Kings crush Jets in more ways than one

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This article was published 17/10/2023 (720 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A night that started with so much promise ended in pain for the Winnipeg Jets.

Literally, with forward Gabriel Vilardi suffering what looked like a serious lower-body ailment mere minutes into a much-hyped meeting against his former team. Figuratively, as Pierre-Luc Dubois made a triumphant return to Canada Life Centre and opened the scoring.

Injury, meet insult. The end result was a 5-1 defeat to the Los Angeles Kings in front of just 11,226 fans that may ultimately be a lot more costly than just two points in the standings.

Kings goaltender Cam Talbot stopped 26 of 27 shots for the visitors, while Connor Hellebuyck was beaten five times on 29 shots — the third straight outing to start the year in which the three-time Vezina Trophy finalist, fresh off signing a seven-year contract extension, has given up at least a four-spot.

Winnipeg falls to 1-2-0 on the year, while Los Angeles improves to 1-1-1.

1) All the Kings’ men: All eyes were on Vilardi and Dubois, the two centrepieces of the blockbuster June 27 trade, as they faced their old squads for the first time. Same for Alex Iafallo and Rasmus Kupari.

The way it played out, at least for Jets fans, was downright Shakespearean.

Vilardi’s night ended after just 5:55 of action when former teammate Blake Lizotte tripped him up, causing him to fall awkwardly on his right leg, which bent in a way the limb is not meant to. Vilardi was clearly in agony but managed to get up on his own, slowly making his way off the ice and heading down the tunnel.

The Jets would rule him out for the remainder of the game before the opening frame was over. A source told the Free Press there is a concern about a potential MCL issue and they were awaiting results of an MRI. An update is expected today

“It’s awful,” said forward Cole Perfetti.

“Obviously he’s a huge part of our team. The skill and hockey sense that he brings into our lineup is huge. He’s a great guy, so just to see that happen you feel awful for him. I’m not 100 per cent sure what it is, but he looked like he was in a little bit of pain. Just praying for the best and hope it’s nothing serious and whatever it is he has a speedy recovery.”

Winnipeg carried play for much of the period — they outshot Los Angeles 14-9 — but wouldn’t be able to keep the momentum going. Not at all.

Losing Vilardi so early meant Jets coach Rick Bowness had to get out the line blender. A number of players, including Nikolaj Ehlers, Vlad Namestnikov and even Kupari, took turns filling in on the top line beside Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor, but there wasn’t a whole lot of flow without the ability to roll four consistent lines.

2) A second period to forget: No doubt players would have heard the bad news about Vilardi during the intermission, and it seemed to cast a pall over the home team.

The Kings dominated the middle frame, outshooting the Jets 12-4 and outscoring them 2-0.

Dubois buried a rebound at 11:01, just a few seconds after a Jets penalty had expired, to suck even more life out of the Jets and the fans, who had been booing him vociferously every time he touched the puck. Dubois, who hadn’t recorded a point in the first two Kings games of the year, picked a good time for his first.

Things went from bad to worse for the Jets as Kings defenceman Andreas Englund crushed Cole Perfetti with what appeared to be a direct hit from behind, causing him to go hard into the boards. Officials called no penalty on the play, but did slap Winnipeg blue-liner Dylan Samberg with 17 minutes after he came to his teammate’s defence.

“My face is smeared against the boards. I feel like I’m pretty defenceless,” said Perfetti.

Samberg was blooded after taking an Englund punch to the face and received two minutes for instigating, five minutes for fighting and a 10-minute misconduct, now leaving Winnipeg with just five defencemen for nearly an entire period.

“You hate having to have a guy fight for you, but you appreciate it,” said Perfetti. “That goes a long way, that you know your teammates, your brothers are going to stick up for you and make sure no one takes a cheap shot without having a couple repercussions.”

Winnipeg fans were up in arms, and the anger grew later in the period when Trevor Moore doubled the lead.

3) It got worse, not better, in the final frame: Any hopes of a Jets comeback were snuffed out by Arthur Kaliyev, who scored just 2:51 into the third. Los Angeles kept pouring it on as Moore notched his second of the night at 14:31 and Phillip Danault scored on the power play at 16:32.

Scheifele spoiled Talbot’s shutout bid with 76 seconds left when he scored for the third time in as many games. Namestnikov and Dylan DeMelo had the assists.

“I think if we just played like we did in the first for all three periods we’re a really good hockey team like that,” said Perfetti.

“Just gotta try and figure that out and play a consistent 60 minute game. It’s just frustrating not being able to do that and seeming them fly around the ice.”

4) Box office woes: Winnipeg drew just 13,410 fans for Saturday’s home-opener — a shockingly low number for a weekend matinee against the reigning Eastern Conference champions, led by former Jets coach Paul Maurice.

Despite the considerable hype for Tuesday’s game, more than 4,000 seats (capacity is 15,325) were empty.

Aside from crowds during the pandemic which were impacted by public health restrictions at the time, 11,226 is the smallest gathering in Jets 2.0 history.

Jets co-owner Mark Chipman made headlines during the off-season when he appealed to the local business community for greater support of the hockey club, which was timed with an aggressive marketing and season-ticket campaign that was launched for fans.

The early returns, through two games, are concerning.

5) Extra, extra: Los Angeles went 1-for-5 on the power play, while Winnipeg went 0-for-4. The Jets won 55 per cent of the faceoffs (29-of-53) and outhit the Kings 23-20.

Winnipeg iced the same lineup for a third straight game, meaning forward David Gustafsson and defencemen Logan Stanley and Declan Chisholm were the healthy scratches.

Gustafsson would be the obvious choice to come in for Vilardi, but you also wonder if trade rumours that have connected the Jets to Vancouver Canucks right-winger Conor Garland start to heat up?

The 27-year-old is on the block as his team tries to create some financial flexibility. Garland, who provides plenty of offensive bite, is signed for three more years at US$4.95. The Canucks are reportedly willing to retain some salary to make a move work.

If Vilardi is out for any length, the Jets — who are absolutely in “win now” mode — would have a significant hole to fill.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

X: @mikemcintyrewpg