Ehlers sparks Jets to comeback win over Sens

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This article was published 28/12/2024 (286 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Nikolaj Ehlers is a hockey unicorn, with a special mix of speed and skill that can bring fans — and teammates — out of their seats.

That was certainly the case on Saturday night at Canada Life Centre, where the guy known as “Fly” took over in the third period and played a starring role in a 4-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators.

Ehlers, playing in his fourth game since returning from a three-week injury absence, set up Gabe Vilardi’s go-ahead power-play goal with just over 10 minutes left in regulation, then found the back of the net 92 seconds later to give his group some valuable insurance.

Just like that, the Jets had completed the comeback after falling into an early 2-0 deficit in the first game back after the Christmas break.

“I think that’s one of the things where this group has really grown over the last few years, is that as we get down two we don’t panic, we don’t start cheating, we don’t start trying to do things that are away from sort of our structure,” said Jets coach Scott Arniel.

“We kind of stick to what we do best, and our offence always comes from that.”

Ehlers, a pending unrestricted free agent after this season, is now up to 30 points, including 11 goals, in 28 games, which puts the 28-year-old Dane on pace to shatter his career-best of 64 points set back in the 2016-17 season.

“He’s a guy that, when the opposition defence see him coming, they’re not really keen on keeping a tight gap. They don’t want to get embarrassed by getting beat wide,” Arniel said of the threat Ehlers poses on the rush, which was evident on his goal.

“When he does it enough, when he does it consistently, exactly. All of a sudden, the sea parted there and he had the big wide open ice to get inside the blue line and get even closer to the goalie. His speed is a weapon and when he uses it, he’s so effective.”

Winnipeg improves to 26-10-1, which puts them alone on top the NHL standings in terms of points (and second overall to Vegas in terms of point percentage). Ottawa, which began the night having won six of its last seven, falls to 18-15-2.

Let’s break this one down further:

GETTING CLOSER TO ANOTHER MILESTONE: There are only 40 NHL goaltenders to hit the elusive 300-win mark, but that’s going to soon expand as Connor Hellebuyck recorded career win No. 298.

The reigning Vezina Trophy winner seemed to be fighting the puck a bit early in the game, including a few occasions where his trademark “big and boring” style was a bit more “fish out of water” in the crease. Chalk that up to the four-day holiday hiatus between games.

But after Tim Stutzle (10:40 of the first period) and Ridly Greig (4:03 of the second period) both scored on the power play to give the visitors a two-goal lead by the 4:03 mark of the second period, Hellebuyck was unbeatable.

He finished the game with 33 saves on 35 shots, improving his personal record to 23-5-1, lowering his league-leading goals-against-average to 2.06 and upping his league-leading save percentage to .928.

“It’s one of those games where you feel like you have a chance to win the whole game. I think we just had some good looks, but their goalie made some huge saves for them,” Stutzle told reporters.

“Obviously, he’s a great goalie. So we got to do a better job getting in front of him and don’t give him those easy saves.”

Of the 40 goalies with at least 300 wins, only 29 of them have at least 40 shutouts. Hellebuyck, with 41 already, will become just the 30th member of that club.

Who knows where the 31-year-old will ultimately end up on the all-time lists, considering he’s just in the first year of a seven-year contract extension with the Jets.

DYNAMIC DUO: Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor are engaged in a friendly competition that is certainly benefiting the entire organization. The dynamic duo began the night tied for the team scoring lead with 21 goals — the only set of teammates around the league to each have at least 20 — and finished it deadlocked once again at 22.

Scheifele played a major helping hand in Connor’s tally against the Senators, with a terrific pass that came a few seconds after he banked the puck off the boards — to himself — in order to evade an Ottawa defenceman. The goal, at 12:46 of the second period, cut Winnipeg’s deficit in half.

“I was going to shoot it and then it kind of hit their stick. It got in the lane. But I just wanted to keep the possession going,” Scheifele explained of his slick play.

“KC does what he does best and got open. He’s obviously fantastic, and I’m always happy to find KC in the slot.”

Connor’s solo perch atop on the goal-scoring leaderboard lasted just 2:15, as Scheifele was sprung on a breakaway by Ehlers and beat Ottawa goaltender Mads Sogaard with a backhander — his 10th goal in 13 December games.

“It’s the Christmas month, so you’ve got to enjoy it,” said Scheifele. “But it’s been great, obviously. Just happy to play with the guys I play with; they are just absolutely fantastic.”

Just like that, the game was tied and Winnipeg had all the momentum.

“We didn’t try to chase it. I think that was the biggest thing,” said Scheifele. “When we got down 2-0, there was still lots of game left. Sometimes you can go and try to chase offence, but we just tried to stick to our game. We knew that if we did the right things over and over, good things would happen. It showed.”

SPECIAL TEAMS: Although they got stung for a pair of early power-play goals against, the Jets killed two subsequent penalties — one when they were down 2-0, and another early in the third period when it was a 2-2 game.

“At the end of the day it’s all about timing,” said Arniel. “And the timing for us, we got a kill at the right time in the third period and that was the big difference.”

Same goes for Winnipeg’s power play, which didn’t do much on the first two attempts but came through with Vilardi’s game-winner in the third.

“I knew I needed to get it there quick,” Ehlers said of finding Vilardi on the backdoor for the tap-in. “He’s unbelievable in front of the net, so I told him that it was coming and he was ready for it. So it worked out.”

Vilardi, who has found a home on that top line with Scheifele and Connor, is now up to 15 goals.

BLUE-LINE SHUFFLE: With Haydn Fleury (lower-body, week-to-week) joining Dylan Samberg (broken foot, has resumed skating) on the injured list, Arniel shuffled up his blue-line by moving Neal Pionk to his off-side on the second pair and elevating Colin Miller.

Logan Stanley — who was on for both power-play goals against and had a rough night — and Ville Heinola — who took the third period tripping penalty and didn’t see the ice much after that — were the third pairing. Dylan Coghlan, called up on Friday from the Manitoba Moose, was the lone healthy scratch on the blue-line but should work his way into game action soon. Forward David Gustafsson was the other player parked in the press box.

At the end of the game, Josh Morrissey (25:48), Pionk (22:58) and Dylan DeMelo (22:04) all logged big minutes as the clear-cut top three, with Stanley (19:14), Miller (13:36) and Heinola (12:59) behind them.

COOKING AT HOME: The Jets are a sizzling 13-3-1 at Canada Life Centre, where they’re really going to get the chance to make themselves comfortable in the coming weeks.

Saturday’s game began a stretch where they’ll play 10 of 11 games at the downtown rink, and 14 of the next 20 leading into the 4 Nations Face-Off break in early February.

“We love playing at home, it seems. But it’s no surprise. We’ve got great fans,” said Ehlers. “The schedule has been a little crazy. It was nice with a little break. And it’s going to be nice to be at home for a little bit. So we’re excited.”

A crowd of 14,734 took this one in, which is just under 500 people short of what would have been a third straight sellout and sixth of the season.

Winnipeg returns to action on Monday night when they host the Nashville Predators.

KEY PLAY: A sweet Nikolaj Ehlers feed to Gabe Vilardi led to the go-ahead near the midway mark of the third period.

THREE STARS: 1. Winnipeg left-winger Nikolaj Ehlers: one goal, two assists; 2. Winnipeg centre Mark Scheifele: one goal, one assist; 3. Winnipeg left-winger Kyle Connor: one goal, one assist.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

X and Bluesky: @mikemcintyrewpg