FROM THE PRESS BOX
MIKE SAYS: I take you all the way back to last Jan. 27 with the Jets in Newark to face the New Jersey Devils. Nino Niederreiter scored the deciding goal in a 4-3 win for the visitors – his 499th career point.
Fast forward to the present, and Niederreiter will be parked in the press box tonight, still waiting to hit the magic 500 milestone.
What the heck happened?
It’s been a long seven-and-a-half months for the 34-year-old Swiss forward. Niederreiter only skated in 10 additional games last year due to injuries, and was held off the scoresheet in his first two outings this season.
Now, he’s a healthy scratch for the second straight time as the Jets look to deploy a younger, quicker lineup.
I asked Arniel this morning what it’s like to tell a proud veteran like Niederreiter he’s going to be on the outside looking in.
“Those are hard conversations,” said Arniel.
“Those aren’t the ones you look forward to. But at the end of the day he’s handled it professionally. Like I said when we came out of camp, there’s 23 guys here. Especially early on, when we’ve got five games in eight nights, we had to use bodies to stay fresh. I just try to be honest and up front, and hopefully they handle it professionally.”
On the other end of the age spectrum you have 18-year-old Viggo Bjorck, who made his first big mistake the other night in Pittsburgh with a turnover that led to a Penguins goal.
I thought Arniel handled that situation perfectly – showing plenty of trust in the teen by continuing to deploy him down the stretch, including a crucial penalty-killing shift late in the third period with the Jets clinging to a one-goal lead.
And Bjorck quickly brushed it off and got right back to business.
Hockey is not a perfect game and even the most polished players are going to mess up occasionally.
But I feel like, at least in the past, a rookie such as Bjorck may have been stapled to the bench for the duration of the game. Instead, the coach gave the kid plenty of rope, and I think everyone will be better off for it.
KEN SAYS: Jets captain Adam Lowry and Alex Iafallo helped spark a third period rally on Monday by scoring a pair of goals and now the line – which has Morgan Barron back with them – are set for one of the biggest challenges of the season.
Trying to neutralize MacKinnon, Martin Necas and Artturi Lehkonen, especially when Makar and Devon Toews are out with them, is a massive undertaking.
“They just play with so much speed, it’s tough to stay above them all the time,” said Barron.
“But you do what you can and you try to manage the puck to the best of your ability and try to hold onto pucks. Sometimes you get trapped into throwing pucks away, but the best way to defend is keeping pucks away from them. We’ll try to get the forecheck going and see if we can create some O-zone time as well.”
There were plenty of eyes on Lowry coming into this season and he’s off to a strong start in all three zones, chipping in a goal and three points while doing an excellent job on the penalty kill.
It was a bit of a slow start for Iafallo through the first two games, but he found his legs after his promotion to the Lowry line and quickly chipped in a goal and an assist.
The Jets have slightly shifted the defence pairings, with Neal Pionk joining Josh Morrissey on the top pair and Dylan DeMelo skating alongside Dylan Samberg.
Structurally, the Jets have done a solid job defending, but limiting the turnovers on the zone exits is something that requires a bit of improvement for the D corps as a whole.
Lehkonen is the Swiss Army knife on the Avalanche roster, with the ability to disrupt plays on the forecheck, provide a presence defensively both at even strength and on the penalty kill and also produce points (as he’s got three goals and four points already).
PROJECTED LINES
WINNIPEG JETS
FORWARDS
- Connor-Scheifele-Perfetti
- Rosen-Bjorck-Vilardi
- Barron-Lowry-Iafallo
- Koepke-Namestnikov-Lambert
DEFENCE
- Morrissey-Pionk
- Samberg-DeMelo
- Ferraro-St. Ivany
GOAL
Healthy scratches: D Fleury, D Bauer, LW Niederreiter
Injured: D Salomonsson (shoulder), D Brown (lower body), RW Duehr (lower body)
COLORADO AVALANCHE
FORWARDS
- Lehkonen-MacKinnon-Necas
- Landeskog-Nelson-Kadri
- Schwartz-Svechkov-Hughes
- Kelly-Roy-L’Heureux
DEFENCE
- Toews-Makar
- Kulak-Malinski
- Manson-Burns
GOAL
Healthy scratches: D Juulsen
Injured: RW O’Connor (lower-body)
NOTABLE QUOTABLE
Jets coach Scott Arniel on Mark Scheifele going without a point for the first three games of the season:
“You know what, he’s playing fantastic hockey and he’s been the third guy. If they give out three assists, he’s probably got eight points now and the number of chances, looking at our chances for and against, both five on five and power play, he’s had some grade-As.
“I don’t have worries there as both his linemates have five points. He’s making great plays, doing the right things. Some of those chances that he’s had, some really good looks that aren’t going in or maybe early on last year they did…so I’m not concerned about that. And I am pretty sure that once one goes it’ll all go, but he’s been doing the right things without the puck and helping that line have success.”
WHAT WE’RE WORKING ON
Ken will have analysis of Jets vs Avalanche, while Mike will be writing a sidebar out of the game. Both pieces can be found in Thursday’s print edition and online at winnipegfreepress.com.
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