Living the dream

DETROIT – As Tyrel Bauer took a left turn out of the tunnel from the Winnipeg Jets dressing room and into the stands, he was met with a hearty round of applause from the 25 friends and family members who had made the trek from various points around North America.

Bauer had just realized a childhood dream and the significance of the moment was not lost on some of his biggest supporters.

“It was a special walk, for sure. A special walk,” Bauer said on Saturday afternoon before the Jets departed for a two-game road trip that begins on Sunday in Detroit against the Red Wings. “Those people who came – and many more that weren’t there and were cheering on from afar – they’ve always been there.

“I wanted that for my family, maybe even more than I wanted it for me. They’ve been through thick and thin. I’ve stressed mom out quite a bit over the years doing my job. That meant a lot for them and I’m really happy they could be there for it.”

Bauer received a massive amount of text messages on Friday and he stressed that he planned to return all of them in short order.

“I’m still sifting through them, so if anybody out there is listening, don’t take it personally, I will get to you,” said Bauer. “Just the amount of support from people, old coaches, mentors, old friends that I haven’t talked to in a while. Family. The list goes on.”

Bauer’s debut will be defined as an eventful one and while the Jets lost 4-3 in overtime to the Boston Bruins before a capacity crowd at Canada Life Centre, the rugged defenceman acquitted himself pretty well in 13 shifts for just under six minutes of ice time to go along with nine penalty minutes.

Bauer got into a spirited scrap with Mark Kastelic in the first period, landing several big right hands that left the Bruins forward leaking.

As the linesmen broke up the fight, Bauer shared a few words with Kastelic for accepting the invitation before letting out a guttural roar before making his way to the penalty box.

“I usually keep that stuff on the ice. But everybody remembers their first one,” said Bauer. “I’ve got a job to do, he’s got a job to do. I recognize and appreciate that he was willing to give me that first one.

“It just happened. There were no discussions or anything. I was focused on playing. My style of game is hard, it’s physical. It just happened organically in the corner.”

Bauer was still buzzing when he got back home after the game, still basking in the afterglow of realizing a childhood dream while recognizing that sticking in the NHL can be even tougher than finally making it there.

“It took a while to hit the pillow, no doubt,” said Bauer. “I don’t know if it’s sunk in yet. We’ve got a plane ride here and I’m sure it will (sink in) a little bit more. But man, I was just smiling. I don’t know if I’ve smiled that much in my 24 years. A lot of work to do, but that was fun.”

Fun is a good way to describe the Jets opener, as they played an up-tempo game that featured plenty of structure and strong special teams play.

The power play looked potent and converted once in three chances while the penalty kill was one-for-one.

Stuart Skinner gave up a long goal on a shot that knuckled, but he made 26 saves and was one of the big reasons the Jets still came away with a point.

On the flip side, the Jets gave up a goal late in the third period with the Bruins net empty in favour of an extra attacker with 1:38 to go and then lost the extra point on an odd-man rush during three-on-three action.

“It just happened. There were no discussions or anything. I was focused on playing. My style of game is hard, it’s physical. It just happened organically in the corner.”

“It was definitely a very winnable game for us. It sucks we couldn’t finish the job,” said Jets forward Nino Niederreiter. “We’ve got 83 more to go. It’s a long season. You can’t make anything (definitive) out of the first game, but like I said, we got one point out of a possible two, so we’ve got to take the good things with us.

“I thought it was a solid game, but at the same time, we’ve still got a lot of stuff that we have to clean up. We know we’ve got to be better and that’s what we’re here for.”

Forward Gabriel Vilardi missed Saturday’s workout for maintenance, but his status isn’t in question for Sunday’s game against the Red Wings, according to Jets head coach Scott Arniel.

Based on line rushes and D pairings used on Saturday, the Jets are expected to roll with the same lineup in the Motor City, where former captain Dylan Larkin was booed lustily at the home opener by a fan base that also uttered chants of “Sell the team” at various points.

One of the few questions going into the two-game road trip that also includes a tilt against Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins is when will Stuart Skinner be back between the pipes and when will Clay Stevenson make his debut.

“He’s going to play one of the next two games. You knew that was coming,” said Arniel. “Obviously, what did I say last night? All these games, about five in eight days, so you may be seeing (Stevenson) more than once. So yeah, it’s a busy schedule to start the year, so both guys will be going.”

Even with a short turnaround and high volume of shot attempts he faced (74) on Friday, the expectation is that Skinner goes again on Sunday and Stevenson starts in the same building he made his NHL debut (on April 17, 2025) on Monday.

With the Jets playing five games in an eight-day span to open the campaign, Arniel must try to straddle that fine line between providing continuity to his lineup while also inserting some fresh legs during this stretch.

“Yeah, I don’t think I want to do the in and out, in and out (thing). But yeah, we do need to get everybody in, so we’ll work to do that,” said Arniel. “So in the next eight days, you should see some different faces. I would like a little bit of continuity to happen, but I’ve also got to look at the fact that guys come out of a training camp and you’re running at a pretty high clip, and then (if) you sit for a while, it’s not great.”

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