Jets head coach witness at elusive slew foot sighting

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This article was published 28/10/2016 (3264 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

DENVER — There was no misinterpreting Winnipeg Jets head coach Paul Maurice when he was asked whether defenceman Dustin Byfuglien was the victim of a slew foot by Dallas Stars forward Antoine Roussel when the teams clashed Thursday.

“Yes,” Maurice said during a short, pre-game chat with reporters Friday at the Pepsi Center.

Byfuglien fell heavily into the boards early in the third period after the two players got tangled together in the Jets’ zone.

He lay on the ice for a few moments before rising, then skated slowly to the bench and headed directly to the dressing room.

Replays showed Roussel seemingly kicked out the back skate of the big defender, who returned to finish the game. The Jets dumped the Stars 4-1 at the MTS Centre.

Maurice said the play doesn’t happen often, adding it’s a tough one for the officials to spot.

“It’s a fast play, so it’s not as easy to pick up on the ice as you’d think,” he said. “You don’t see it that much.”

Roussel, 26, in his fifth season with the Stars, is one of the great pests of the Western Conference and has been punished by the NHL in the past. During a game in February 2015, he delivered a cross-check to the face of Boston Bruins defenceman Adam McQuaid and was suspended for two games without pay.

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Colorado Avalanche rookie right-winger Mikko Rantanen, who turns 20 today, had plenty of good things to say about fellow countryman Patrik Laine prior to the Central Division battle Friday.

“Everybody knew that he was going to be a very good player and I believed he could do the same things in the NHL he did last year in the Finnish league and at the world championship,” said Rantanen, who made his season debut for the Avalanche.

“It’s not easy for a rookie to do what he’s doing, and he’s shown he can play. His shot is excellent, and he’s showing that to everybody in hockey. You have to play hard against him and get sticks in front of him so he can’t get that shot away.”

Rantanen, who skated Friday with centre Nathan MacKinnon and Mikhail Grigorenko on left wing, said he and Laine trained together during the summer and got to be good friends.

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The Jets called up forward Marko Dano from the Manitoba Moose for some insurance, but he didn’t dress Friday.

Dano, 21, played in six games with the Moose after being left off the Jets’ roster following training camp and has a pair of assists for the American Hockey League club.

The Jets are dealing with injuries to veteran forwards Bryan Little and Drew Stafford, and the NHL club is in the midst of playing three games in four days.

Little has been placed on the injured-reserve list, retroactive to Oct. 13. The club said earlier this week the centre is not expected back until late November.

Stafford suffered an upper-body injury Tuesday against the Stars in Dallas.

— Jason Bell