Slow start dooms Jets

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This article was published 28/10/2024 (340 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Jets were like that shiny new sports car just waiting for its first scratch. Glorious to look at, for sure, but you’re bracing for a blemish, knowing one is coming.

That finally happened Monday night at Canada Life Centre, where the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs took a lead pipe to the pristine windshield and punctured a few tires as they tried to run the hosts off the road, then ultimately hung on for a 6-4 victory.

“Whether it was our ready to go, ready to compete, ready to get into it, I don’t have an answer for you,” said a frustrated coach Scott Arniel.

“Toronto was a heck of a lot better than we were. They wanted it. They came in here and gave us a punch right in the nose in the first two periods. It was a little late when we responded, but it’s not good enough.”

It’s the first loss of the year for the Jets, who were flirting with NHL history by winning eight games in a row to start the 2024-25 season (tied for the fifth-best ever) and 16 regular season contests overall dating back to last year (tied for second-best ever).

Trot out all the cliches you want, from “nobody’s perfect” to “all good things must come to an end.” This one still stung for Winnipeg, which was playing in front of its first sold-out crowd of the season and no doubt wanted to silent the few thousand fans who dusted off their Maple Leafs jerseys for the annual visit.

“We were hopeful to go 82-0 but that’s never been done,” said defenceman Josh Morrissey, tongue firmly planted in cheek. “It was a tough one for us.”

Let’s take a further look under the (slightly damaged) hood:

1) Vroom, vroom: The Jets were far from their best from opening puck drop, with no shortage of uncharacteristic defensive miscues and poor puck management creeping into their game. That was bad timing against a talented and ornery Toronto team that came into the game winless in the last three outings.

“They came out hard and we didn’t have good jump to start there,” said forward Kyle Connor, who led the way offensively with two goals and two assists. “I thought they were a lot quicker to pucks. We just looked slow.”

John Tavares opened the scoring just past the midway mark of the opening frame thanks to some lost coverage in front of the Jets net, ultimately poking home a loose puck. Then a Neal Pionk turnover in his own zone led to a William Nylander tally later in the frame. Matthew Knies made it 3-0 just 56 seconds into the middle frame, again after some ugly defensive zone awareness, and then Morgan Rielly was able to walk in and rip a shot past Connor Hellebuyck at 3:25 of the second.

“All the things that happen when you have a slow start. Don’t move the puck well. Not executing our game plan, with and without the puck,” Morrissey said of being asleep at the wheel.

“They’re a fast team. Trying to get there, find their footing and obviously they got some very elite players. They came out ready to go and we weren’t there.”

This had the makings of a rout. The defence pairing of Pionk and Dylan Samberg, which had been rock-solid all season, were on the ice for all four goals against.

2) Power up: One thing that didn’t change on this night was Winnipeg’s red-hot power play, which came into the game No. 1 in the league and quickly showed why by converting on two opportunities in the second period.

Connor got his team — and the crowd — back into it when he found a tiny seam past Anthony Stolarz at 6:19 of the deficit to 4-1. And then Connor struck again at 11:25 with his team on a man advantage — Rielly had accidentally flipped the puck into the crowd — and the Jets had some life.

Tavares struck again later in the period, with Samberg and Pionk victimized once again, but the Jets continued to plug away while enjoying a man advantage.

Mark Scheifele made it 5-3 when he scored on a 6-on-5 that came during a delayed Toronto penalty at 7:36 of the third, and then Gabriel Vilardi tipped Connor’s shot at 16:13 to play and Hellebuyck on the bench for an extra attacker.

Just when it looked like an incredible comeback might be in the cards, Tavares completed the hat trick with 25 seconds left in the game by scoring into an empty net.

“We never quit throughout the night,” said Morrissey, who had three assists.

“We were 8-0 for a reason — we’re 8-1 for a reason — but that compete to battle back, and make it a game so that we can pull the goalie and see if we could try to tie it up. I think that’s the character of our group. We’ll look at what we need to get better at, get some rest and move on.”

3) Blender on max: Arniel hasn’t had to shuffle his roster much this year, with all the early success. But he plugged in the line blender and put it on max setting on multiple occasions once his team fell into a big hole.

Among the notables: Nikolaj Ehlers was moved to a line with Scheifele and Vilardi in the third, recreating a trio that was very effective at times last year. Connor moved down to play with Adam Lowry and Cole Perfetti, while Nino Niederreiter, Vlad Namestnikov and Mason Appleton were put together. Only the fourth line (Alex Iafallo, Rasmus Kupari and Morgan Barron) remained intact.

“There wasn’t anybody that was good tonight for two periods,” Arniel said of the decision.

Samberg and Pionk were also split up. Pionk joined Morrissey, Samberg was put with Colin Miller and Logan Stanley — who took two silly penalties in the first period which certainly helped Toronto build some early momentum — was paired with Dylan DeMelo.

4) Bulletin board material?: You may recall a certain Winnipeg vs. Toronto game back in December 2021 in which Scheifele, following a 6-3 win, said “Is there anything better than beating the Leafs?” The video of his comments, which happened in the dressing room, were posted on the Jets social media feeds.

So what’s happened since then? Six games, six Toronto victories. Ouch.

5) Extra, extra:

-Here are our three stars of the game:

1. Toronto C John Tavares: 3 goals.

2. Winnipeg LW Kyle Connor: 2 goals, 2 assists

3. Toronto LW Max Pacioretty: 3 assists

-The Jets wore their road white jerseys on Monday, with Toronto wearing their dark blue alternates. No official explanation was provided for the switch-up, but it was likely a Maple Leafs request.

-Hellebuyck stopped 30 of 35 shots he faced, while Stolartz made 19 saves on 23 shots.

-Winnipeg finished the night 2-for-4 on the power play and 2-for-2 on the penalty kill.

-The Jets will now hit the road for two more games, facing Andrew Copp and the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday and Sean Monahan and the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

X: @mikemcintyrewpg