Jets can’t hold on to lead, lose 6-5 to Golden Knights

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This article was published 13/12/2022 (1055 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg Jets coach Rick Bowness had referred to it as a potential “statement game” for his club, with the top team in the Western Conference in town for a big-time matchup.

The message ultimately sent by his troops on Tuesday in front of a season-low crowd of 13,102 at Canada Life Centre was clear: they’re still figuring out how to handle increased expectations and a modicum of success.

A 6-5 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights, in a game they led with just over half a period to play, is going to leave a mark.

“That was a hell of a hockey game. It could have gone either way,” Bowness said. “We battled hard tonight. We showed we can certainly play with them and with the best teams in the league and we’re going to continue to stay in that fight.”

Winnipeg falls to 18-9-1, dropping consecutive games in regulation for just the second time all year. Vegas improves to 21-9-1, including a perfect 3-0-0 against the Jets in their season series.

It was quite the roller-coaster with plenty to digest. Buckle up as we go for a ride:

1) The end result will no doubt have plenty of fans feeling sick to their stomachs. They’ll have plenty of company in that regard.

Forward Pierre-Luc Dubois, for one, who was stapled to the bench for much of the third period.

“He’s really sick. He’s under the weather and there’s a few other guys, a couple guys on IVs in there right now,” said Bowness.

That doesn’t help a team already without injured forwards Nikolaj Ehlers, Mason Appleton and Saku Maenalanen, and defenceman Logan Stanley.

There were plenty of other close calls of the self-inflicted variety in this one

Connor Hellebuyck hit Nate Schmidt in the head with a pass attempt in the first. Kyle Connor and Dubois ran into each other in the second. Dylan DeMelo and Josh Morrissey did the same a few minutes later. Connor then blasted Wheeler with a slapshot that left the former captain hobbling near the end of the middle frame.

It just wasn’t their night, clearly.

Of course, Vegas isn’t exactly the picture of health right now, either. A trio of top defencemen in Alex Pietrangelo, Shea Theodore and Zach Whitecloud are sidelined, as is sniper Jack Eichel and No. 1 netminder Robin Lehner.

A reminder, once again, the NHL season is often a war of attrition.

2) It’s not often you’ll see a Bowness-coached team score five times and lose, but attention to defensive detail was sorely lacking at times. It also didn’t help that Hellebuyck seemed to be fighting the puck all night, ultimately giving up five goals on 32 shots.

“First 10 minutes was really good. They took over the last 10 minutes of the first. They made more of their chances in the second half of the first than we did in the first half but then, as the game wore on, it was an even game,” said Bowness.

After Mark Scheifele opened the scoring at 9:22 of the first, rookie defenceman Daniil Miromanov got it back to even at 11:30 when a wrist shot you would expect Hellebuyck to handle eluded him.

Winnipegger Mark Stone gave the visitors their first lead with two seconds left in the opening period, pouncing on a juicy rebound created by a Nic Hague shot.

Morgan Barron tied it at 11:16 of the second, but Stone put Vegas back in front at 15:34 following a ghastly giveaway by Schmidt. It was the 500th point of his career, a nice milestone to hit in his hometown.

Sam Gagner tied it 39 seconds later when he deflected Brenden Dillon’s point shot, snapping a lengthy personal scoring drought, and the Jets seemed to be in good shape when Scheifele converted a Connor feed on the power play 41 seconds into the third.

But then Jonathan Marchessault struck twice, both with the man advantage, from similar spots on the ice — at 9:38 to tie it, and at 17:44 to give the Golden Knights another lead. Great shots, for sure, but ones Hellebuyck will swear he should deny.

William Karlsson added insurance with the empty-netter at 18:36, a goal that ended up being the winner when Scheifele got his third during a goalmouth scramble with just under two seconds left in regulation.

So much for the Vegas “flu” giving them an edge on home ice. The Golden Knights are a mediocre 8-7-0 in their own rink this year, but are absolute road warriors with an NHL-best 13-2-1 record.

3) It also doesn’t help that Winnipeg’s red-hot penalty kill, which began the night third-overall in the NHL, sprung a bit of a leak.

Blake Wheeler was in the penalty box on Marchessault’s first goal after accidentally shooting a puck over the glass, while Neal Pionk was the culprit on Marchessault’s second after a careless high stick caught Phil Kessel in the face.

“I think early we were great. Our start was was fantastic and got away from it for a little bit and let them get into the game and let them get their legs,” said Scheifele.

“From there, we just had to kind of rebound the whole night. It was, you know, kind of back and forth all night — a goal for them, a goal for us — and we just had to kind of stick to our game and not let off the gas.”

4) One positive from this game is contributions from the bottom six. Bowness hadn’t been happy with the play of the fourth line, making forward Axel Jonsson-Fjallby a healthy scratch and inserting Manitoba Moose call-up Kevin Stenlund in his place on a line with Gagner and David Gustafsson. Stenlund had an assist on Gagner’s goal.

“Much better,” Bowness said of what he saw.

“I thought Kevin (Stenlund) had a very strong game. (Gagner) was around the net. (Gustafsson) was fine on left wing. But I thought Kevin gave us what we needed him to do. He won some faceoffs. He’s a big, strong guy and hung onto the puck. I really liked his game and that helped that line create some offence.”

Competition is set to heat up with the Jets claiming Karson Kuhlman on waivers Tuesday. The 27-year-old Minnesota product has played 114 NHL games with Boston and Seattle, scoring 10 goals and adding 16 assists. He had one goal and two helpers in 14 games with the Kraken this year.

Kulhman should feel right at home in the Winnipeg dressing room. He was previously teammates with Pionk, Dylan Samberg and Dominic Toninato at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. The Jets also have Minnesotans Wheeler and Schmidt on the roster.

Kulhman is on a one-year deal making US $825,000. He is a right-shooting centre and winger who stands 5-foot-10 and weighs 184 pounds.

Up next: The Jets will try to salvage something out of this three-game homestand when the Nashville Predators pay a visit on Thursday night.

“We’re just a good team. We don’t want to lose games and we want to rebound,” said Gagner.

“We come in the next night and battle hard and give it our all and that’s all we can do here, is get some rest and be ready for Nashville.”

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg