The monkey is now off Scheifele’s back

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This article was published 18/11/2015 (3638 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Mark Scheifele watched the puck spill out in front of the net late in the third period, and like a tiger about to pounce on its prey, he jumped towards it.

With both hands positioned firmly on his stick he stuffed the puck into the net, bringing the MTS Centre crowd to its feet. As the fans celebrated, Scheifele dipped his head, clenched both of his fists, and before doing a double fist-pump in the air, he let out a mighty roar.

In that instance you could almost see the load being lifted off his shoulders. It’s been a frustrating month for the Jets centre, and for the rest of the team. Before the game, Scheifele hadn’t scored in six games, and Wednesday’s 4-1 win over the Vancouver Canucks was the team’s first victory in seven.

Needless to say, it was beginning to take its toll.

It’s why he wasn’t even focused on scoring, even if he did find the net twice. When he wasn’t scoring, he was throwing around what little weight he has, often seen mixing it up in scrums after the whistle with guys much bigger and stronger.

“Whenever you’re in a little bit of a skid, you just try and do the simple things. Maybe hit a guy once in a while just to get you in the game,” said Scheifele, who also added an assist.

It worked. Scheifele opened the scoring with a power-play goal in the first period, and his goal late gave the Jets a 3-1 edge, ending any chance for the Canucks to mount a comeback. It was the kind of game you need from one of your young guns, and it didn’t go unnoticed by his bosses.

“That’s maturity,” said Jets head coach Paul Maurice. You saw it out of Adam Lowry the other night. They’re players feeling invested in the team. “Mark’s a big part of what we do. Mark’s played very well here, quietly kind of.”

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Before the game Maurice decided to mix things up by changing all four of his forward lines. He reunited Scheifele with Drew Stafford and Mathieu Perreault — a combination he had used before but not this season — in hopes of creating a spark. He got that and more as the trio combined for nine points in the game. Stafford scored twice and added an assist while Perreault chipped in with three assists.

“We were moving the puck well, we were on the forecheck hard,” said Scheifele. “Obviously it was just the first game; we still can do better, and hopefully we can build on that.”

That’s the hope, even if things do look slim for the Jets right now, who with the win returned to .500 with a 9-9-2 record. But as Scheifele said, it’s a start. And a roaring one at that.

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

twitter: @jeffkhamilton

Jeff Hamilton
Multimedia producer

Jeff Hamilton is a sports and investigative reporter. Jeff joined the Free Press newsroom in April 2015, and has been covering the local sports scene since graduating from Carleton University’s journalism program in 2012. Read more about Jeff.

Every piece of reporting Jeff produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.