Jets give Avs all they can handle

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This article was published 13/04/2023 (878 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

DENVER — The main objective for the Winnipeg Jets in their regular-season finale against the Colorado Avalanche Thursday was to leave Ball Arena in full health. In that way, the night was a smashing success.

But as far as the final scoreboard, the Jets didn’t fare quite as well. The Avalanche skated away with a 4-2 victory, just squeaking by a watered down but determined Jets lineup that has bigger fish to try next week.

Having already clinched the final wildcard in the Western Conference with a road win over the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday, Winnipeg sat out several of its key players to make room for the club’s healthy scratches. Meanwhile, the Avalanche were still in the hunt for top spot in the Central Division and needed wins in their final two games after the Dallas Stars defeated St. Louis earlier in the night.

Winnipeg put up a valiant fight against the reigning Stanley Cup champions but couldn’t find an answer in the third period, as the game remained close down the stretch, tied 2-2 heading into the final 20 minutes. Axel Jonsson-Fjällby and Kevin Stenlund scored for the Jets, who finish the year 46-33-3.

“That’s a credit to the guys in the lineup tonight. Everybody really battled,” said Jets defenceman Brenden Dillon. “They scored a power play goal there, a lucky one on their third one and that’s kind of the game right there. We want to be a workmanlike mentality here going into the playoffs. We’ve got a lot of skill in our lineup but we know when we work hard, we’re usually rewarded for it.”

Denis Malgin, Mikko Rantanen, Evan Rodrigues and Artturi Lehkonen each added a goal for the Avalanche, who improved to 50-24-7 with the win. Colorado wraps up its regular season against the Nashville Predators Friday night.

Let’s dig a bit deeper into this one.

1) The Jets sat out forwards Pierre-Luc Dubois, Mark Scheifele, Nikolaj Ehlers and Blake Wheeler, as well as defencemen Josh Morrissey and Nate Schmidt. That allowed for forwards Karson Kuhlman, David Gustafsson, Jonsson-Fjallby and Dominic Toninato, who was called up from the Manitoba Moose, and defencemen Logan Stanley and Kyle Capobianco to draw in.

David Rittich, who finished with 21 saves, earned his first start since a 5-3 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes back on Mar. 14, as Connor Hellebuyck sat on the bench as his backup. With Scheifele and Morrisey sidelined, Dillon and Kyle Connor were named alternate captains for the night.

Jets head coach Rick Bowness planned on having even more players out, but those who were eligible to play all 82 regular-season games were given the option to dress. Dillon, Connor, Adam Lowry and Neal Pionk opted in, while Scheifele was the only one to opt out.

“I wanted to play in all 82. You don’t get that opportunity many times,” said Lowry. “This is my ninth year (in the NHL) and this will only be the second time I’ve had the opportunity. I like where my game is at and sometimes when you get a few days off, there’s a bit of a lull. I like to play games.”

2) You have to give the Jets’ makeshift lineup a ton of credit for battling throughout the night. Especially what was at stake for the Avalanche.

After Malgin opened the scoring at the 13:33 mark of the opening period, Winnipeg evened it up in the second, as Jonsson-Fjallby, who hadn’t played since Mar. 4, redirected a pass off his skate to his stick for a nifty backhanded goal that beat Alexander Georgiev.

The Jets even took the lead for a brief time in the middle frame off a short-handed goal from Kevin Stenlund, who lifted the puck over Georgiev following a nice pass from Morgan Barron on a 2-on-1.

The game would be tied before the penalty was over, however, as Mikko Rantanen fired a one-timer past Rittich with 33 seconds remaining on the man-advantage.

That set up an exciting third period, which, like the first two, was a lot tighter than expected.

The Avalanche took the lead just three minutes on Rodrigues’ goal, a marker that Rittich will definitely want back. Rodrigues fired a shot through the legs of Dillon just inside the blue line that appeared to sneak up on Rittich, beating him high glove.

“We played really well. We didn’t give up much at all. They didn’t have anything going,” said Bowness. “It was disappointing to lose on that third goal, but that’s hockey. Our guys played very hard tonight. We did a lot of good things. That’s an excellent hockey team over there, obviously playing for first place, so they had a lot at stake. We battled them every minute of the game.

3) The Jets finally know who they’ll meet in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, as the Vegas Golden Knights secured top spot in the West with a 3-1 win over the Seattle Kraken late Thursday.  Game 1 and Game 2 will be played in Vegas on Tuesday and Thursday, with Game 3 and Game 4 in Winnipeg still to be determined.

The Edmonton Oilers had forced the Golden Knights’ hand after beating the lowly San Jose Sharks 5-2 earlier in the evening, which meant Vegas had to earn at least a single point to surpass them for first place in the Pacific Division. As a result the Jets, if they are able to strike magic this postseason, will have to make their way through a tough Pacific Division.

Winnipeg has earned just one point in three games against the Golden Knights this year, after a 2-1 overtime loss back on Oct. 30. The last match between the two teams resulted in a narrow 6-5 win for Vegas on Dec. 13.

As the eighth seed playing the best in the West, the Jets are certainly underdogs. But they aren’t viewing themselves that way.

“We’re a confident group,” said Connor. “We think we can beat anybody, so I don’t think we’re looking at it like ‘hey, we just squeaked in, we’re happy.’ We’re here to win some series.”

4) While most of the players who didn’t play were considered healthy scratches, the same couldn’t be said for Ehlers, who had to leave the game Tuesday following a blind-sided hit by forward Ryan Hartman. Hartman was assessed a minor penalty for interference on the play but was later given a one-game suspension by the NHL’s Department of Player Safety.

Bowness said Ehlers entered concussion protocol but was cleared. He still has a lingering upper-body issue that will be reassessed back in Winnipeg. The Jets coach seemed fairly confident that Ehlers would be available for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup playoffs early next week but stopped short of guaranteeing it.

“Just talked to him and he’s feeling better,” Bowness said. “At this point it’s too early to say that. We’ll let him be reassessed tomorrow and we’ll know more.”

Jeff.Hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @jeffkhamilton