Jets bounce back with spirited victory over feisty Flames

The Winnipeg Jets wasted no time getting back in the win column.

Just 24 hours after suffering a 3-0 loss to the Seattle Kraken, the club responded with a 5-3 victory over the Calgary Flames on Friday night inside Canada Life Centre.

There were plenty of highlights to this one: The first home goal by local hockey hero Jonathan Toews; the first goal of the season by Gabe Vilardi; a three-assist night from defenceman Josh Morrissey; more stellar special teams and a rock-solid 30-save performance from backup goaltender Eric Comrie.

Prior to puck drop, Jets coach Scott Arniel talked about his veteran team being able to quickly wash away a tough outing and not allowing it to snowball. Case in point: A 17-7-2 record last year in the game immediately following a loss.

Winnipeg is now 2-0-0 this season in such a situation, and 6-2-0 overall on the campaign.

“Those things can build sometimes if you start forcing it and grip it a little tight,” Toews said.

“We just sat on the bench and in the locker room to keep pushing it and it was going to come. It shows a lot of maturity and it doesn’t matter who you’re playing or where they are in the standings. The league is so good now that you can’t take anyone for granted, and we knew that they were going to play some desperate hockey. We had to work for those two points.”

Just as they did Monday night in Calgary, the Flames showed plenty of fight against the Jets. Ultimately, it led to the same result. They are now an NHL-worst 1-7-1 on the year.

Wicked week

It’s been quite a week for Toews.

The 37-year-old sparked his team’s comeback victory on Monday night in Calgary, tipping home a Neal Pionk point shot for his first goal in 921 days.

Toews only had to wait four days to light the lamp again. He showed great hand-eye co-ordination by deflecting a Morrissey pass early in the second period on Friday, giving Winnipeg fans their first chance to cheer a goal by the local legend.

“It’s a lot of fun playing in this building,” said Toews. “I always loved coming here in the past (with the Chicago Blackhawks) and it was always great energy. There are no better hockey fans in the world. It’s nice to be on the right side now and to score a goal and hear the crowd. It definitely gives you some jump out there.”

It wasn’t without some controversy. The Flames challenged for goaltender interference, believing Toews’ skate might have grazed the pad of Dustin Wolf. However, the league upheld the ruling after a quick review, causing another fan eruption, which essentially served as a curtain call.

“I didn’t feel too good about it once they were challenging. I haven’t had too many of those go my way in the past,” said Toews. “But it was nice to get that one. I didn’t feel like I interfered, but I haven’t seen the replay, but it was good to have that one count.”

Toews continued to show dominance in the faceoff circle, winning 13 of 15. Now up to five points in eight games, he’s been everything the Jets could have hoped for — and then some.

 

Vilardi’s lament

There was no sign of a monkey on his back when Vilardi met with the media Friday morning, fielding questions about the fact he had yet to score a goal through seven games.

“Whether that’s luck or just bearing down and being more deadly with your chances, I think it’s a little bit of both,” Vilardi admitted. “It is very frustrating, I’m not going to lie and say that it’s not.”

Sure, the team was still enjoying overall success, and yes, linemates Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor were generating plenty of offence. Vilardi, coming off a career-high 27 goals in 71 games last year, wasn’t satisfied.

“I think if I could score those guys would have 20 points apiece right now,” he said. “It’s been frustrating, but at the end of the day when you’re getting chances it’s tough to be overly critical and concerned.”

Vilardi’s patience was rewarded in a big way a few hours later. With the Jets on a power play midway through the second period, he took a feed from Scheifele and flicked a backhander past Wolf to give the Jets a 3-1 lead. He let out a visceral scream and jumped into the glass — a rare show of emotion from a guy who is usually cool as a cucumber.

“It’s a huge weight off his shoulders. It really was, you could see” said Arniel. “Now he’s got a big smile from ear to ear. I’m glad for him and glad to see him get that (goal). Now he can get off and running.”

Later in the middle frame, Vilardi showed how dangerous he can be as a net-front presence as he calmly took the puck and, with a spinning backhand pass, found a wide-open Alex Iafallo, who ripped home the shot to make it 4-2.

 

Helper hat trick

Morrissey clearly loves playing his hometown team. The Calgary native had a huge helper on Monday to set up Scheifele’s game-winning goal late in the third period. He added three more in this one against the Flames.

The first one was the best one, with Morrissey undressing Calgary defenceman Jake Bean and then feeding Connor for a perfect one-timer early in the second period to erase a 1-o deficit and spark a four-goal frame for the Jets.

“A four-on-four situation, there was obviously a lot of open ice. Just tried to use my skating,” Morrissey said of the razzle dazzle that was on display. “When you get on a two-on-one with a goal scorer like that, it’s nice to put the puck in his hands. Usually, he’s pretty lethal from there.”

We suspect Doug Armstrong, the general manager of the Canadian Olympic Team, who was on hand to do some scouting, enjoyed what he saw. Morrissey is a shoo-in to make the roster, which will be finalized at the end of December, and it’s games like this that show why. Scheifele, who is on the radar to make it, also had a nice game and chipped in with two assists.

 

Key play

Iafallo’s goal with 70 seconds left in the second period restored Winnipeg’s two-goal lead and proved to be the game-winner.

 

Three stars

1. Jets D Morrissey: 3A
2. Jets RW Vilardi: 1G, 1A
3. Jets C Scheifele: 2A

 

Extra, extra

Logan Stanley had another notable game. He dropped the gloves with big Adam Klapka in the first period, getting the crowd fired up by flexing and pounding on the glass after scoring a takedown victory. He then assisted on Vlad Namestnikov’s empty-net goal which sealed the victory with eight seconds left on the clock.

The Jets went two-for-eight on the power play and five-of-six on the penalty kill. Winnipeg has now killed off 32 of 34 penalties this year while also scoring a pair of shorthanded goals.

Arniel made two lineup changes: Defenceman Colin Miller and forward Nikita Chibrikov replaced Luke Schenn and Brad Lambert, who joined Parker Ford as healthy scratches.

A crowd of 13,967 took in the action. They seemed to enjoy what they saw, not only from the Jets but from the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 1 of the World Series. Highlights of various key plays were shown throughout the night on the scoreboard, and the final couple of innings of the game were broadcast once the final buzzer had sounded for plenty of fans who stuck around.

The Jets are back in action Sunday when they host the red-hot Utah Mammoth, who are off to a 6-2-0 start.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

X and Bluesky: @mikemcintyrewpg