Step in the right direction

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This article was published 08/02/2022 (1307 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There’s no way to right all the wrongs of a disappointing first-half of the season in one fell swoop. But the Winnipeg Jets took a big step in the right direction Tuesday night as they emerged from a weeklong break looking refreshed, re-charged and ready to fight their way back into the playoff race.

Quite literally, in fact. More on that in a moment. The end result was an impressive 2-0 victory over the Minnesota Wild that should provide a template for how the team needs to play if they are to make up a massive deficit and get back in the playoff race over these final 40 games.

“The guys in the locker room now know what it’s going to take,” said Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck, who stopped all 27 shots he faced for his third shutout of the year. “We’ve got the details right. That’s the game that we need to play. We’ve seen it, and we know we can do it. We just need to build confidence in it.”

Winnipeg, which began the night having just one victory over the last eight, improves to 19-17-7. Minnesota, which arrived in town on a 9-0-1 heater, falls to 28-11-3.

The game was played in front of 7,012 fans at Canada Life Centre under relaxed public-health orders that kicked in earlier in the day. That’s about 600 short of the 50 per cent maximum that is now permitted, a troubling sign for a franchise that routinely sold out the building during the past decade. Still, it’s a big improvement in atmosphere and revenues from the 250 spectators who took in two January home dates, both lacklustre losses by the Jets, as the Omicron variant ran wild in the community.

Those at the downtown rink were treated to a doozy. Although the offence was in short supply, this was one of the more entertaining low-scoring affairs you’ll see. There was a playoff-style feel right from the puck drop, with the Jets clearly wanting to back up all their talk earlier this week of needing to play the right way with some tangible on-ice results.

“That’s how you’re gonna have to win against high-octane teams and the teams ahead of us, limit their chances. So, I think we did a pretty good job of that,” said forward Adam Lowry. “And it was nice to have some fans in the building, that gives us some energy. And we came out with some jump early and we didn’t really look back.”

The tone was set early when Jets defenceman Brenden Dillon rocked Minnesota forward Marcus Foligno with a clean, open-ice hit that touched off some mayhem. Jordan Greenway came flying in to fight Dillon, and Foligno was about to go after Dillon as well when Lowry intercepted him. The result was a rare double-tilt, with all four guys throwing punches at the same time.

“I think for Lows and myself we kind of answered in that instance. Overall, they’re a physical team, they played hard. There were hits all over the ice,” said Dillon.

Winnipeg emerged with a power play as Greenway got the extra roughing minor, and the Jets quickly made their closest geographic rivals pay. Scheifele, who began the night with just one goal in his last nine games, whiffed on a one-time pass from Kyle Connor but got just enough of it to beat Wild goaltender Kaapo Kähkönen. It’s the 11th of the year for Scheifele, and gave the home team the start they were looking for. Captain Blake Wheeler had the other helper.

Kähkönen had robbed Jets defenceman Ville Heinola, a fellow Finn, of a sure goal a few minutes earlier, and was dialed in all night.

Winnipeg played one of its most physical games of the year, no doubt wanting to try and wear down a high-flying opponent that lit them up for 13 goals in two previous games this year (6-5 overtime victory for Minnesota in October, and a 7-1 Black Friday beatdown in November). That was on full display late in the first period, as Nate Schmidt engaged in a nasty net-front battle with Minnesota’s top scorer Kirill Kaprizov, the league’s reigning rookie of the year who is in the top ten of NHL scoring this year.

Kaprizov was kept at bay all night despite a team-high seven shots, as the checking line of Lowry, Evgeny Svechnikov and Kristian Reichel played him tough.

“Just recognizing the desperation we need in our game. Understanding that we don’t want to be playing and winning games 5-4, 6-5. I thought our ability to be comfortable in a 1-0 game for the most of it was good,” said Dillon. “Our forwards were working back hard, which makes it an easier game for us on the back end. All throughout the lineup, playing hard, blocking shots, the little things, sticks in the right lanes. It was fun to play tonight. I think all over the ice, it was against a very good team, a very good offensive team. I thought we matched up well.”

The officials in this one might need a rule book refresher, given everything they let go. And tempers boiled over again in the third as a mass of players exchanged punches and shoves in between the benches. Once again, Lowry and Foligno dropped the gloves, and even that had some controversy when Foligno clearly drove his knee into Lowry’s head with the Jets forward already down on the ice as the linesmen broke up the fight.

“You know, that’s not something I really care for. But it’s the heat of the moment sometimes, your emotions get the best of you,” said Lowry. “I’ll just leave it at that. He’s a pretty honest player. I think he’d probably like to take that back if you could, but, you know, things happen.”

Foligno was given an extra unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, and will likely be hearing from the department of player safety today.

“I think we’re desperate. The way our play was the first half the season, we put ourselves in a pretty tough spot and we’re gonna have to kind of get our way out of it. And every game is crucial, and these guys have had such a good year and they play hard. I think that just kind of stays in the game,” Lowry said of why the game between the Central Division rivals had so much snarl.

“It’s two teams that are desperately looking to climb the standings and know how important these points are. It’s only Game 43 for us, but I think that’s what kind of stays in it. We continued to play hard, and they did too and sometimes the train gets off the tracks a little bit.”

Clinging to a one-goal lead, the Jets really tightened up in their own zone, taking away time and space from Minnesota. And with Kähkönen on the bench for an extra attacker, Winnipeg got some valuable breathing room when Schmidt fired a puck into the empty net at 18:49 to make it 2-0.

The Jets appeared to get another one into the vacant cage, this time by Paul Stastny in the final minute of play, but it came off the board after a successful Minnesota offside challenge. Winnipeg fans no doubt recall the first meeting of the year between the teams, when the Jets had one-goal lead late in the third period, scored an empty-netter to make it a two-goal lead, only to have it erased for offside and Minnesota to tie it seconds later, eventually prevailing in overtime.

No such heartache in this one, and the Jets skated away with a valuable two points.

“It wasn’t easy. I think if you talk to all 20 guys on the ice tonight, it was a hard game. I think if we understand that it doesn’t matter who you’re playing, especially a good team, a heavy team, a playoff built type of team, it’s not going to be easy,” said Dillon. “I think all 60 minutes for tonight we were dialled in. Just realizing that we need that desperation every game, we’re playing pretty much every other night now going forward. That is the blueprint right there.”

It’s even more impressive considering what they were missing. Forward Pierre-Luc Dubois and Neal Pionk are currently in COVID-19 protocol, and flashy winger Nikolaj Ehlers is still shelved with a serious knee injury. But as the saying goes, excuses are for losers. And the Jets have done plenty of that recently.

Winnipeg will now try to build off this game as they hit the road for a pair this Friday and Saturday in Dallas and Nashville. After that, it’s home for four more games starting next Monday.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg