Blown lead spoils Jets opener

Younger. Faster. Stronger.

They may still be a long ways from a finished product, but it’s safe to say the new-look Winnipeg Jets made a mostly favourable first impression on Friday night in front of a sold-out crowd at Canada Life Centre.

Sure, a 4-3 overtime loss to a hard-nosed Boston Bruins outfit is going to sting a little, especially since the home team was just 98 seconds away from a regulation victory.

But if the Jets can bottle up this kind of energy and effort, they should enjoy plenty of success over the course of the 84-game campaign.

“I liked a lot of what we did,” said forward Kyle Connor, had rang a shot off the crossbar seconds before J.J. Peterka’s winner during the three-on-three session.

A game of inches, as the saying goes.

“Overall I thought it was a lot of good jump. Obviously the result wasn’t there, but we can build off that.”

Winnipeg is looking to put an ugly 2025-26 season in the rear-view mirror — one which saw a drop from first overall to 26th in the standings — and their 23-man opening-night lineup included 10 players who weren’t around at this time one year ago.

That included two skaters making their NHL debuts in Viggo Bjorck and Tyrel Bauer, a new key defenceman in Mario Ferraro and a new No. 1 goaltender, Stuart Skinner, who shook off a bit of a shaky start and got stronger as the game went along.

Two of Skinner’s best saves came in the third period off the stick of Peterka, who also had the deciding goal on Tuesday night as the Bruins downed the New York Rangers.

Every puck he turned aside, regardless of difficulty, was greeted with a “Stuuuuu” chant from most of the 15,209 in attendance, save for those wearing black and yellow Bruins jerseys.

It’s clear Jets fans are eager to move on from Connor Hellebuyck, who remains away from the team after demanding a trade.

“Honestly, I just think it was a pretty solid game. I think both teams came out to play,” said Skinner.

“There were moments where we had our pushes, moments where Boston had theirs. I thought (Jeremy) Swayman and I held both teams in, made some good saves at good times. On my side, what I saw from our guys is a lot of battle, a lot of compete, a lot of speed.

“All in all, a good game. Lessons to be learned. When we do that, hopefully that will create a better result.”

Bauer power

You got a sense it was coming, as Bauer spent much of the pre-game warmup stretching at centre ice while staring directly at Bruins players who were going through their routines.

Sure enough, on the second shift of his NHL career — the first lasted one second due to play being whistled down on a delayed Boston penalty — the rookie Jets defenceman found a dance partner.

That would be Mark Kastelic, who is as rugged as they come in the big leagues but quickly learned what plenty of American Hockey League heavyweights have discovered in recent years — Bauer is one tough customer.

Bauer unloaded several punishing blows, including an upper-cut that left Kastelic bloodied and sent him to the dressing room for repairs.

“That’s a guy you’d run through a train for,” Skinner said of Bauer. “He’s that type of player that will do anything for the guys. When we were in Colorado Springs (doing team bonding last weekend), he was kind of my teammate there. We built some chemistry and trust together. That’s a guy that I think everybody in this room trusts very deeply.”

It’s been a long time since Winnipeg had this kind of muscle in the lineup. And the crowd inside the downtown rink loved every second, responding with one of the loudest roars in some time.

Bauer got into it again in the second period, coming to the aid of Vlad Namestnikov, who had been taken down by Sean Kuraly. Bauer was given a double minor, bringing him to nine penalty minutes in his debut, while Kuraly received a minor for roughing.

Viggomania

Bjorck nearly scored his first goal early in the opening frame, only to be denied by the pad of Swayman.

The 18-year-old looked like a seasoned pro as he took a regular shift as the second-line centre, between Gabe Vilardi and Isak Rosen, and finished his debut with two shots on net in 14:45 of ice time and several smart defensive plays, including a takeaway that led to a scoring chance.

The only negative came in the faceoff circle, where he was a team-worst 22.2 per cent.

Death, taxes and …

Connor starting a new hockey season by lighting the lamp.

Make it nine straight years the Jets winger has sniped in Game No. 1 of a campaign, which adds to his NHL record.

Its an incredible accomplishment, considering the previous league-wide benchmark was six.

“A long off-season and excited to be back?” Connor said with a laugh. “I wish I could keep that going and bottle that up.”

Connor pounced on a loose puck with his team on the power play, beating Swayman early in the middle frame to tie the game 2-2.

The Michigan product, who is part of a revamped top line with Mark Scheifele and Cole Perfetti, led all skaters with nine shots on goal and chipped in with an assist later in the second period on Ferarro’s go-ahead goal, which looked like it might be the game-winner until Elias Lindholm tied it at 18:22 of the third with Swayman on the bench for an extra attacker.

Key play

Peterka’s game-winner, which came off a slick feed from David Pastrnak.

THREE STARS:

1. WPG LW Kyle Connor: 1 goal, 1 assist

2. BOS G Jeremy Swayman: 30 saves

3. WPG C Adam Lowry: 2 assists

Under the hood

This was a high-event game based on advanced statistics.

According to Natural Stat Trick, the Jets held a 15-11 advantage in high-danger scoring chances, and a 7.69 to 5.83 edge in “expected goals.”

Considering the final score was just 4-3 for the Bruins, that tells you both goaltenders were dialled in.

Extra, extra

One year ago, Jonathan Toews was the team’s second-line centre as a new season began. On Friday, the Winnipegger was just another fan, drawing a loud cheer as he was shown on the big screen taking in the game with some friends.

Winnipeg won the special teams battle, going 1-for-3 on the power play and killing off the only minor penalty they took.

The Jets will now hit the road for a pair of games in rapid succession — Sunday afternoon in Detroit, and then Monday evening in Pittsburgh.

winnipegfreepress.com/mikemcintyre