Jets’ best need to be better Top-line has to lead if Winnipeg is to oust Vegas By: Mike McIntyre Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Friday, Apr. 21, 2023

Opinion

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This article was published 21/04/2023 (871 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

You can do a lot worse than breaking even in Las Vegas.

That’s why the Winnipeg Jets players who touched down at James Richardson International Airport on Friday afternoon should still be feeling pretty good about themselves, rather than down on their luck.

A 50/50 split in Sin City — winning 5-1 on Tuesday night and losing 5-2 on Thursday night — has turned this best-of-seven into a best-of-five, with the first-round playoff series now shifting north of the border.

You can bet the house the Jets would love to have gotten greedy and grabbed both games in enemy territory. It looked like they were well on their way after a dominant first period Thursday. But a Golden Knights club that finished on top of the Western Conference upped the urgency and desperation, which the visitors simply could not match.

They’re the No. 1 seed for a reason, even if No. 8 Winnipeg very much had them on the ropes for a while.

Now it’s incumbent on the underdog Jets to make hay at home, starting with Saturday’s matinee at what should be a raucous Canada Life Centre.

Getting Nikolaj Ehlers back from injury would be a nice boost, and there remains a chance that could occur. Regardless of whether “Fly” is cleared for takeoff, those already in the lineup, particularly the Jets’ brightest stars, must start shining.

Vegas got it in spades from their top dogs as they evened the series. Captain Mark Stone scored two goals and added an assist, all in the third period, as the Golden Knights broke the tie and pulled away.

Jack Eichel scored his first playoff goal. William Karlsson lit the lamp for the second time in as many games and added an assist. Alex Pietrangelo had two key helpers, while Phil Kessel also had two apples. Chandler Stephenson scored the game-winning goal along with an assist.

Those are among Vegas’ most important and highly-paid players, and they (along with a rock-solid Laurent Brossoit in goal) ensured a second straight setback wasn’t in the cards.

“They’re great players,” Jets coach Rick Bowness said in his post-game comments from T-Mobile Arena.

“There are going to come games in this series that you’re going to notice them. That’s not a surprise. A ton of respect for that team over there. They have a lot of great talent. There are going to be times that their top-end guys look really good. Now we’re going to rely, going home, that our top guys look really good.”

That folks, is a not-so-subtle challenge to his big guns after they fired nothing but blanks.

“A ton of respect for that team over there. They have a lot of great talent. There are going to be times that their top-end guys look really good. Now we’re going to rely, going home, that our top guys look really good.”–Jets head coach Rick Bowness

We’re looking primarily at you, Mark Scheifele, Pierre-Luc Dubois and Kyle Connor.

After a strong first game in which Connor and Dubois both scored, that trio couldn’t find a way to contribute on the scoresheet despite a pile of first-period chances (mainly off the stick of a snake-bitten Connor).

Even worse is they were victimized on a pair of critical Vegas goals.

With the Jets up 1-0 early in the second and seemingly in complete control, the top line got stuck on the ice for a marathon shift of nearly two minutes in length which, rather predictably, ended with Karlsson having all kinds of time and space to rip a shot past Connor Hellebuyck and tie the game.

The Golden Knights, who were clearly the second-best team to that point, had a pulse. T-Mobile Arena came alive. It was thanks to a self-inflicted wound from Winnipeg’s top trio.

Shift length has often been an issue, especially with Scheifele and Connor, at various points over their careers. It reared its ugly head at the worst possible time, changing the entire dynamic of the game up to that point.

Fast forward to the third period, with the score now 2-2 and a faceoff in Winnipeg’s end. Scheifele not only lost it cleanly, he then failed to tie up Stephenson who got to a loose puck seconds later to score what would prove to be the game-winner.

That’s a scenario we’ve seen play out before. This, however, was a much bigger stage than ones in the past.

Scheifele was also beaten by Stone on the fifth Vegas goal to cap off a truly forgettable outing. That’s simply not good enough at this critical stage. Don’t just take it from me.

“You can’t lose a faceoff like that and lose the guy going to the net,” Bowness said following the game.

“And then even the fifth goal, we got out-muscled behind the net. You can’t lose games there in the playoffs like that. And we did.”

The hope, of course, is that Scheifele and company respond to the challenge starting immediately. These are not only talented athletes, but ones who also take a lot of pride in their craft. No doubt what went down had to sting a little.

To their credit, they certainly did during the last couple weeks of the regular season, when Bowness had called his best players out publicly and even benched Scheifele and Connor for half a period.

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There are already some promising signs in that direction, based on comments made by Scheifele on Thursday night and Dubois on Friday morning in which they didn’t try to duck and hide and acknowledged they need to be better. Ultimately, actions will tell the story, rather than words.

A little more could go a long way, and I’ll include all-star defenceman Josh Morrissey and veteran forward Nino Niederreiter on that just as well. Both haven’t entirely checked into this series just yet, either.

It’s great that shutdown centre Adam Lowry already has three goals and fourth-liners Kevin Stenlund and Saku Maenalanen teamed up for what, at the time, seemed like a huge tally to tie the game Thursday late in the second period.

You need depth scoring and contributions from unlikely sources in order to have sustained success. You also need your drivers to lead the way.

Winnipeg’s will have another chance to get behind the wheel on Saturday afternoon in front of a sold-out crowd at the downtown rink just waiting to explode.

No pressure, gentlemen, but the fate of your team is very much in your hands.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg

Mike McIntyre
Reporter

Mike McIntyre is a sports reporter whose primary role is covering the Winnipeg Jets. After graduating from the Creative Communications program at Red River College in 1995, he spent two years gaining experience at the Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in 1997, where he served on the crime and justice beat until 2016. Read more about Mike.

Every piece of reporting Mike produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.