear program, warning on his Truth Social platform that Israel’s attacks “will only get worse.”

“Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left, and save what was once known as the Iranian Empire,” he wrote.

Lidman and Frankel reported from Jerusalem.

Smoke rises up after an explosion in Tehran, Iran, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Paramedics evacuate a wounded woman from a building struck by a missile fired from Iran, in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Tomer Appelbaum)

In this photo released by the Iranian Red Crescent Society rescuers work at the scene of an explosion after an Israeli strike in Tehran, Iran, Friday, June 13, 2025. (Iranian Red Crescent Society via AP)

Israeli Iron Dome air defense system fires to intercept missiles over Tel Aviv, Israel, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Tomer Neuberg)

Paramedics evacuate a woman from a site that was struck by a missile fired from Iran, in Rishon Lezion, Israel, on Saturday, June 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)