Jets drop pre-season opener to Wild 3-2 in a shootout

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This article was published 18/09/2017 (2916 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

No pink slips were handed out Monday night at the downtown home of the Winnipeg Jets, but no major promotions were dispensed, either.

The sun rose this morning and the same personnel from Winnipeg’s two training camp groups that skated Saturday and Sunday will resume its regularly scheduled programming at Bell MTS Iceplex.

A 3-2 shootout defeat to a Minnesota Wild squad thin on NHL regulars meant squat in Jets head coach Paul Maurice’s grand scheme of things. Mostly, it sent hockey-starved fans streaming out the Bell MTS Place doors a bit displeased.

Indeed, the ticket stub from Winnipeg’s first of seven pre-season tests prior to the 2017-18 NHL regular season wasn’t worth saving for the scrapbook.

Ryan Malone, 37, trying to resurrect his career with the Wild, netted the only goal of the shootout with a low shot that beat goalie Connor Hellebuyck. The Jets top line of Mark Scheifele, Blake Wheeler and Patrik Laine were all tapped to break in on Minnesota goalie Steve Michalek in the shootout but were stopped cold.

Seventeen minor penalties annihilated the flow of an exhibition game that, if history has taught us anything, might not have had much, anyway.

Maurice purposely went with a roster chockfull of guys who already cash hefty cheques, looking for signs the players he knows and trusts are already fully invested in the plan to dramatically improve from a non-playoff team to a legitimate Central Division post-season challenger.

Minnesota coach Bruce Boudreau, meanwhile, was on an entirely different fact-finding mission, travelling north of the border with a group of youngsters and just a few recognizable names, like centre Charlie Coyle, who had a career-high 52 points last season, and right-winger Chris Stewart, along with forwards Marcus Foligno and Tyler Ennis, acquired in late June from Buffalo. Left at home were players who usually give the Jets fits such as forwards Nino Niederreiter, Jason Zucker and Mikael Granlund, blue-liner Ryan Suter and goalie Devan Dubnyk.

Collectively, Jets didn’t exactly dominate the humdrum affair, interrupted repeatedly by the penalty calls of referees Cameron Voss and Chris Lee.

Maurice had said Monday morning he fully anticipated a parade to the box – and he called it right.

“Thirty-three minutes of five-on-five hockey? We know that going in. It was true to form of all the other games with really, really high penalty totals,” he said. “We had a big group of veteran guys and we’re just slowly starting to work them into the power play and touching the puck.”

Winnipeg’s power play was two-for-10 on the night, as Mathieu Perreault scored just 45 seconds into the game, while Laine’s rocket one-timer tied the game 2-2 late in the second period.

“Not a lot of legs in our group and not a lot of speed to our game and you just got to get your hands moving testing some pucks. We got those guys with almost 10 minutes of power-play time. Some of it looked nice, some of it looked like it was the first exhibition game,” Maurice said. “In terms of evaluation, you’re just looking at the guys who are playing their first exhibition game, see how you felt they went. There wouldn’t be a whole lot of evaluation for that one.”

There were a few moments worth noting. Perreault flashed his sneaky side, walking in from the corner, stepping in from and stuffing the puck past Wild goalie Niklas Svedberg, who played two periods before giving way to Michalek.

In the second period, Winnipeg’s leading hitter a year ago, Adam Lowry, sent blue-liner Gustav Olofsson flying with a dandy open-ice body-check. Laine also lost his cool and clobbered Carson Soucy after the Wild D-man delivered a solid hit on centre Scheifele. It was an entertaining few moments but cost the Finnish-born sophomore forward two minutes in the box for roughing.

Hellebuyck looked comfortable in 65 minutes of play, stopping 34 of 36 shots.

“It would have been a little more fun with the win but I felt really good. I liked my game. And I think there’s a lot of positives we can take from this, that being said there’s a lot of things we can continue to improve on,” said Hellebuyck.

“I felt like myself. I felt very calm in there and I felt a lot faster and in control. I don’t think I ever got caught swimming and I was able to keep my eye on most of the pucks.”

Temper the enthusiasm because there some lowlights, too.

Brendan Lemieux looked totally flummoxed killing a penalty that resulted in veteran forward Charlie Coyle’s tying goal in the opening period. The initial call was on Dustin Byfuglien, whose needless tug of a Wild defender in the offensive zone prompted a trip to the box.

Lemieux gained some points when he challenged Foligno to a scrap after the Minnesota left-winger caught Jets hopeful Michael Sgarbossa with a high hit.

Blue-liner Tucker Poolman played more than 17 minutes, while Logan Stanley was on the ice for 15 minutes. Neither struggled against the Wild lesser-lights.

The Scheifele-Wheeler-Laine combination had plenty of puck possession and open looks but only capitalized the one time with the man advantage.

“We didn’t have much five-on-five shifts so it’s always hard. There’s so many penalties and someone’s not playing the PP or the PK at all, so it’s bad for those players. At least I can play PP,” said Laine.

“I think (the line) started pretty well. We played a lot in their zone and had pretty good chances, but like I said there’s still a lot of things we need to improve as a line and as players and I think we will do that.

Winnipeg continues a hectic week — four games in six nights — on Wednesday when the Edmonton Oilers visit. Game time is set for 7 p.m. Twenty-four hours later, a contingent of Jets heads south to battle the Wild at Xcel Energy Center at 7 p.m. Thursday, while another group heads to the Alberta capital for a rematch with the Oilers on Saturday night at 8 p.m.

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: WFPJasonBell