Scheifele saves the day with late goal and OT winner vs. Hawks

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This article was published 11/10/2024 (359 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Mark Scheifele saved the best for last.

With his Winnipeg Jets being blanked by the Chicago Blackhawks for the better part of 59 minutes on Friday night — 58:56 to be exact — the team’s top centre took matters into his own hands.

A game-tying goal with 64 seconds left in regulation was quickly followed up by the game-winning goal 38 seconds into overtime as the Jets rallied for a 2-1 victory in their home opener at Canada Life Centre.

“Those are obviously two gigantic goals,” said Jets coach Scott Arniel. “At the end of the day, you need your best players to come up big at the right times — and they did. That group did.”

It was starting to look like revealing the goal songs for every member of the Jets prior to puck drop wasn’t the wisest idea. Thanks to some sensational goaltending by Chicago’s Arvid Soderblom, it appeared not a single note of the Macarena, Who Let The Dogs Out or Pour Me A Drink — among other player favourites — would be played at this homecoming party.

Scheifele — who has Shoot To Thrill by AC/DC as his celebratory tune — made sure the 14,564 in attendance went home happy.

“That’s the way hockey goes. Sometimes it takes 59 minutes to put one home and bring it to overtime. It’s never over until it’s over,” he said.

Winnipeg improves to 2-0-0 on the young season, while Chicago falls to 0-1-1.

Let’s break this one down further:

1) BETTER LATE THAN NEVER: It’s not like the Jets hadn’t generated chances. Kyle Connor and Gabe Vilardi both hit iron earlier in the game, while Nino Niederreiter was left looking skyward after the puck bounced at the last second, robbing him of what looked like an easy tap-in.

Mason Appleton also had a great wrap-around chance late in the third period. Soderblom, an undrafted netminder from Sweden with a career goals-against-average of 3.76 over 61 games, was looking like the second coming of Ken Dryden.

With Connor Hellebuyck pulled for an extra attacker, a Jets team that scored six times in Wednesday’s season-opening win in Edmonton finally came to life. Nikolaj Ehlers, who had a miserable night up until that point, made a terrific feed to Scheifele who converted with a diving backhanded shot.

“That wasn’t exactly the play that we had set up,” said Ehlers. “Far pad, hopefully it jumps out like it did. Obviously, good on Scheifs to get on that puck.”

Then, during the three-on-three session, Scheifele won an offensive zone faceoff back to defenceman Josh Morrissey, who got the puck to Connor. A quick cycle session was followed by a perfectly-executed give-and-go as Connor fed Scheifele for the re-direct.

“Me and KC and J-Mo have played together for a long time. We just kind of know the feeling of what coverage is, and it just brought me back to my basketball day, a little pick and roll. It felt good,” said Scheifele.

It was the 300th goal of his career, Scheifele, who is in the first season of his seven-year, US$59.5-million contract extension, has now scored three times in the first two games.

2) NOT TO BE OVERLOOKED: Hellebuyck was in Vezina Trophy form once again. After posting a 30-save shutout on Wednesday against Connor McDavid and company, the only puck to beat him on this night came off the stick of Chicago’s Ryan Donato late in the second period.

That snapped a streak of 96:52 to start the campaign and came after 43 consecutive saves.

His best stop of the night came midway through the third as he robbed Chicago captain Nick Foligno with his glove, keeping his team within striking distance.

Hellebuyck, who has the identical contract as Scheifele, drew the loudest cheer during pre-game player introductions. He appeared genuinely choked up, perhaps appreciating the support even moreso considering his family is currently dealing with a serious private health matter which caused him to take a brief personal leave earlier this week.

Winnipeg’s schedule is quite light to start the year, with no back-to-backs, and you can bet the Jets will ride their No. 1 in the early going.

3) SECOND LINE STRUGGLES: The line of Ehlers, Cole Perfetti and Vlad Namestnikov are not off to a flying start. For a second consecutive outing, they were Winnipeg’s worst trio which prompted Arniel to break them up for a span in the third period.

Ehlers moved to a line with Adam Lowry and Appleton, while Niederreiter took his spot with Perfetti and Namestnikov.

“We’re trying to find our way,” said Ehlers. “Obviously, when the team isn’t scoring goals and you’re behind by one, you want to switch things up. And sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Our 6-on-5 tonight worked, so we’re happy with that.”

4) BEDARD WATCH: Connor Bedard is one of the players in the NHL that is worth the price of admission. The Calder Trophy winner and former Regina Pats sniper had three goals in three games against the Jets last season, including the overtime winner on Dec. 27.

He wasn’t quite as noticeable this time, with just one shot on goal in 18:44 of action. He also had a tough night in the faceoff circle, going just 5-of-16, and was sent flying through the air courtesy of a Neal Pionk hip check in the first period.

5) EXTRA, EXTRA: Winnipeg went 0-2 on the power play and 1-for-1 on the penalty kill. They also won 38 of 60 faceoffs on the night.

The Jets lost some goaltending depth on Friday afternoon as Kaapo Kahkonen was claimed on waivers by the Colorado Avalanche. He had lost out on the backup job to Eric Comrie, and Winnipeg was hoping to send him to the Manitoba Moose as insurance. We’ll see now if the Jets try to find a veteran backstop to partner with second-year pro Thomas Milic down on the farm. Old friend Michael Hutchinson is among the free agent names still out there.

Defenceman Dylan Coghlan and forward David Gustafsson were the healthy scratches for a second game in a row, while defencemen Ville Heinola and Logan Stanley and forward Jaret Anderson-Dolan remain on injured reserve.

Although they were about 700 fans short of a sellout, the Jets will be happy with the crowd count Friday considering more than 32,000 fans were across town watching the Winnipeg Blue Bombers play at the same time. To put it in perspective, the Jets drew just 13,410 for last year’s home opener, and it was the only game in town.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

X: @mikemcintyrewpg