Jets’ depth players fall flat in 4-0 pre-season loss to Oilers

The Winnipeg Jets have reached the midway point of their six-game pre-season schedule — and the reigning Presidents’ Trophy winners are still searching for their first victory.

That’s no reason for panic, of course. These September contests are, by definition, exhibitions. The club has yet to dress its top forward line, top defence pair or starting goaltender for even a single shift.

Still, there wasn’t much to like about their most recent outing: a flat 4-0 loss Friday in Edmonton that dropped Winnipeg’s record to 0-2-1.

The Oilers sat most of their biggest stars, too, but were clearly the better team on a night when the Jets iced a roster full of depth players trying to earn jobs. In that sense, chalk it up as a swing and a miss.

“A little scrambly,” is how Jets forward Morgan Barron described it in a post-game radio interview with CJOB.

“We’ve only got a small number of these games before we start going for real. So there’s some things we’ve got to look at and try to learn from. Play a little bit more connected, a little bit tighter with support. I thought we were chasing the puck a lot tonight. Obviously we’ll have to get that cleaned up here in the next week or two.”

BUBBLE TROUBLE? Does this mean the bubble players who struggled Friday have skated their way out of contention for the opening-night roster? Not necessarily.

While Winnipeg is expected to dress a more seasoned lineup on Saturday night when they host the Calgary Flames — Connor Hellebuyck, Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor, Gabe Vilardi, Josh Morrissey and Dylan DeMelo are all expected to make their preseason debuts — there’s still two more dress rehearsals set for next week in Minnesota and Calgary.

“There are some veterans that will probably only play two games (total) and we are trying to get the kids in three, some in four games,” Jets coach Scott Arniel said prior to puck drop.

“We have to see how we get through the weekend on the injuries and stuff like that. We have to thin the herd a little bit getting into next week. There are still opportunities. That is part of what I mentioned: go out there, play well and earn yourself another opportunity.”

That could mean one more look for forwards Brad Lambert, Colby Barlow, Danny Zhilkin, Samuel Fagemo, Phil Di Giuseppe and David Gustafsson, who made up the Jets’ bottom six against Edmonton, along with some or all of the six defencemen dressed: Logan Stanley, Ville Heinola, Isaak Phillips, Haydn Fleury, Tyrel Bauer and Ashton Sautner.

“There’s some good things that happened with some young guys. We had some veterans, a couple of guys that hadn’t played games yet. And there was some rust,’ Arniel told Jets social media following the game.

“More of our veteran guys made some mistakes that they don’t usually do. So it’s just everybody kind of getting the rust off from the summer, young guys still trying to show that they deserve another game. And there’s some good efforts out there.”

THE GOALS AGAINST: Oilers defenceman Darnell Nurse, one of the few household names in the game, opened the scoring just past the nine-minute mark with a seeing-eye shot through traffic that goaltender Domenic DiVincentiis never saw.

Josh Samanski, an undrafted free agent forward from Germany, doubled the lead late in the first after capitalizing on a brutal turnover by Vladislav Namestnikov, roofing a shot over DiVincentiis.

It was the kind of play you wouldn’t expect from a veteran like Namestnikov, who along with linemates Nino Niederreiter and Alex Iafallo was making his pre-season debut.

Noah Philp, another undrafted player who has spent most of his career in the AHL, made it 3-0 early in the second by exploiting more shaky defensive-zone coverage.

Kasperi Kapanen snuffed out any comeback hopes midway through the third, burying a rebound after DiVincentiis made the initial stop.

SOME GOOD WITH THE BAD: To take a glass-half-full approach, a few positives stood out.

DiVincentiis, the second-year pro, was solid in net despite a stat line (16 saves on 20 shots) that suggests otherwise. The loss was hardly on him.

Winnipeg’s new-look fourth line of Barron and free-agent additions Cole Koepke and Tanner Pearson made an impression. They generated several good chances, and Koepke drew a pair of penalties. He and Barron also helped anchor a penalty-kill unit that finished a perfect four-for-four.

“There were some good moments,” said Barron. “I think probably all three of us feel like we have another level being connected and finding ways to get more chances offensively. I like the way both of those guys play, and I think as we get settled here with the group of us that’s going to be playing together for the first little bit, we can be effective.”

Fagemo, a free agent signing from the summer who scored 43 goals in 50 AHL games two years ago, led the way with four shots on net for the Jets and looked dangerous at times.

And tip your cap to Bauer, who went toe-to-toe with Oilers defenceman Josh Brown in a spirited tilt. Bauer is a fan favourite with the Manitoba Moose and is as tough as they come.

HOMETOWN BOY: Finally, a tip of the cap to Winnipeg’s own Calvin Pickard, who stopped all 21 shots he faced to record the shutout for Edmonton. Some of his best work came with his team shorthanded as the Jets went 0-for-4 on the power play.

Pickard is in a battle with Stuart Skinner for playing time in the Oilers’ crease, and an outing like this certainly won’t hurt his case.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

X and Bluesky: @mikemcintyrewpg