Jets yet to take off in pre-season

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This article was published 21/09/2017 (2917 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Kyle Connor not only holds his own fate in his talented hands, the destiny of several other young Winnipeg Jets might turn on his ultimate success or failure.

If he grasps the opportunity to make the club, the chain of falling dominoes impacts bubble forwards such as Marko Dano, Brandon Tanev and Nic Petan.

On Thursday night, the 20-year-old left-winger didn’t do anything noteworthy to strengthen his case for staying, blending in with the rest of the guys in their road whites who brought their lunch pails to the grinding affair but seemed allergic to offensive creativity until the first 10 minutes of the third period against Minnesota.

Veteran defenceman Jared Spurgeon’s second-period goal lifted the Wild to a 1-0 victory at Xcel Energy Center. It was Minnesota’s second win in four nights against their Central Division rivals.

The Jets are winless in three pre-season games.

On Monday, Connor was afforded just under nine minutes of ice time against the Wild at Bell MTS Place as the Jets went with a dozen regulars in a 3-2 shootout loss, and he was ignored as head coach Paul Maurice went with the big guns in 10 man-advantage situations.

In the rematch against a deeper Wild lineup — Jason Zucker and Nino Niederreiter played up front, while Matt Dumba, Jared Spurgeon and Jonas Brodin made their pre-season debuts on defence — Connor was given power-play responsibility in addition to a regular turn with the Lowry trio but didn’t record a shot on net.

“I thought it was a good game but something to improve (on),” he said. “The bench was right, too, the mindset. Maybe some of the execution in the offensive zone could have been better.”

He said the fact lineups are changing each game shouldn’t be an excuse for ragged play.

“You gotta find a way to win in this league. They say it’s a results-oriented league,” said Connor.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re playing with a guy you’ve played with for 10 years or someone new. You still have to go out and battle and work hard.”

Connor said he’s slowly starting to get into a groove after nearly a week of camp.

“Yeah, I think I’m starting to get into my game. It is two pre-season games but you gotta bring it here and you gotta start right away in the pre-season and show them what you got,” said Connor.

“Going into this one I knew I was going to get more of an opportunity to play and on power play, it felt good to get more touches and kind of harness my game…”

The effort was there from players such as JC Lipon, Brendan Lemieux, Jack Roslovic, Chase De Leo and Buddy Robinson, all projected as Manitoba Moose-bound forwards. Newcomer Tucker Poolman didn’t look out of place in a defensive pairing with veteran Jacob Trouba, while blue-liner Ben Chiarot had a slight edge in effectiveness over 2016-17 bit-part players Julian Melchiori and Nelson Nogier.

But it’s Connor, listed now at 6-1, 188 pounds, who needs to demonstrate some desperation if he’s to duplicate his feat of a year ago and crack the Jets’ opening-night roster out of training camp.

Each drill he sweats through and every shift he takes during the NHL pre-season will have a cumulative effect on the impression he makes with Maurice and the rest of the Winnipeg brass.

Maurice said Connor continues to make progress towards becoming a more well-rounded player, but that process doesn’t occur overnight.

“(The) expectation (by fans) on all our players like Kyle Connor that are with our team, that if they don’t score, we don’t like them. That’s what people want, to see skilled players score,” said Maurice.

“This was a grinding kind of slogging game. He didn’t score.

“There’s lots of improvement in Kyle’s game. There are lots of really good things. He’s still a young man. He’s going to play for the Winnipeg Jets. He’s going to score a bunch of goals for us. When that starts, we’re not sure. He’s made huge strides in a year… but patience with Kyle is really important. I’ve got lots for him. I’ve got lots of time for him.” 

Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck started for the second time this week against the Wild and was sharp, stopping 21 of 22 shots. Spurgeon’s hard shot beat him cleanly over the right shoulder midway through the second period, but he turned aside a couple of late chances from close range to keep his club within striking distance.

He threw up a concrete wall late with the Wild enjoying a two-man advantage — Lemieux was off for hooking, while Lipon was slapped with a faceoff violation. But two guys in the box eliminated any chance of the Jets sending the contest to overtime.

Winnipeg was perfect on three penalty-killing situations.

Veteran centre Matt Hendricks, who was signed as a free agent in late August, gave his young squad full marks for its determination and grit.

“That was a veteran (Wild) team, a lot more experience in their lineup than ours. I applaud our group. There was a lot of work ethic out there, a lot of guys playing really hard in the dirty, tough areas,” said Hendricks.

“I give Connor Hellebuyck a ton of credit. He made some real big saves when he had to.”

Alex Stalock, 30, who hails from the St. Paul area, posted the 21-save shutout. The former San Jose Sharks netminder is in a dogfight with Steve Michalek and Niklas Svedberg to earn the coveted role as Devan Dubnyk’s backup.

Veteran Jets forward Joel Armia left the game in the second period with an undisclosed injury and did not return.

The Jets continue their pre-season schedule on Saturday in Edmonton against the Oilers.

jason.bell@freepress.mb.caTwitter:WFPJasonBell