Jets let golden opportunity slip away in 5-2 loss to Vegas

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This article was published 21/04/2023 (870 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

LAS VEGAS — The good news for the underdog Winnipeg Jets? They’ve wrestled away home-ice advantage from the No. 1 team in the Western Conference, turning a best-of-seven into a best-of-five without an appearance yet from one of their most dynamic offensive players.

The bad news? They blew a terrific opportunity to take a commanding series lead on Thursday night, as a strong start gave way to a sloppy finish and resulted in a 5-2 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena.

“Obviously we let that one slip away a little bit,” said forward Mark Scheifele.

After taking the opener on Tuesday night by a 5-1 score, the Jets essentially picked up where they left off in a dominating first period.

And then, it all fell apart.

“They took over in the second period and clearly they won the third period,” said a disappointed coach Rick Bowness. “Our execution with the puck wasn’t very good. We got on the wrong side of them and let them play a lot faster than we want them to play. And we looked slow because of the execution.”

Indeed, it was a tale of two teams in this one. Let’s go to the tape and break it all down:

1) Winnipeg came flying out of the gate, buzzing around the Vegas zone and generating all kinds of quality looks.

Vladislav Namestnikov nearly opened the scoring just a couple minutes in, then was whistled for a dubious holding call shortly after when it appeared he had actually been impeded by Golden Knights defenceman Nic Hague.

A potential early momentum swing?

Not quite, thanks in no small part to Connor Hellebuyck. Winnipeg’s former Vezina Trophy winner and undisputed MVP made arguably his save of the year — off the very first shot of the game he faced, no less — when he slid across the crease and committed grand larceny on Chandler Stephenson.

The Vegas forward got everything on his one-timer, but Hellebuyck got his glove on it a millimetre or two in front of the goal line. It was so close, in fact, that officials reviewed it on video to ensure it wasn’t in.

The next shot he faced was off the stick of Jack Eichel, who ripped the puck off his mask and left Hellebuyck bleeding from a small cut above his eye.

Talk about an eventful start to the night.

2) Special teams are usually vital in the playoffs, and the Jets got their first power play of the night when Blake Wheeler was impeded by Hague shortly after they killed off the Namestnikov penalty.

Winnipeg finished the scoring on Tuesday night when Adam Lowry scored on a late man advantage. And Lowry opened the scoring 48 hours later, winning a faceoff, going hard to the net and tipping home a Neal Pionk point shot.

It’s already the third goal of the series for Winnipeg’s defensive-minded, shutdown centre who elevated his game down the stretch and is a huge reason the Jets got to the playoffs.

Winnipeg kept coming in waves after that, and Brossoit was the only reason it remained a one-goal game.

Kyle Connor had a pair of back-to-back glorious chances against his former teammate, the first coming on a dazzling solo rush in which he split the defence and created a breakaway.

The physicality also ramped up in this game after a fairly tepid start on Tuesday.

Wheeler and Keegan Kolesar nearly dropped the gloves late in the period before Golden Knights defenceman Alex Pietrangelo came flying into the pack, drawing an extra minor.

Brenden Dillon drew the ire of all of Vegas when he just missed what would have been a massive open-ice hit on Kolesar. That set off a series of post-whistle scrums.

Dylan Samberg and Ivan Barbashev got into it as the buzzer sounded to end a dominating opening frame in which the Jets outshot the Golden Knights 17-8.

3) You wondered if the Jets might rue not extending the lead beyond a single goal given the quality of chances. And that was especially true in the second period after the Golden Knights scored twice in just under a five minute span.

First up was William Karlsson, who had the lone tally on Tuesday. He took advantage of a gassed Winnipeg group that got caught out for an extended shift and couldn’t get to the bench with the long change, ripping a wrist shot past Hellebuyck at 5:54.

It was a similar story when Eichel put the Golden Knights up 2-1 at 10:25, perfectly tipping a Pietrangelo point shot for his first-ever playoff goal (in his second-ever playoff game). It came after a Winnipeg icing, with a fatigued fivesome unable to change.

The Jets responded well to the first deficit of the series, as the fourth line came through with just under four minutes left in the middle frame. Kevin Stenlund deflected a perfect Saku Maenalanen pass to make it a 2-2 game.

Teams need scoring from up and down the lineup in order to have long, successful playoff runs, so consider this a big step in the right direction.

“To go into the intermission 2-2 I think, as a road team, we’re in a good spot, especially since they did have the momentum, they were sustaining pressure,” said Lowry.

4) Knowing a poor third period would put them in a major hole, the Golden Knights came out with urgency and desperation which the Jets simply couldn’t match.

And it was their captain, Winnipegger Mark Stone, leading the way.

He helped set up Stephenson for the go-ahead goal at 5:37, which came off a faceoff win against Winnipeg’s top line of Scheifele, Dubois and Connor.

Schiefele, in particular, was slow to cover Stephenson.

Then Stone made sure there’d be no comeback for the Jets, scoring at 13:01 and 17:30 to complete a memorable night. He underwent back surgery in January and was activated off long-term injured reserve just in time for the playoffs. He was clearly labouring and quite ineffective in the first game, but was an impact player 48 hours later.

“You can’t give up the goals we gave up,” said Bowness. “When it was 2-2, we had a great opportunity to make it 3-2 and then they came down and scored. You can’t lose a faceoff like that and lose the guy going to the net. And then even the fifth goal, we got outmuscled behind the net. You can’t lose games there in the playoffs like that. And we did.”

Hellebuyck stopped 34 of 39 shots he faced, while Brossoit turned aside 31 of 33. Winnipeg went 1-for-3 on the power play, while Vegas went 0-for-4.

The Jets were once again without Nikolaj Ehlers, who remains day-to-day with an upper-body injury. Obviously getting him back as soon as possible would help the cause.

“They were the better team. They deserved to win that game, there is no question,” said Bowness. “Did we make it too easy on them? Yeah. We did. That’s what’s the most disappointing thing. The execution and giving up the goals we gave up, the way we gave them up, that’s disappointing. We’ll fix it and we’ll get ready for Saturday.”

5) The scene now shifts to Winnipeg, where Games 3 and 4 will be held Saturday afternoon and Monday evening. A Game 5 is now guaranteed next Thursday back in Las Vegas.

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The Jets will be looking to feed off what should be a raucous atmosphere inside Canada Life Centre.

“It’s two really good hockey teams. We knew this was going to be a tight series,” said Lowry.

“We felt confident going into it and I don’t think anyone was expecting a sweep. So, you just regroup for Game 3, watch some video, just tighten some things up and we’ll be in a good spot.”

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg

Mike McIntyre
Reporter

Mike McIntyre is a sports reporter whose primary role is covering the Winnipeg Jets. After graduating from the Creative Communications program at Red River College in 1995, he spent two years gaining experience at the Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in 1997, where he served on the crime and justice beat until 2016. Read more about Mike.

Every piece of reporting Mike produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.