‘Inconsistent’ Jets drop Flames in OT

CALGARY – You could say the Winnipeg Jets made the best of a bad situation, albeit one they created for themselves.

The Jets reached the end of the longest road trip of the season on Saturday night, wrapping up a stretch of six consecutive games against teams from the Pacific Division with a 4-3 shootout victory over the Calgary Flames on Saturday night at Scotiabank Saddleome.

“Now we’ve won two of our last three and we’re looking forward,” said Jets defenceman Josh Morrissey, who is up to 19 points in 18 games after chipping in two more assists. “We made it through the longest roadie of the year. In the NHL you’ve got to have a short memory. We have done a lot better things in our last three games and now we build.”

After the Jets gave up a power-play marker to Matt Coronato with just 1:14 to go, Gabe Vilardi secured the extra point by scoring the lone goal in the third round of the shootout.

When it comes to the overall body of work of how things went during the past 12 days, let’s just say things didn’t turn out quite as the Jets had hoped.

Instead of having a stretch that crystallized the Jets’ identity and solidified their spot in the highly-competitive Central Division standings, by going 2-4, they suddenly find themselves in the middle of the pack with the quarter point of the season arriving shortly.

“Obviously, this road trip hasn’t gone the way we wanted it to. We just found a way to keep ourselves in that hockey game,” Jets head coach Scott Arniel said after the game. “I just liked that we were resilient and that there was a little more of that urgency that we need.”

The Jets are hoping that winning two of the past three games could prove to be a bit of a jumping-off point.

“(It) was a good example of us battling through a little bit of adversity, whether it was a couple unfortunate bounces kind of going into our net and some unlucky stuff going our way. We battled through it,” said Jets forward Cole Perfetti, who scored a power play goal 80 seconds into the third period to give his team a 3-2 lead. “And it took us to the end of the end of the road trip, all the way to a shootout to win it. But I think that was a great test for our group, and shows that we’re able to fight through that.

“We obviously didn’t play to our standard for some of (the road trip), and our record kind of reflects that.”

Despite the frustrating portions of the trip, Jets captain Adam Lowry said he believes the team is in position to turn the corner and find its stride.

“We’re getting close to what I think we envisioned our lineup looking like coming into the year,” said Lowry. “Obviously, we’re not going to look the same or accomplish things the same as we did last year, but it’s still about the attention to detail, being a really strong defensive team. That’s our team’s bread and butter.”

The Jets, who improved to 11-7-0, open a three-game homestand on Tuesday against Sean Monahan and the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Let’s take a closer look at this one.

SLUMP BUSTER: When Tanner Pearson scored at 8:25 of the second period to put his team up 2-1, it snapped a stretch of 13 consecutive games without a point for the Jets fourth-line winger.

Jets defenceman Luke Schenn took the initial shot from the right point and it caromed off Flames blue-liner Jake Bean and Morgan Frost before landing on the tape of Pearson, who fired the puck home before goalie Dustin Wolf could find where it ended up.

Pearson is up to three goals and four points in 18 games this season.

The fourth-line goal provided a boost, but they were also on for the tying goal from Kevin Bahl that changed direction off the skate of Jets blue-liner Logan Stanley.

That was an unlucky bounce and Arniel showed faith by having the fourth line out to protect the lead late in the third period.

This has been a long travel trip for us. Some late nights. We needed four lines,” said Arniel. “They chipped in with a goal, did some real good things.”

THE KEY PLAY: Jets winger Gabe Vilardi scores in the third round of the shootout to secure the extra point.

THE THREE STARS

Josh Morrissey, Jets, Chipped in two assists.

Kyle Connor, Jets, Set up a pair of goals.

Morgan Frost, Flames, Had two assists.

THE SEARCH: Jets winger Gustav Nyquist has been around long enough to know he can’t sit around and wonder what might have been.

What might have been if Nyquist hadn’t suffered a lower-body injury in the first period of the game against the Chicago Blackhawks on Oct. 30?

After a slow start with his new team, Nyquist was beginning to get the hang of the Jets’ system and was starting to get some traction on the offensive side of the game as well, chipping in an assist in consecutive games.

“It’s hard. For sure it’s frustrating,” said Nyquist. “Injuries are never good timing. It’s part of the business and you have to get back on track. I don’t know what else to say. It’s just unfortunate that it happened when it happened.”

Nyquist has been back for a pair of games and he’s shaking off the rust.

In the first period on Saturday, Nyquist had a shorthanded breakaway, but he had trouble getting control of the puck and once he did, his shot sailed over the net.

Nyquist is up to five assists in 13 games with the Jets and he will continue to push to get back to the level he was at before the injury.

THE TARGET? Flames centre Nazem Kadri has been someone who has popped up in trade rumours over the past several seasons when it comes to the Jets’ needs down the middle, but there will be a long list of suitors if Calgary leans into the idea of a rebuild and he hits the market.

But someone else to keep an eye on is Flames winger Blake Coleman.

The 33-year-old winger is a two-time Stanley Cup champion with the Tampa Bay Lightning and is off to a strong start, with seven goals and eight points in 20 games.

Coleman is a strong skater that plays with an edge and conscientious two-way player who also kills penalties.

In short, he’s someone that would be a perfect piece to augment the Jets’ forward group, if the Flames get to the point where a potential rebuild becomes necessary.

Coleman is under contract through next season with an AAV of $4.9 million, so his contract would also fit well with what the Jets are trying to accomplish. He’d be a perfect fit in the middle-six, depending on how things shake out.

The issue is Coleman will be a fit for virtually every contender, so teams will need to win the bid for his services, should he become available.

EXTRA, EXTRA: Jets centre Mark Scheifele scored his team-leading 11th goal of the season to open the scoring. He also took a holding minor at 3:31 of overtime and on his way out of the box and to the bench after his team killed off the penalty, Scheifele had a few choice words for one of the officials and was dinged with a 10-minute misconduct, thus taking him out of commission for the shootout.

The Jets healthy scratches were defenceman Colin Miller and forwards Brad Lambert and Nikita Chibrikov.

With forwards Morgan Barron and Cole Koepke likely ready to return to the lineup on Tuesday, the Jets are going to need to make a couple of roster moves before the game against the Blue Jackets.

The time that Lambert (one goal in four games, averaging 9:02 of ice time) and Chibrikov (no points in eight games while averaging 9:12 of ice time) spent with the Jets has been valuable on a number of fronts, but they’ve reached the point of the season where it will be more important for them to get back to the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League. Playing a top-six role there while getting more puck touches will put them in prime position to be a recall option later in the season, should injuries arise.

Speaking of the Moose, they’re riding a four-game winning streak after a 5-2 victory over the Rockford IceHogs on Saturday. Danny Zhilkin scored a pair of goals, while Walker Duehr and Ville Heinola each chipped in two assists. The Moose improved to 7-6-2, which moved them into third place in the Central Division. Duehr is tied with Phil Di Giuseppe for the team lead in points with 10, while Zhilkin is up to nine.

ken.wiebe@freepress.mb.ca

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