Comrie clutch in first win since November

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This article was published 26/01/2025 (293 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It hadn’t quite reached “Win one for the Gipper” territory, but it’s safe to say the Winnipeg Jets were motivated to start giving backup goaltender Eric Comrie a little support.

Eight straight starts scattered over nearly three months had led to eight straight losses — seven in regulation, one in overtime — with the Jets producing just 12 goals in those outings.

Just as George Gipp’s University of Notre Dame teammates would rally around him during that famous 1928 college football game against Army, Comrie’s compatriots came through on well Sunday in the form of a 5-2 victory over the Calgary Flames in front of 14,491 fans at Canada Life Centre.

“I’m a competitive guy. I’m a human being. I want to win games,” Comrie said of trying to balance his emotions during a tough personal stretch.

“It has been a while since I won, but my game was right the whole time. I thought I was playing the right way. Of course it’s very frustrating. You’re not winning, and it’s tough. I think Flats (goalie coach Wade Flaherty) and Helly (starter Connor Hellebuyck) kept my head on straight.”

Comrie stopped 20 of 22 shots as he won for the first time since Nov. 1 in Columbus. Highlights included great saves off Yegor Sharangovich, MacKenzie Weegar and Andrei Kuzmenko. Only Weegar (late in the second period on the power play to cut Winnipeg’s lead to 2-1) and Nazem Kadri (early in the third to make it a 4-2 game) could beat him.

“It feels really good. He’s earned that,” said Jets forward Gabe Vilardi, who led the way with two goals and two assists.

“He’s played so well for us, and we haven’t been giving him any run support. And finally we did, and per usual he played his game and we got the win for him.”

Comrie appreciated that the Jets as a whole had his back and had openly spoke of being better in front of him.

“I think Flats and Helly told me, if I keep doing it my way and keep playing my way, the results will come. Don’t worry. Don’t stress about it. Helly, he said the same thing. Just keep doing your thing,” he said.

“We’re a very tight group in this room. All of us are very good friends. I mean, (Mark) Scheifele married me — he was the officiant at my wedding. So, we’re a very close group in here. We have a lot of fun together and it’s a great time.”

Winnipeg has now won three straight games to improve to 34-14-3 overall. They remain first in the Central Division, first in the Western Conference and second-overall in the NHL behind only Washington. (Both teams have 71 points, but the Capitals have two games in hand).

Calgary, which had beaten Winnipeg 3-1 eight days ago in the very same building, falls to 23-17-7. They currently own the final wildcard spot which means, if the season ended today, they’d be facing the Jets in the first round.

QUALITY, NOT QUANTITY: No doubt word has got out around the NHL that the Jets can kill you with their power play. But opportunities have been few and far between lately, with Winnipeg getting just 16 chances over the last 12 games prior to facing the Flames.

It looked like Winnipeg might get shutout in that department again (for what would have been the fourth time since Dec. 31) as Calgary hadn’t been sent to the sin bin at all through 40 minutes.

But an obvious too-many-men penalty in the third period and a clear hooking infraction couldn’t be ignored by the men in stripes. And the Jets, as they typically do, made their opponent pay.

First was Vilardi demonstrating why he’s such a net-front force as he created time and space for himself and flicked the puck past Calgary goaltender Dan Vladar on the first man advantage.

Then it was Vilardi setting up Scheifele on the second one.

Winnipeg is now clicking at 33.3 per cent on the power play through 51 games — nearly five percentage points ahead of the next-best team, the New Jersey Devils. To put that in perspective, the 2022-23 Edmonton Oilers set the all-time benchmark for power play efficiency in a season at 32.4 per cent.

“I don’t have the answer for why we’ve only gotten that many. At the end of the day we just have to make sure it’s dangerous every time. (Sunday) was really dangerous,” said Jets head coach Scott Arniel.

“I’m sure there’s times where guys get frustrated because you see the other team getting on the power play and us not. Certainly for our power play guys. But it’s part of the game, you gotta work through it. We can’t change that.”

Vilardi, asked why he thinks opponents have avoided the sin bin so much lately, bit his tongue.

“I have my opinion on that. I can’t say much about that, obviously,” he said. “It’s like you’ve got to get to the hard areas, you’ve got to draw penalties. But at the same time it’s been 10 games. I don’t know. We get one power play, two power plays a game. Yeah, we are capitalizing, though.”

HOME COOKING: The Jets have been feasting at home lately, playing 10 times at the downtown rink over the past 25 days and going 6-2-2 in that time to improve to 20-5-3 in their own backyard.

“I think we did a great job. I really do. When you get that many (home) games in a month at home here, you have to take advantage of it. And I thought that we did,” said Arniel.

Now they’re about to experience a bit of a famine, with just two home dates over the next 28 days and three over a 33-day span.

A big reason is the upcoming 4 Nations Face-Off in which the NHL will pause its season for two weeks. But the Jets will also now hit the road for three straight contests starting Tuesday night in Montreal and play six of their next nine overall in enemy territory.

SLUMPS AND A STREAK: Four games without a point is hardly a slump for a typical NHL player, but it probably felt like one to Kyle Connor.

He quickly put that to bed early in the first period with a dazzling move that made Flames defenceman Daniil Miromanov look silly and ended with his 27th goal and 61st of the year. At the time, that tied Scheifele for the team lead, but the top centre would net his 28th in the final frame.

David Gustafsson drew an assist on the goal, giving him a career-best three game point streak (1G, 2A). Gustafsson had just come on the ice for Scheifele, who was shaken up after a collision with Andersson and would briefly leave the game later in the first period after running into another Calgary player.

“He just got banged around a couple times there,” said Arniel. “The one was a shot and the other one he got run into. He had to go and kind of reset himself and get back out there.”

With Adam Lowry missing a third straight game with an upper-body injury and not expected to return until after the 4 Nations break, the Jets can ill-afford to see Scheifele go down.

Jets forward Mason Appleton, who began the night in a nine-game scoring drought dating back to Dec. 10 (he missed nearly a month of action as well with an injury) then made it a 2-0 game when he scored midway through the first period.

KEY PLAY: Gabe Vilardi’s first goal of the game, with 51 seconds left in the second period, restored Winnipeg’s two-goal cushion.

THREE STARS: 1) Winnipeg RW Gabe Vilardi: 2 goals, 2 assists. 2) Winnipeg LW Kyle Connor: 1 goal, 2 assists. 3) Winnipeg D Dylan Samberg: 1 assist, team-high 22:35 of ice time.

EXTRA, EXTRA: Josh Morrissey was a game-time decision due to illness but was able to go. However, his ice time was noticeably reduced at just 20:24. The healthy scratches were defencemen Ville Heinola and Colin Miller.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

X and Bluesky: @mikemcintyrewpg