Young Phillips could be great find in Jets’ net

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This article was published 17/09/2016 (3357 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

PENTICTON, B.C. — He may be untested at the pro level, but goaltender Jamie Phillips showed a flair for the dramatic when he announced his arrival Friday night.

The former Michigan Tech star, an off-season signing of the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets, stopped 21 of 22 shots in 30 minutes of work during a 4-1 loss to the Calgary Flames in the opening game of the Young Stars Classic NHL rookie tournament.

The Jets, outshot 42-21 and outplayed for much of the game, had Phillips and 18-year-old Russian Mikhail Berdin to thank for a mere 2-1 deficit heading into the third period.

“It feels good,” said Phillips. “It’s been a long summer. It’s been almost five or six months since I played and it feels good to shake the rust off.”

New Moose head coach Pascal Vincent, who was running the Jets bench, was thrilled.

“He was pretty good,” said Vincent. “I thought our two goalies were excellent. They controlled rebounds, really aggressive. (They) had a presence in the net.”

Matthew Phillips was the only Calgary shooter to beat Phillips. Andrew Magiapane, Austin Carroll and Ryan Lomberg also scored for the Flames, who trailed 1-0 after the first period.

Jansen Harkins had Winnipeg’s lone goal but it was the line of Kyle Connor, Jack Roslovic and Jimmy Lodge that was the most effective. Connor had at least five premium scoring chances including a clear-cut breakaway and was repelled by Calgary goalie Jon Gillies each time.

Vincent loved their work.

“They have good speed,” he said. “You can tell the conditioning of players at times and those two were ready to go again (when they came back to the bench). I like that combination.”

The Jets will practise today before playing their final two games of the Young Stars Classic Sunday and Monday against the Vancouver Canucks and Edmonton Oilers, respectively.

new coach pumped up

Vincent seemed as amped as his players for the first day of action at the Young Stars Classic rookie tournament.

“I’m excited,” said Vincent following Friday morning’s game-day skate. “We had a good day yesterday. It was a long day and today we had a good morning skate.

“We’re seeing the guys really pay attention to what we’re talking about… It’s a test, their first real test. It’s an opportunity to show what they can bring.”

‘It’s exciting every time you get a chance to pull on a Jets jersey’– Jets prospect Kyle Connor

Vincent, who was hired to replace Keith McCambridge in the off-season, had very simple goals for the rookies, most of whom have little chance to start the season with the NHL’s Jets.

“We’re here to evaluate our players,” said Vincent, a Jets assistant coach for the past five seasons. “So we wanna see the reason why they’re here… They’re really good at one or two things and that’s what we wanna see…. The reason you were brought here, we want you to bring it.”

connor rarin’ to go

Nineteen-year-old winger Kyle Connor is ready to take a legitimate run at full-time employment with the big club.

Connor, a Hobey Baker Trophy finalist during his freshman season at the University of Michigan, was expected to skate with a pair of fellow Americans — Roslovic and Lodge — when the Jets rookies took on the Calgary Flames rookies Friday.

“It’s going to be a lot of fun to build (on) those connections starting with the draft,” said Connor, chosen eight slots ahead of Roslovic in the first round of the 2015 draft. Lodge, meanwhile, was a third-rounder in 2013.

Connor said he is feeling at ease this week.

“It’s exciting every time you get a chance to pull on a Jets jersey,” he said. “It’ll be a fun weekend.”

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.caTwitter @sawa14