Comrie, Kahkonen saving graces despite losses

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This article was published 22/09/2024 (379 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Eric Comrie has a firm grasp of his situation.

The affable goalie is firmly entrenched in a battle for the backup job behind reigning Vezina Trophy winner Connor Hellebuyck.

His competition is Kaapo Kahkonen and Comrie recognizes that all he can focus on is to stop as many pucks as humanly possible, whether that’s in preseason action or the numerous sessions during training camp.

Comrie is doing his part to stay in the race and that includes a 23-save performance in Sunday’s 3-2 overtime loss to the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday at Rogers Place.

“I think my game is in a good place so I’m happy with where I am at,” Comrie told reporters in Edmonton. “Just battle as hard as I can. The special word here is compete. I think I’m just going to make sure I compete as hard as I can and do everything I can to make the decision as hard as I can.”

The Jets will take Monday off after four consecutive days on the ice and they’ll return to game action on Wednesday at Canada Life Centre with a rematch against the Oilers.

Kahkonen also had 23 saves in Saturday’s 5-2 loss to the Minnesota Wild, so the chase for the second spot on the depth chart should heat up during the final four preseason games.

Jets head coach Scott Arniel said early in training camp that Hellebuyck is scheduled to appear in two-and-a-half games, so there won’t be much playing time available for Comrie and Kahkonen to make their final push.

“Coms was outstanding. We kind of left him (out to dry) a couple of times. He faced some real 10-bell opportunities,” Arniel told reporters in Edmonton. “I thought he was really solid.”

He turning heads

Jets forward prospect Kevin He continues to be noticeable in his first NHL training camp.

He, who was chosen in the fourth round (109th overall) of the 2024 NHL Draft, plays with considerable pace and has been a buzzsaw.

Shortly after the Jets surrendered the lead in the second period on a power-play marker from Raphael Lavoie, He won a puck battle down low in the offensive zone and made a beautiful pass in front to Dominic Toninato, who knotted the game 2-2.

“He has looked great. He’s got a great shot, moves really well, smart player, works really hard,” said Comrie. “Just a competitive kid, and compete is one of the main words this year at camp. I think he embodies that.”

He finished with two shot attempts and two hits in 16:36 of ice time.

“He can move. He’s got a quickness to him,” said Arniel. “He stays hard on the puck. For most young guys, they’re usually good with the puck and can make plays. The big thing is what they do without (the puck). Through the first couple of days of training camp, with all of that teaching and defending, whether it’s neutral it’s neutral zone or D-zone, I thought he’s done a great job of catching on and evolving every day.”

Double duty

The only player to participate in game action on consecutive days for the Jets was top defence prospect Elias Salomonsson.

Salomonsson, who is preparing for his first season of pro hockey in North America, skated alongside Dylan Samberg in Saturday’s 5-2 loss to the Wild and had just over 17 minutes of ice time.

On Sunday, his partner was Ashton Sautner, who is set to play a mentorship role with the Manitoba Moose of the AHL once again.

Salomonsson, who had 20:24 of ice time on Sunday, seems to be getting more comfortable as the days move along here.

“He was actually excited to come back in again. I guess it’s better than practising,” said Arniel. “These games, being able to play at that kind of speed, is really good for him. Every game, every day being around veteran guys is an experience that he’s going to grow with.”

D-man battle

There’s been ample discussion about what the Jets’ third – and potentially fourth – pairing is going to look like during training camp and this was the first chance for Dylan Coghlan and Logan Stanley to get into game action.

Coghlan made a strong impression and led all Jets with 29 shifts for 25:21, which led all players in ice time.

There were some strong zone exits produced by Coghlan, who added one shot on goal, three shot attempts and a blocked shot.

Stanley, finished with 28 shifts for 24:35 and had two shot attempts, did a good job of getting his shot through from the point and chipped in an assist on David Gustafsson’s redirection goal just 17 seconds into the contest.

Time for veterans to shine

The Jets have a number of veterans that have yet to appear in game action, but that will change shortly.

“We have some young draft picks that I had never seen before, some guys that I knew from the last two years and you kind of always want to see what their progress is,” said Arniel.

“That’s been the best part, seeing how they evolved. And then really getting a feel for the brand new guys. We have some free agents that we signed. We got them in the lineup (Saturday) night and (Sunday) night and you can sort of see how they tick and what makes them go.

“That’s all you’re trying to do early on. We’ve got four left and we have a whole bunch of veterans that haven’t played, much like the Oilers. We’ll get these guys going but we just wanted to get everybody an opportunity to get into these games here and now we’ll probably look heavily towards our roster moving forward.”

Extra, extra

As for Toninato, he’s not about to change his approach in his own training camp battle for one of the depth forward spots. “Same as always. Give all I can and see what happens,” Toninato told reporters in Edmonton.

Axel Jonsson-Fjallby led all players with five shots on goal in just under 15 minutes of action. He also chipped in an assist on the goal from Gustafsson. Jonsson-Fjallby had to be looked at after being on the receiving end of a check, but he returned to finish the contest.

Former Moose netminder Collin Delia came on for the second half and the game and turned aside 11 of 12 shots on goal that he faced.

Former Winnipeg Ice sniper Matthew Savoie suited up in his first preseason game since the summer trade that brought him to the Oilers from the Buffalo Sabres for Ryan McLeod. Savoie chipped in the primary assist as Cam Dineen scored 77 seconds into overtime. Vasily Podkolzin started the play by separating Parker Ford from the puck with the Jets in the offensive zone.

ken.wiebe@freepress.mb.ca

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