Jets lose 3-2 to Flames

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This article was published 13/11/2022 (1076 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

CALGARY — It had been exactly three weeks since the Winnipeg Jets last tasted defeat in regulation. But the surging squad ran smack-dab into a desperate opponent Saturday night — and ultimately came up empty.

A 3-2 loss to the Calgary Flames at the Scotiabank Saddledome is Winnipeg’s first in eight games, having gone 6-0-1 since that Oct. 22 setback against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

“We don’t like this feeling of not winning and we got a real good taste of what it’s like on the other side of the success,” Jets associate coach Scott Arniel said following the game.

Indeed they had. Meanwhile, Calgary was on the other side of the spectrum, a pre-season Western Conference favourite that had gone 0-5-2 in their last seven.

“Not great, not our worst game but we were facing a desperate club,” said Jets defenceman Neal Pionk, who had a goal and an assist. “We have to match their intensity no matter what the situation is.”

Ellas Lindholm opened the scoring at 3:23, but Pionk replied with a point blast at 14:46 for his fourth of the year. Adam Ruzicka restored the lead at 17:22 off the rush, and Pierre-Luc Dubois tied it at 4:23 of the middle frame with his seventh. Former Jets forward Trevor Lewis had the game-winner at 18:31 of the second.

Winnipeg falls to 8-4-1 and remains in a first-place tie in the Central Division with Colorado and Dallas. Calgary improves to 6-6-2.

“You can’t win every game. It’s a frustrating loss,” said Dubois. “We had a good streak going, not just points wise, but playing well too and playing the right way. Tonight, at times we played well and at other times, we were trying to force it a bit too much.”

Here’s a detailed breakdown of the action:

1) Winnipeg’s power play was the difference in this one — for all the wrong reasons. The Jets went 0-for-3 with the man advantage, including a 78-second stretch of 5-on-3. Incredibly, they generated a grand total of zero shots. Not only that, but the dagger by Lewis was on a shorthanded rush.

Woof.

“You don’t get any shots on your power play and you give up a shorthanded goal, that’s not the momentum you’re trying to get,” said Arniel. “Doesn’t always have to be goals but it has to be kind of wearing down the opposition penalty killers and creating opportunities. Give Calgary credit. They’re extremely aggressive and they did a good job.”

The Jets did kill off three of their own penalties, making it six straight games they’ve been perfect in that regard. But failing to cash in proved costly.

“We have to execute. They knew they were going to pressure. That’s kind of their thing is pressuring three up high. We pre-scouted, we knew it, and that was the difference in the game,” said Pionk.

2) Maybe the most surprising thing about this game was the lack of urgency or push from Winnipeg in the third period. Down a goal, they generated just four shots, with half of those coming in the final couple minutes with Connor Hellebuyck pulled for an extra attacker.

“That third period they didn’t give us any room. They kind of smothered us, us trying to get our skating game going and in on our forecheck. They did a pretty good job of shutting that down,” said Arniel.

None of their shots were of the dangerous variety against Jacob Markstrom, who stopped 21 of 23 pucks that came his way.

“A lot of perimeter shots. We had a few spurts, a couple chances, a couple line rush chances, but at the end of the day we need to get in his eyes more,” said Pionk.

Markstrom’s best save of the night came in the first period, a double-pad stack robbery off Mark Scheifele.

“You just have to take what they give you. Sometimes, it’s just up and over and a shot and a one-timer. It’s going to go in at some point. If it does, it gives you the momentum,” said Dubois. “Tonight, maybe a little bit at five-on-five too, we were trying for the perfect play a little bit too much.”

Hellebuyck finished with 32 saves.

3) Speaking of Dubois, the guy is an agent of chaos. In the first period, he and Blake Coleman were both sent to the box after they committed simultaneous sins against each other.

Then came a major kerfuffle near the end of the second, when he shot the puck into the corner following an offside, was pushed from behind by Calgary defenceman Rasmus Andersson and then tripped by Markstrom, who stuck his leg out.

“That’s a dangerous play. I think it’s a dirty play,” said Dubois.

“You talk about goalie safety and all that and I’m 100 percent on board for that but I wasn’t going towards him. Yeah, I get pushed, but I wasn’t going towards him. I thought his leg came out. I mean, I’ve got to look at the replay. Maybe it doesn’t. Maybe it didn’t. If it didn’t, I’ll take back what I said but I thought that was a very dangerous and very dirty play.”

4) Dubois escaped injury there, but a couple teammates weren’t so lucky. Adam Lowry took a high-stick from Ruzicka on the opening shift of the game, suffering a deep cut around his ear which required numerous stitches and caused him to miss most of the frame.

Then Jansen Harkins was drilled in the mouth on a clearing attempt by Sam Gagner, leaving blood all over the ice. He also had to get sewn up and returned wearing a full cage.

Both cases forced the Jets to juggle their lines with just 11 forwards available.

Cole Perfetti also took a beating, as big Brett Ritchie caught him on two occasions with massive hits. Perfetti, clearly frustrated, took a retaliation cross-checking penalty after the last one.

5) It was a rough game for the top line of Scheifele, Kyle Connor and Mason Appleton, who went a combined minus-8. Head coach Rick Bowness ultimately switched Scheifele and Dubois in his top six midway through the game.

“There was some tough nights going on with those lines. Just trying to get a spark again by moving some bodies around and hoping something would happen,” said Arniel.

6) This is a bizarre little stretch for Winnipeg. The Jets play only two games over an eight-day period. But those are happening 22 hours apart — the bare minimum required by the collective bargaining agreement — in two time zones.

After the 9 p.m. CT puck drop on Saturday night (8 p.m. local time), the team chartered in the wee hours of the night to Seattle, where they’ll face the Kraken tonight at 7 p.m. CT. (5 p.m. local time) The back-to-backs are bookended by three-day breaks.

Nobody was complaining after the game. In fact, following the loss, the chance to get right back on the ice seemed quite appealing.

“We’re not going to win all 82 games. Guys have been around this league long enough, we know we have to take a lesson into (Sunday) and find a way to win,” said Pionk.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg