Kopitar carries Kings past jets

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This article was published 28/02/2023 (922 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It wasn’t officially a “must-win.” But Tuesday’s game at Canada Life Centre sure felt like one for the Winnipeg Jets.

And on a night they needed something — anything — to go right, the glass was either half-full, or half-empty, depending on your perspective.

Winnipeg blew a pair of two-goal leads, ultimately falling 6-5 in a shootout to the Los Angeles Kings before a crowd of 13,203 that is the second-smallest of the year.

“When things aren’t going your way, this is what usually happens,” Jets coach Rick Bowness said of adversity coming in waves. “They don’t always automatically go your way. We’ve just got to keep… We’ve got to build on it.”

On the plus side, Winnipeg got a single point, which they weren’t able to do in three straight regulation losses leading into this one. They’ll take everything they can get at this point in the year. But they’re now winless in a season-high four games, and you can feel tension mounting around the struggling club.

“It’s a tough loss, but I think all the guys fought hard,” said Jets forward Kevin Stenlund, who had a pair of goals.

Winnipeg falls to 35-24-2 overall, and just 6-10-1 in the last 17. They are eighth in the Western Conference, holding down the second wildcard spot. Los Angeles improves to 34-20-8, tied with the Vegas Golden Knights for first place in the Pacific Division.

“We competed super hard. We played well. Some tough breaks,” said defenceman Josh Morrissey, who had a career-high four points.

“Obviously, there is the fact we gave up five goals, and you don’t want to do that. I don’t have a huge problem with the way we competed and the way we played. There’s some mistakes clearly that we need to clean up. Some tip goals and stuff like that, but the compete was there, the effort was there. It’s a team we are fighting with. It’s an intense game. You know, you get the lead and you want to keep it. But we played really hard considering the last number of games. We’re going to build off that.”

There’s plenty to discuss. Let’s get right to it:

1. Just when you think you’ve seen it all from Morrissey, the All-Star goes out and raises the bar even higher. Morrissey scored twice and added a pair of assists, while also providing his usual stalwart work in his own end.

With the Jets off to another sleepy first period start, Morrissey woke up his team (and the nervous fans) when he crashed the Kings crease and poked home a loose puck for his 12th of the year at 15:52.

It was the kind of workmanlike goal the Jets haven’t scored enough of lately.

“We had to attack the net. It was a big thing we did (at practice and morning skate): attack the net. And I thought we did a much better job of that,” said Bowness. “We gotta keep doing it. Greasy goals are scored right there. You’ve gotta get in there.”

Morrissey struck again at 17:35, blasting a shot from the point to set a career-high for goals in a season.

Taking a two-goal lead into the intermission was just what the doctor ordered for a fragile club. Of course, it wasn’t going to be quite that easy on this night.

2. Unlike Morrissey, occasional defence partner Neal Pionk is having a miserable campaign. A holding penalty just 20 seconds into the middle frame is not the way to try and build on your momentum.

Neither is losing the faceoff, which led to an Anze Kopitar blast just six seconds into the ensuing power play.

Winnipeg’s penalty kill has been tremendous all year, but my goodness did the visitors make that one look easy.

If the Kings are going to be taken seriously as contenders, they’re going to need to upgrade their goaltending. Minor-leaguer Phoenix Copley is now the de facto starter, with veteran Jonathan Quick struggling and the supposed netminder of the future, Cal Petersen, now buried in the American Hockey League.

Copley fought the puck all night long, and that was apparent when Kyle Connor ripped a shot from a bad angle to restore Winnipeg’s two-goal advantage at 6:08 of the second.

Morrissey drew a helper on Connor’s 27th of the year.

3. Back to Kopitar, who was a net-front menace in this one.

A perfect tip of an Alex Edler shot at 9:14 cut Winnipeg’s lead to 3-2, and another deflection at 10:43 (from a Drew Doughty blast) tied things up.

You could feel the unrest growing inside the rink. But just when things were starting to look bleak….

It was Stenlund to the rescue?!

Morrissey made a great feed to the Manitoba Moose call-up, who snapped a 12-game scoring drought by ripping a shot past Copley with exactly eight minutes left in the second.

Stenlund struck again at 18:26 on a shorthanded two-on-one-rush, converting on a perfect feed from Adam Lowry.

A Winnipeg team that has been starving for some secondary scoring suddenly had it in spades.

“It’s great when the bottom-six can contribute that way, too,” said Stenlund. “So, obviously we want everyone to contribute in their own way.”

4. Kopitar’s massive night continued when he scored his fourth of the game just 1:26 into the third period, getting to a puck that bounced off the linesman right on to his stick.

“We were kind of talking about it before the game. He’s been in the league such a long time and I don’t know if he’s really changed at all, in the most complimentary way,” said Morrissey.

“At that point of his career, (with) that many games. Long playoff runs. He looks the same as I remember watching him when I was a kid. It’s pretty impressive that he’s able to play at that level. Unfortunately for us, he brought his A-game today. He’s been doing it a long time and like I said, he seems to be as on top of his game as he’s ever been.”

The Kings kept coming, tying it with just over four minutes left in regulation as defenceman Dylan Samberg blew a tire, allowing Gabe Vilardi to retrieve the loose puck and beat Connor Hellebuyck with a snap shot.

Nothing was ultimately settled in three-on-three overtime — Morrissey had two solid chances at the hat trick, and Kopitar had a golden opportunity for his fifth of the night — so it was off to the skills competition.

Connor, Mark Scheifele and Blake Wheeler were all stopped by Copley, while Adrian Kempe managed to beat Hellebuyck through the five-hole for the winner.

5. Nino Niederreiter made his debut for the Jets, and certainly made an impact. He had four hits in the first period to lead all players, then threw his biggest one of the night in the second on Sean Durzi.

That set off a melee, with Niederreiter and Adrian Kempe dropping the gloves. They were ultimately assessed roughing minors, with Niederreiter getting an extra penalty for an illegal check to the head.

The crowd loved it, chanting “Nino, Nino.” So did his new teammates. A smiling Nikolaj Ehlers skated over to the penalty box and pounded on the glass in support, and the Jets not only killed the penalty, but Stenlund’s shorthanded goal came with Niederreiter in the sin bin.

“He comes in with a lot of energy and it’s great to have him here. So, we’re happy about that,” said Stenlund. “I think we had energy all game and, obviously, that sparked it a little more. That was a good thing.”

6. Winnipeg was forced to play with just 11 forwards in this one, as Pierre-Luc Dubois and Mason Appleton are battling injuries. The only healthy scratch was defenceman Kyle Capobianco.

The Jets went 0-for-3 on the power play, while Los Angeles went 1-for-4. It could have been more, but a Logan Stanley cross-checking major against Blake Lizotte was reduced to a two-minute penalty upon review.

Hellebuyck stopped 32 of 37 shots. Copley turned aside 26 of 31 pucks .

Finally, Blake Wheeler’s assist on Morrissey’s first goal was the 600th of his career. He’s just the 10th U.S.-born player in NHL history, and second active, to hit that mark.

Up next: The Jets return to action on Friday night in Edmonton, a few hours after the NHL’s trade deadline passes.

“We’ll see what happens, I guess, in the next few days. But either way, I’ve got a lot of faith in our team,” said Morrissey. “We just want to build off of the effort level tonight.”

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg