Hofer antics irk Arniel

It appears the National Hockey League may not have enjoyed the on-ice standoff between St. Louis Blues backup goaltender Joel Hofer and Winnipeg Jets forward Mark Scheifele as much as the fans inside Canada Life Centre did Monday night.

“I think the league is going to have something to say about this,” Jets head coach Scott Arniel said Tuesday.

Scheifele has made a habit of always being the last player off the ice — for either team — following the pre-game warmup. But Hofer, who hails from Winnipeg, has tried to throw a wrench in that by staying on long after his teammates had left before Game 2.

Hofer also began firing a barrage of pucks towards Winnipeg’s net, where Scheifele was still doing some last-minute work. A similar situation occurred prior to Game 1 on Saturday. The crowd reacted with a chorus of boos, then an eruption of cheers when Hofer finally gave up and left the ice.

“I’m sure we’re going to hear about it,” said Arniel.

“Obviously it has to do with when that clock (winds down). It affects when the Zamboni is coming out on the ice. That’s the stuff the league does not want. We’ll just let them handle it and we’ll move from there.”

If this is an attempt to throw Scheifele off his game, it’s clearly not working. He leads all players with five points (2G, 3A) through two games.

 

Injury updates

What colour sweater will Gabe Vilardi be sporting on Wednesday? Arniel suggested that will be a tell as to whether the injured forward could potentially be an option to make his return for Game 3 on Thursday night.

“Maybe. Maybe. See what colour the jersey. You coming?” he joked with reporters.

We’ll be there.

Vilardi has now missed 13 games with an upper-body issue but has been moving well on the ice in recent days while sporting a yellow non-contact sweater. The next step is getting him cleared for contact, which would mean donning one of the usual white or blue.

As for Nikolaj Ehlers, he has not yet resumed skating after re-aggravating a lower-body injury on Apr. 12 in Chicago when he ran into a linesman and went down in a heap, just two games after returning from an issue that involved two painful shot blocks.

Arniel couldn’t say if he might travel with the team to St. Louis, but he remains week-to-week.

Forward Rasmus Kupari is once again cleared by the club after being in concussion protocol, while depth defenceman Ville Heinola was back on the ice for Tuesday’s optional skate. He’s been dealing with an undisclosed minor issue in recent days.

 

Sibling rivalry

Jets defenceman Luke Schenn might not be communicating with his younger brother Brayden the way he would normally when the two aren’t facing one another in the Stanley Cup playoffs, but he wasn’t sure about the “Luke is better” chants that broke out in each of the first two games of the series.

“I don’t buy it,” said Schenn.

“Actually, I was laughing because in Game 1 I was trying to figure out what the heck they were saying. But as they were chanting it, the puck goes off my foot and we get scored on, so it was a bit of karma.”

Luke was referencing the unlucky bounce that led to Oskar Sundqvist’s goal that made it 2-2 late in the first period of the series opener.

Older brother Luke and the Jets have a 2-0 series lead in this best-of-seven battle and given the physical nature of the two players, it seemed like only a matter of time before the two ran into each other and that happened on multiple occasions in the first period on Monday.

Brayden is up to 14 hits so far, while Luke has recorded 12. Both players lead their respective teams in that department.

Back to the original question about the accuracy of the chant?

“I don’t know. Brayden has had a heck of a career, too, and he’s been around a long time and won himself, too,” said Luke, who won two Stanley Cups with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

“I think Jets fans would appreciate having him on this side, too. I appreciate the support from our fans, for sure. At the end of the day, I’m sure my parents are sitting in the crowd and they don’t even know what to think.”

 

Tough start for the zebras

It’s been said that the playoffs are a war of attrition. That apparently goes for the officials, too.

Linesman Andrew Smith was forced out of Monday’s Jets vs. Blues game after a rough fall during the third period. There was a brief delay while referee Chris Schlenker — who was in the building as a stand-by official — got his gear and took Smith’s spot.

The same thing happened on Sunday night in the opening game of the Vegas Golden Knights and Minnesota Wild series.

Linesman Bryan Pancich was accidentally run over by forward Brett Howden, a Winnipeg product who was trying to make a play on a puck. The extra man in stripes, Frederick L’Ecuyer, came off the bench to replace him.

Although Schlenker and L’Ecuyer are referees by trade, they had to take on the duties of a linesman and could only whistle things down such as offsides and icings, not penalties.

They also deferred to the one remaining linesman to handle puck-dropping duties, since that’s normally not in their job description.

 

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

X and Bluesky: @mikemcintyrewpg

ken.wiebe@freepress.mb.ca

X and Bluesky: @wiebesworld