Jets won’t let Scheifele’s injury hold them back

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This article was published 02/08/2020 (1866 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

EDMONTON — There were no sober second thoughts from the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday when it came to a controversial play involving Mark Scheifele and Matthew Tkachuk.

Coach Paul Maurice doubled down on his explosive claim that Tkachuk, the Calgary forward, had intentionally injured the Jets’ top centre in the opening game of their best-of-five qualifying series Saturday night. The Flames won 4-1. Game 2 is set for Monday at 1:30 p.m. CT.

“I don’t think he came off the bench and said, ‘Hey I’m going to see if I can go stab the back of Mark Scheifele’s leg with my skate.’ I think he got to that point and I think that’s exactly what he did. But I don’t think he’s skating across the ice thinking that’s what I’m going to do. I think he plays at a level he’s on the edge, he crosses it sometimes. He crossed it in my mind clearly. That’s exactly how I feel,” Maurice said before the Jets practised in Edmonton.

Scheifele was writhing on the ice in pain after an awkward collision with Tkachuk just a few minutes into the game. He was helped off, putting no weight onto his left leg, and did not return. Following the game, an irate Maurice called it a “filthy, dirty kick to the back of the leg… he could have ended the man’s career.”

“I would stick by every word that I said,” Maurice said Sunday when asked if he’d had a change of heart.

Tkachuk was not penalized on the play, and claimed the episode was a freak accident. The NHL apparently agrees, as there will be no disciplinary hearing for Tkachuk.

“I don’t think it’s accidental. I think it’s intentional. I don’t know if he meant to try to cut him but… how often does your skate come off the ice and land on the guy’s ankle? So that’s where I stand on it,” said Jets forward Adam Lowry.

Despite the references to stabbing and cutting, the Jets wouldn’t confirm the nature of Scheifele’s injury. He was scheduled to see a specialist and the team was awaiting test results later in the day.

Maurice and Lowry were both asked if they believe Tkachuk is a dirty player.

“I don’t know if I would say dirty. I would say reckless. We all play hard. I don’t have the cleanest track record either. I know when you’re playing a physical brand of hockey, sometimes you step over the line. I think that was one of those plays, it’s kind of reckless going in. Your skate comes up and lands on a guy’s ankle. I don’t know if I’m going to come out and call him a dirty player, but I think he is a bit reckless sometimes,” said Lowry.

“I don’t know, if you sin once are you a sinner? You know. Sin 10 times?” added Maurice.

If there’s a slight bit of good news, it’s that Scheifele didn’t leave the COVID-19 “bubble” to go to the hospital. Lowry said he was with the team for a post-game meal.

“I think we were all extremely worried. You never want to see a guy go down. To see how much pain he was in, right there your heart sinks and you’re thinking the worst. We were still waiting on results at the time so we’re not sure of the extent. We’re hoping it’s more of a scare and not as severe as we first thought but he was just trying to keep our spirits up. He’s such a good team guy and he’s such a good person that even with all that going on, he’s more about making sure that we’re ready for the next game,” said Lowry.

Scheifele isn’t the only question mark for the rest of the series. Jets sniper Patrik Laine left Saturday’s game late in the third period with an apparent hand or wrist injury. He was being evaluated on Sunday.

“This is our year. This event, almost the inexplicable is the story of the Winnipeg Jets. From your A defenceman not showing up to play (Dustin Byfuglien) to losing a veteran for the season, maybe for a career (Bryan Little), to all the inexplicable things that has happened to this hockey team this year. This would be par for the course,” said Maurice.

“I think we had the pause and thought that we had gotten out of that situation, and (Saturday) night was a reminder we were right back in it, so we’ve got an awful lot of experience with it. The 5-on-5 game wasn’t inorganic for either team. We scored one, they didn’t score any. Special teams clearly would be the area that we’ve got to focus on and get right, especially potentially missing important pieces. So that’s our challenge today. But getting up off the mat with some work to do seemingly every week, and we’ll get it put to the test now.”

Blake Wheeler shifted back to centre in Scheifele’s absence — once he was done serving a five-minute major for taking on Tkachuk in a fight. Young players such as Jack Roslovic and Mason Appleton were elevated in the lineup as well.

“We’ve got really, really good leadership in our room. And, yeah, we’re going to miss Mark. He’s a big part of that. And it’s also a nice proving ground. We’ve got a lot of young forwards. We’ve got some skill up there that couldn’t connect (Saturday) night,” said Maurice. “This is a great test for them. It’s a great opportunity for them to rally again, to figure out how to handle a playoff loss and be a lot better and harder the next night.”

As Maurice noted, the Jets more than held their own five-on-five against the Flames, but were ultimately done in by power plays. The team was 0-for-7 on its own while giving up a shorthanded goal, and surrendering two power-play markers to Calgary.

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“There weren’t many positives, but there were a few. The first power play, Patty (Laine) had a couple of one-timer looks. I had an opportunity from up top. We definitely have to look at how to break in a little better, but there were a few opportunities, including when Scheif went down and we had Patty and Nik Ehlers on the left and right… we had a couple of good opportunities there too,” said defenceman Neal Pionk, who quarterbacks the top unit.

He suggested the Jets can use the anger about the injury in Game 1 as motivation.

“We have to learn from it and go from there. That comes along with channelling our emotions. They might be running high, which is a good thing if we can contain it. So we’ll have to take those emotions into Game 2 with a little bit of caution as well,” said Pionk.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg

Mike McIntyre
Reporter

Mike McIntyre is a sports reporter whose primary role is covering the Winnipeg Jets. After graduating from the Creative Communications program at Red River College in 1995, he spent two years gaining experience at the Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in 1997, where he served on the crime and justice beat until 2016. Read more about Mike.

Every piece of reporting Mike 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.