Jets pummel watered-down Oilers

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This article was published 25/09/2023 (742 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Jets took their revamped top line out for a test drive on Monday night.

And while it would be a stretch to say they left an overmatched opponent in their dust on every shift, it was a promising preseason debut for Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor and their new third wheel in Gabriel Vilardi at Canada Life Centre.

A Tic-Tac-Toe first period power play goal by the talented trio — Scheifele to Vilardi to Connor — opened the scoring and stood as the winner in a 5-0 victory over a collection of hockey players wearing Edmonton Oilers jerseys.

“We’re looking for chemistry. We’re looking at that top line to see how Gabe’s going to fit in there,” said Jets coach Rick Bowness. “It looked good tonight. Their roster wasn’t as strong as ours tonight so I think the result, based on the lineups, we should have won that game and we did.”

Vilardi, the key return of the Pierre-Luc Dubois trade along with Alex Iafallo and Rasmus Kupari, is going to get a real opportunity to shine in his new hockey home.

“I mean it’s one game so it’s tough to tell,” Vilardi said of how he feels it went.

“(Scheifele and Connor) have played together for a long time. I’m kind of the new guy coming in and have got to figure out how I can help them out. Obviously they’re both very skilled players and draw guys to them, which gives me extra space when I get the puck. I gotta do the same. I don’t have the speed they have maybe, but I think I’m good at ragging pucks down low and drawing guys in like that. It’s going to be a work in progress.”

Neal Pionk, David Gustafsson, Morgan Barron and Kyle Capobianco all found the net in the third period.

Goaltender Laurent Brossoit, making his return to the Jets crease after two seasons in Sin City and a Stanley Cup championship on his resume, stopped all 26 shots he faced, plus got a bit of help from Pionk who pulled a puck off the goal-line in the final frame.

“If you’re going to get a shutout, you’re going to need a couple of lucky breaks like that,” said the Jets new (old) backup to Connor Hellebuyck. “Obviously, (Pionk) was in the right position at the right time to help me out.”

Manitoba product Calvin Pickard, left to the wolves at times by his mostly AHL-level Edmonton teammates, made 25 saves on 30 shots in a losing effort.

It was the second straight exhibition triumph for the Jets over their former Smythe Division rivals following a 2-1 shootout decision at Rogers Place on Sunday night. That game involved an entirely different 20-man roster for Winnipeg, and only a handful of holdovers from Edmonton.

A few thoughts and observations:

1) Nobody was expecting to see Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl roll into town. It’s still September, after all, and the dynamic duo are likely going to be saved for home preseason games to appease the fans who help pay the bills. Fair enough.

But would it have pained the Oilers to at least pack a teeny, tiny bit of star power into their lineup on Monday, rather than the collection of no-names and also-rans that hit the ice and likely had plenty of fans looking them up on hockeyDB?

To be clear, Edmonton didn’t violate any NHL rules. They had at least eight “veteran” skaters suit up which, under the collective bargaining agreement, is defined as; someone who played 30 NHL games the previous year, someone with more than 100 career NHL games or a first-round draft choice from the previous year.

The Oilers left their eight highest paid forwards at home (McDavid, Draisaitl, Zach Hyman, Evander Kane, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Warren Foegle, Ryan McLeod, Mattias Janmark), their three highest-paid defencemen (Darnell Nurse, Mattias Ekholm and Evan Bouchard) and their two NHL goaltenders (Jack Campbell, Stuart Skinner).

The result was a No. 1 line of Adam Erne (in camp on a pro tryout), 34-year-old journeyman Brad Malone and young prospect Raphael Lavoie. That trio combined to score eight NHL goals last year — all by Erne, who played 61 games with the Detroit Red Wings.

For comparison, Winnipeg’s top line of Connor-Scheifele-Vilardi Monday had 96 goals last year.

2) Monday also provided the first look at a likely fourth line of Barron, Kupari and Vlad Namestnikov — and the Jets no doubt liked what they saw.

Kupari comes as advertised — a strong skater who always seems to be around the puck and doesn’t shy around from contact. He nearly scored in the opening period after going hard to the Edmonton net and tipping a Namestnikov feed just wide of the post.

Namestnikov wouldn’t be held off the scoresheet, as he set up Pionk for the 2-0 goal (which was aided by a great net-front screen from Barron), and also got a helper on the Barron snipe which came off a sensational feed from All-Star defenceman Josh Morrissey.

“I really liked what we saw from that line,” said Bowness.

Yes, it’s early. And yes, it was against watered-down competition. But that trio has the potential to be a real handful.

3) One of the few job battles in camp is for the 13th forward spot. Dominic Toninato might have been the clubhouse leader after Sunday when he scored Winnipeg’s lone goal in regulation, while Jansen Harkins and Axel Jonsson-Fjallby had quiet nights.

Gustafsson, stuck on just one NHL goal in 74 career games over four seasons, entered the chat on Monday with a solid game and a nice tip of a Logan Stanley shot to make it 3-0. Jeffrey Viel (two minor penalties and an assist) and Kristian Reichel are other contenders who played in this one.

4) With Winnipeg’s top six defencemen pretty much set, the other focus is on the battle for the 7th and 8th spots. Declan Chisholm and Ville Heinola impressed on Sunday, and Stanley (assist) and Capobianco (power play goal) didn’t hurt their cause on Monday.

This one is likely to come down to the wire. Heinola is the only one of the four who doesn’t need waivers to be sent to the Moose.

5) After six straight days of camp, the Jets will take Tuesday off. Winnipeg currently has 56 skaters (31 forwards, 19 defencemen, six goaltenders) and must get down to a maximum of 23 by the start of the regular season on Oct. 11.

With just four preseason games remaining — the next is Wednesday night against the Calgary Flames at Canada Life Centre — coach Rick Bowness will want to get down to more manageable numbers as quickly as possible. Expect the first round of cuts to come soon.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

X: @mikemcintyrewpg