Hear this: Jets fear no team

Squad looking forward to showdown with potent Flames

By: Jason Bell Posted: 7:03 PM CDT Saturday, Jul. 25, 2020

There is no fear factor on the part of the Winnipeg Jets as they brace for a short but onerous playoff series against a formidable opponent.

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There is no fear factor on the part of the Winnipeg Jets as they brace for a short but onerous playoff series against a formidable opponent.

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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 25/07/2020 (1871 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There is no fear factor on the part of the Winnipeg Jets as they brace for a short but onerous playoff series against a formidable opponent.

Winnipeg’s hopes for an extended stay in Edmonton hang on success in a best-of-five qualifying-round series with Calgary. The Flames have some all-world talent up front, with a top line of Sean Monahan (22G, 26A) between Johnny Gaudreau (18G, 40A) and Elias Lindholm (29G, 25A), and a second unit of centre Mikael Backlund with Matthew Tkachuk and Andrew Mangiapane.

Jets centre Mark Scheifele said Saturday he relishes the opportunity to go head to head with the league’s premier players.

With the Flames' marquee blue-liners such as Mark Giordano (seen pursuing Jets captain Blake Wheeler in this photo), the Jets have their work cut out for them if they are to move beyond the first round of the playoffs. (Liam Richards / The Canadian Press files)

“Playing against guys like Monahan and Gaudreau is always fun, they’re special players, they’ve got a lot of skill. Matthew Tkachuk, who has only stuck his baby toe in the water, he’s gonna be a special player in this league. It’s guys like that that motivate me, the stars of the league,” said Scheifele. “That’s what gets me going, the opportunity to play against guys like that and test my skills against them.

“It’s playoff hockey, the Stanley Cup playoffs, what can get better than that? That’s kind of the way I’ve looked at this whole situation. It’s gonna be fun and it’s gonna be fun to play against a good team in Calgary. It’s gonna be a tough test, but that’s what we live for, we live for these moments.”

The Flames also employ a deep back end — even without Travis Hamonic of St. Malo, Man., one of a handful of NHLers to opt out of the 2020 playoffs. The team boasts marquee blue-liners such as Mark Giordano (the 2019 Norris Trophy winner), T.J. Brodie and Noah Hanifin.

Their goaltending isn’t nearly as consistent as head coach Geoff Ward would prefer, and he has a choice to make between David Rittich and Cam Talbot.

Rittich earned the lion’s share of the assignments but Talbot shone brightly just prior to the shutdown; it’s still up in the air who will stand guard in the crease for Game 1 of the series Saturday night at Rogers Place.

‘Playing against guys like Monahan and Gaudreau is always fun, they’re special players’– Mark Scheifele on the Flames’ stars

Winnipeg head coach Paul Maurice said rarely has he met an athlete that doesn’t draw motivation from matching up against the other teams’ best.

“Nobody ever dreams of scoring the game-winning Stanley Cup goal against the fifth line. You beat the best goalie in the world, you beat the best (defence) in the world and you beat the other best team in the world,” he said.

And despite a four-month interruption and the fact the mercury might push 30 C outside, there’s no denying the enthusiasm of the postseason.

“Playoff hockey is way better than anything else. The coaching dynamic almost completely changes. You’re grinding guys during the regular season. Not everybody is really happy with you and you’re not happy with everybody else. When you get into the playoffs and it’s all emotion, all excitement. It’s a different kind of motivation from me to the players. You know they’re driving,” said Maurice.

“They want quick information, actionable information that they can put into the game and then, you want to let them play. Open up the door and away they go. This would be like, I don’t know, if you celebrated the 12 days of Christmas. You got something on each one of the first 12 days, it’s really not that big of a deal, but Christmas is going to be pretty good. The playoffs are Christmas.”

Jets centre Mark Scheifele is relishing the opportunity to go head to head with the league’s premier players. (Liam Richards / The Canadian Press files)

Expect no easing into the collision of western Canadian rivals, said Winnipeg defenceman Neal Pionk.

“In a best-of-five, I don’t know if there will be much of a feeling out or getting to know each other (phase) in the first couple of games,” he said. “It will be intense right from the drop of the puck.”

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPJasonBell