Hits were happening in Game 1

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 11/04/2018 (2712 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There’s no slow burn to the Jets-Wild playoff series; this is already a raging inferno between furious Central Division rivals.

Winnipeg fans — 15,000 strong wearing their finest whites — lit the fuse with a raucous, ear-splitting welcome Wednesday evening and then the big bodies quickly took over stoking the flames at Bell MTS Place.

Goals were at a premium, while hits were in abundance.

Final score in the physicality department? Winnipeg 39, Minnesota 31.

By comparison, the Jets’ final regular-season contest with the Chicago Blackhawks featured a combined 15 bodychecks through 60 minutes.

Welcome to the NHL playoffs.

“There were some big hits. It was what we expected,” said centre Adam Lowry, who delivered three of his own. “Both teams are going to try and answer the bell and assert their dominance and their style of play. It’s always fun when you’re competing like that.

“There’s a lot of size and a lot of speed on both teams, so there’s going to be some physicality.”

Jets defenceman Ben Chiarot led the hit brigade with a whopping 10 belts — more than twice as many as anyone else on the ice. Jets winger Brandon Tanev dished out four hits and was a turbulent force for the hosts all night long.

Raise your hand if you thought, at the start of the 2017-18 NHL campaign, that the former Providence College standout would factor into the Jets’ push to the playoffs and an eventual early series lead. Bunch of fibbers.

“It’s fun feeding off the crowd. The atmosphere was unbelievable in there,” said Tanev. “That physicality is a huge part of our game, and getting on the puck fast and creating opportunities in the offensive zone makes things a lot more difficult on them.”

Winnipeg captain Blake Wheeler, who hails from Plymouth, Minn., just 25 kilometres west of the Twin Cities, said the stage is set for more heavy combat.

“That’s how it looks in the playoffs. The first period is a bit helter-skelter, guys laying the wood a little bit. I actually thought the second period was a little bit more physical, some huge hits. Buff (Jets defenceman Dustin Byfuglien) with that huge hit. That’s the way it’s going to be,” said Wheeler.

He paid tribute to the Lowry trio, with Tanev and Andrew Copp on the wings, which only reinforced the critical role it will play in any post-season success the Jets carve out.

“So physical, so strong on the puck,” said Wheeler. “They’re just a tough matchup because they bring a little bit of everything, they always play in the offensive zone. They’ve been really important to our group this year.”

Only minutes into the opening period, Chiarot clobbered Daniel Winnik near centre ice, Byfuglien hit star centre Eric Staal along the right wall and Lowry cranked blue-liner Nate Prosser in the corner to the right of Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk. Wild forward Marcus Foligno levelled Paul Stastny and Nikolaj Ehlers on the same shift. 

Early in the second period, Byfuglien caught Joel Eriksson with his head down and sent him somersaulting to the ice, while Wild centre Mikko Koivu pasted Mathieu Perreault with an open-ice hit.

Perreault later left the game and did not return. The club said the veteran winger suffered an upper-body injury, and head coach Paul Maurice offered no update after the game.

Prosser crossed the line in a bid to slow up Tanev, cattle-roping the speedy winger and drawing a holding penalty. That led to Mark Scheifele’s blast from the slot — after a slick pass from Wheeler — that sailed past Devan Dubnyk with just 2:23 left in period two.

That only ramped up the “Duuuub-nyyyyk” chants raining down from the crowd, and they intensified after blue-liner Joe Morrow’s long point shot in the third period got past the veteran netminder to snap a 2-2 tie,.

Morrow said punishing hits deliver an injection of energy to the bench.

Winnipeg Free Press | Newsletter

Mike McIntyre | On Sports

Thursdays

Keep up to date on sports with Mike McIntyre's weekly newsletter.

Sign up for Mike McIntyre | On Sports

Sign Up

I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement.

“I think so, I think it’s just the emotion of playoff hockey that comes down to finishing your checks, wearing teams down,” he said. “We’ve got the size and the grit for that… (we) can play it all night long. It just adds to the emotion to it, and gets the crowd into it. It’s awesome.”

Wild head coach Bruce Boudreau isn’t sure if the intense degree of contact can be sustained. 

“We gave back. I mean, they hit us a lot, and I think we came back and hit them a lot,” he said. “We’ll see. It definitely takes a toll on your body. So, if it’s going to continue, the longer that the series goes you might see it die down in third periods sort of thing.”

jason.bell@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @WFPJasonBell