Jets lose Wheeler to injury, then lose shootout to Canucks 4-3

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This article was published 11/12/2021 (1393 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

VANCOUVER — For Blake Wheeler and the Winnipeg Jets, it truly was the best of times. Followed by the worst of times.

A banner night for the captain that included his long-awaited first goal of the year ended with him writhing on the ice in agony, clutching his right knee after suffering a serious third-period ailment. That added injury to the eventual insult of a 4-3 shootout loss to Vancouver in which Winnipeg had numerous glorious chances in overtime to snatch the bonus point from the hosts.

“It’s going to be a while. We’ll get him looked at (Saturday). I’m not a doctor, but it’s going to be a while,” a grim Jets coach Paul Maurice said following the game at Rogers Arena. “We’ll get him healed up, we’ll find other players and we’ll find a way to do it without him.”

Concern was echoed by numerous teammates, who had just celebrated Wheeler and his notorious durability when he skated in his 1,000th career regular-season game last Sunday.

“It was tough to see him down on the ground like that. We just gotta hope and pray for good news when we gets more results. That’s all we can do,” said linemate Mark Scheifele. “We know he’s a warrior, he plays through pretty much everything. Obviously there’s always hope he comes back. Hopefully we get some better news when we get home and get the doctors to look at it. All we can do is pray for good news.”

Winnipeg, playing on the road for a second straight night following Thursday’s 3-0 victory in Seattle, drops to 13-9-5 but are back above the Western Conference playoff line with the single point. Vancouver improves to 11-15-2, including 3-0-0 under new coach Bruce Boudreau.

Maurice wasn’t lying when he said the work from Wheeler, along with Scheifele and Kyle Connor, might have been “as fine as I’ve seen that line play.” They were absolutely dominant until Wheeler went down in a heap near the midway mark of the third period, the result of Jets defenceman Nathan Beaulieu accidentally sliding into him after getting tangled with Vancouver forward Vasily Podkolzin during a chaotic scramble in front of the Winnipeg net.

“They were playing great. They were buzzing,” is how Jets forward Andrew Copp described the play of the top trio.

Indeed. After Nils Hoglander opened the scoring 6:29 into the first period, Wheeler finally broke a regular-season scoring drought that stretched all the way back to last May 11, when he sniped twice against the Canucks in the second-last game of the abbreviated 2021 campaign. That’s a span of 22 games, including all 21 he’d played this season up until Friday. A wrist shot on the power play snuck by Vancouver goalie Thatcher Demko, who was screened by the imposing Pierre-Luc Dubois, and the monkey was off his back. Wheeler actually pantomined reaching back and tossing the imaginary burden into orbit.

“Long time coming. He had how many assists? It wasn’t a worry for us. He’s been dishing left and right,” said Copp.

Turns out, he was just getting warmed up including some more dishing to come. Wheeler was robbed of a sure goal on the very next shift when Demko got a glove on the puck just before it crossed the goal-line. He was also denied on a breakaway near the end of the period, which Vancouver quickly turned around for the go-ahead goal, a softie given up by Jets backup goalie Eric Comrie off a Hoglander shot.

Wheeler had a direct hand in getting the game knotted up again, setting up Connor for his team-leading 18th 6:09 into the second period. Vancouver regained the lead just 57 seconds later, as Conor Garland came off the bench on a line change, got in behind Winnipeg’s defence and scored on a breakaway dash.

But then the first line did it again, with Wheeler and Connor setting up Scheifele for a rocket of a one-timer at 11:08, his seventh goal of the year.

Then came some controversy. The Jets appeared to have taken a 4-3 lead when Andrew Copp scored a few minutes later, but it was wiped off the board when Boudreau challenged for goaltender interference. Replays showed Dubois came in contact with Demko just prior to the puck going in.

Maurice was livid on the bench, no doubt thinking back to a call that went against them last week when playing Carolina. Connor Hellebuyck got spun around during a crease battle shortly before the Hurricanes scored, but the goal was allowed to stand based on the NHL’s ruling that it was incidental contact during a loose puck battle.

“Well, that’s it. I don’t like one of those two calls. I can’t tell you which one. But one of those two calls is wrong,” Maurice said following the game.

Copp was equally perplexed.

“You just never know what to expect, honestly. And it’s not just that, it’s just the full lack of clarity on what is goalie interference and what is not. That could have been goalie interference, for sure. If that one is, than probably the Hellebuyck once against Carolina probably is. So, I don’t think it’s just one call, it’s just lack of clarity overall,” he said.

“Try and not put it in their hands, I guess. The one today, it’s a 50-50 puck, Dubie is going backdoor tap-in and that’s the ruling that we got from the league, that incidental contact on a 50-50 puck around the net is not goalie interference. That’s where we are confused.”

After a scoreless third period, a wild overtime session ensued in which the Jets had the puck for pretty much the first four minutes but couldn’t solve Demko despite numerous glorious chances. They survived a last-minute tripping call against Nikolaj Ehlers — which set the stage for a shootout.

Elias Pettersson was the only one who could score on a nifty deke from in-tight. Connor, Scheifele and Dubois were all denied by Demko.

“We pretty much dominated that overtime. Breakaways, two-on-ones. I think one went off his cup on and on to the post or whatever. We had our chances, sometimes you have to tip your cap, Demko made some big saves and held them in it,” said Scheifele.

“We played a great game. Did a lot of really great things. It sucks shootouts are the way to end it. You wish you could just play three on three forever, until someone scores. That’s just the way it is, we have to be happy with our game and look at the good things. Now we got a little bit of time to rest, which is nice. We have to take that to our advantage and be ready for a little bit of a homestand here.”

Comrie finished the game with 33 saves in regulation and overtime, while Demko made 34 stops.

The Jets are now off until Tuesday, when they open a three-game homestand against the Buffalo Sabres at Canada Life Centre. Washington and St. Louis will also pay visits.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg