Season hanging by a thread

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 25/04/2023 (870 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The “try” is there. The talent, unfortunately, is not.

And an injury-riddled Winnipeg Jets team that was already an underdog at full strength now faces a Herculean task in coming back from a 3-1 series deficit against the heavily favoured and very healthy Vegas Golden Knights.

A hard-fought 4-2 defeat in Game 4 on Monday night at the downtown rink was once again accompanied by a major loss from the lineup. Top-line forward Mark Scheifele suffered what appeared to be a serious arm or hand injury early in the first period, just as all-star defenceman Josh Morrissey did in the opening minutes of Saturday’s eventual 5-4 double overtime loss.

Scheifele and Morrissey join sidelined forwards Nikolaj Ehlers and Cole Perfetti, who have yet to make an appearance in a series that can end with a Golden Knights win on Thursday night in Sin City.

Winnipeg’s “next man up” mentality, which they’ve preached all season, is really being put to the test at the most important time of the year.

“Our team played very hard. We adjusted, and we’ve been through this before early in the year when we had five or six guys out, key guys out. And now we’re faced with it again,” said Jets head coach Rick Bowness, who would only say Scheifele will be re-evaluated on Tuesday.

“The difference now obviously is you’re in the playoffs. And you’re playing an excellent hockey club every night. And they are a good hockey club. So are we. We’ll find a way. We fought through this before. Are we missing some keys guys? Yep. We’ll find a way to win that game on Thursday.”

This might be a bit painful — there’s been plenty of that around the hockey team lately — but let’s rip off the Band-Aid and take a look at the latest wound.

1) You wondered what these two teams might do for an encore after Saturday’s emotional roller-coaster ride which included Vegas taking a commanding 4-1 lead into the third period, Winnipeg storming back with a trio of goals, and then the Golden Knights ultimately prevailing off a fortunate bounce in double overtime.

It didn’t take long for a new storyline to develop, when Scheifele was sent in on a breakaway by Blake Wheeler, only to be stopped by former teammate Laurent Brossoit. Unfortunately, he also tripped over the Vegas netminder’s stick and crashed hard into the end boards, with his left side taking the brunt of it.

Scheifele slowly made his way off the ice but remained on the bench, which seemed like a good sign. Even better is he was out there a couple minutes later for the first Jets power play of the night.

“It feels like this year we’ve been without key players at a lot of moments. So, obviously it’s not something you want to see; he’s a great player,” said Dubois.

You could feel the air get let out of the sold-out building when he attempted a shot from the left circle, only to fan on it and show obvious signs of distress. He immediately headed off, going straight down the tunnel. The team ruled him out after the first intermission.

Fourth-line centre Kevin Stenlund moved up to play with Wheeler and Vladislav Namestnikov in his place, and an already thinned-out Jets lineup had taken another massive hit.

2) It wasn’t all gloom and doom, at least not right way.

On Saturday, it took Vegas less than three minutes to crash the party and bring a raucous crowd down a notch or two as Chandler Stephenson opened the scoring for the visitors.

But recent history wouldn’t repeat itself 48 hours later, as Wheeler got Winnipeg on the board at 5:53 of the first period.

Neal Pionk, who assisted on all three third-period goals by the Jets on Saturday, made it four straight with a helper as he fed Wheeler, who beat Brossoit with a wrist shot from the top of the circle.

Nino Niedrreiter had the other assist. He joined the top power-play unit to take Scheifele’s spot. Pionk is there in Morrissey’s place. And Wheeler is taking the role that would otherwise be occupied by Ehlers.

That’s an example of players stepping up.

3) The Jets couldn’t keep the early momentum going, thanks to Oakbank product Brett Howden who picked a perfect time to score his first-ever playoff goal.

Howden’s initial shot was blocked by Pionk, but he quickly pounced on the loose puck and beat Hellebuyck at 9:53 of the opening frame.

Vegas began to take over from that point on, and it seemed like only a matter of time before it would start to show on the scoreboard.

Hellebuyck was doing his best to help the cause, but the dam finally burst late in the second as Vegas struck twice in a 47-second span.

First up was William Karlsson, who deflected a Jonathan Marchessault pass with his skate just as a Dubois tripping penalty had expired. Officials reviewed it to ensure there was no kicking motion.

Then, Ivan Barbashev got his stick on a Shea Theodore shot, deflecting it just enough to fool Hellebuyck. It actually looked like a whiff in real time, but replay showed the puck changed direction.

Given all the offensive weapons missing from Winnipeg’s attack, that was pretty much game over.

“The guys battled extremely hard. We just couldn’t get a bounce five-on-five. (At) five-on-five we really liked our game,” said Wheeler. “We just couldn’t get the extra one when we needed it.”

4) To their credit Winnipeg didn’t go down quietly, with Dubois bringing life back into his team and the building after scoring a bizarre goal at 2:57 of the third period. He got his stick on a puck that popped straight in the air around the Vegas net, appearing to hit either one or two Vegas players before crossing the line.

Pionk had one of the assists, making it five straight Winnipeg goals he’s had a hand in. Wheeler, who was flying all night, had the other helper.

But that’s as close as the Jets would get.

Howden finished off his big night with an empty-netter to seal the deal with 16 seconds left.

“We’ve got a hockey game on Thursday, that’s it,” said Wheeler, when asked about the uphill climb his club faces. “Just try to win a game. We just have to approach it as a game on Thursday and we have to give everything we have to win a game.”

“I mean obviously our backs are against the wall. I don’t really have the words for that. Between now and Thursday we gotta come up with the proper approach to win that game. We can’t win three in one day. We gotta approach Thursday as we have all series, and try to get the job done there.”

5) It’s the elephant in the room. Or, in this case, rink. Is this the last time fans see any or all of Hellebuyck, Scheifele or Dubois?

All three could test unrestricted free agency by next summer, and general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff is reaching a critical crossroads. If he can’t get their names on long-term extensions, there’s a high chance he’d have no choice but to see what he could get on the open market, rather than risk losing such valuable assets for nothing.

With Winnipeg now needing to win on Thursday night in Vegas to secure at least one more home date, you wonder if Monday could have quietly been a milestone game. Time will tell, but it sure would be a shame if this is the way Scheifele’s tenure ends.

“The odds and all that stuff, and the history, it means nothing to us. It means nothing, the odds of coming back. The only thing that matters is finding a way to win Thursday,” said Bowness. “You can throw all the history of the league at me, the odds of coming back, that means nothing. The only thing that matters is going in there and winning a hockey game. That’s what matters.”

6) There’s no question the Whiteout is a wicked Winnipeg tradition. Unfortunately, the Jets have left their fans feeling blue more often than not since returning to the NHL.

Two home games, two home losses in 2015. Nine home games, four home losses in 2018. Three home games, three home losses in 2019. And now two home games, two home losses in 2023.

Add it all up and that’s a 5-11 record in the 16 games played in front of fans at Canada Life Centre — including the last seven in a row.

The last win? Game 1 of the Western Conference Final in May 2018 against Vegas.

Winnipeg also played two home games in the 2020 qualifying round inside the Edmonton bubble, going 0-2. And they had four home dates at the downtown rink during the truncated 2021 campaign — going 2-0 in an empty building, and then 0-2 when 500 health care workers were allowed in during the second round.

Winnipeg Free Press | Newsletter

The Warm-Up

Winnipeg Jets Game Days

On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop.

Sign up for The Warm-Up

Sign Up

I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement.

Maybe it’s time the Jets lobby the NHL to start wearing their road whites at home during the playoffs? Given their record, it can’t hurt.

7) We’ll give the last word to Brossoit, the former understudy to Hellebuyck who now has his team one win away from advancing. The Winnipeg crowd tried to rile him on Monday, chanting “you’re a backup” in unison at one point. He stopped 24 of 26 shots that came his way and got a kick out of the noise.

“I could hear ‘em,” Brossoit told reporters following the win. “It’s fuel.”

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.