Jets notebook: Magical milestone within McDavid’s reach

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 16/02/2021 (1712 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Sidney Crosby registered his 500th career point in his 369th NHL game. Connor McDavid, sitting at 499 points, will play his 369th game against the Winnipeg Jets.

Add it all up and there’s a good chance the Hockey Gods will ensure a magical milestone is reached tonight at Rogers Place in Edmonton.

“Just a phenomenal player, a phenomenal person as well. I really enjoyed getting a chance to know him through a couple World Juniors and then the under 18. For somebody that is under the public eye like he is to basically just be a down-to-earth normal hockey player, he’s just a great guy. I think that’s one of the things that impressed me when I met him,” Jets defenceman Josh Morrissey said Tuesday following his team’s practice.

Winnipeg will be looking to sweep the two-game series after taking Monday’s opener 6-5. McDavid had two assists in that game.

“His ability speaks for itself, obviously the numbers he’s produced in the league already at such a young age, it’s pretty remarkable, that’s for sure,” said Morrissey. “When you start to see some of these milestones and achievements at the age he’s at it’s pretty remarkable. He makes it pretty darn difficult to play against, but it’s pretty impressive, for sure. He’s destined for many more of these special achievements and statistics throughout his career.”

When Crosby registered his 1,000th career point, it came against Connor Hellebuyck and the Jets. Now McDavid has a shot to follow an eerily similar path.

***

The Canadian division has provided plenty of thrilling action so far this season. But Monday may have topped them all.

First, Ottawa rallied from a 5-1 deficit to knock off Toronto 6-5 in overtime. Then the Jets and Oilers dialed back the clock for their high-scoring affair. Then the Calgary Flames capped things off by beating the Vancouver Canucks 4-3 in overtime.

That’s 29 combined goals in the three games, with the same six teams doing it all over again tonight. Jets coach Paul Maurice was asked what they might all do for an encore.

“It depends on who gets a vote on that. If the coaches do, it’ll be a bunch of 2-1 games. We’re watching the games before we go out, we get the time delay. At the start of that Toronto Ottawa game, Matthews and Marner and Thornton looked like they were going to score 10. Every time they went down the ice it looked like it was an incredible chance,” said Maurice.

“So you head out, and between periods you come back in, and I use my computer to check the stats and ice times, just off the NHL Network so I know shift-lengths of players and stuff like that, and the score’s up at the top. And you come back after two and it says 6-5, Ottawa, and you couldn’t believe it.”

***

The Jets have only dropped the gloves three times this season. But Adam Lowry’s spirited scrap with big Edmonton defenceman Darnell Nurse still had folks talking on Tuesday.

To hear Lowry explain it, he didn’t like the fact Nurse appeared to be challenging the much smaller Mathieu Perreault.

“I feel like that’s a bit of a mismatch for us. So I go in there trying to be a bit of a peacemaker, and before we know it, his gloves were off, so it’s part of the game. Sometimes it’s nice to do and you feel like you get a little more engagement and things like that,” said Lowry.

“I think we both respect how each other plays. I know that he’s a good, honest player. He’s playing hard and maybe he’s trying to set the tone for his team and try and show that they’re going to be engaged. And it’s important that we answer that. I think it was one of those where it was just kind of heat of the moment where it happened and it really wasn’t anything that kind of spurred it.”

***

The Jets will likely be without Pierre-Luc Dubois for a third straight game, although the 22-year-old centre did skate on Tuesday and is getting closer to a return from a lower-body injury. Dubois emerged from quarantine to play a pair of contests with his new club last week, only to tweak something.

“So he’s back on the ice and not really protecting himself. I’m going to wait and talk to our trainers (Tuesday) to see where he’s at. As of now I’d say I don’t have him in (Wednesday), but he’s heading in the right direction,” said Maurice.

“He’s a real durable… big, thick powerful kid. So sitting around for 14 days in the middle of a season is a very difficult thing to do. Even an injured guy, a guy that we take off the ice and would be unable to skate for two weeks, he’s still got another week of skating rehab before you think about putting him back in. So this is a real unique thing to do to a guy. At his age, I think he’s going to be able to rebound, once he feels good again. The younger they are the faster they heal.”

Veteran depth centre Nate Thompson, recovering from a nagging injury, could also be an option, but Maurice said he liked how his fourth-line looked Monday which included Jansen Harkins at centre between Trevor Lewis and Kristian Vesalainen.

“I think a couple more days on any kind of injury, soft-tissue injury that he had, helps. So I might delay that,” he said.

***

Sami Niku continues to remain in hockey purgatory.

Unable to get back in the lineup after three ho-hum games earlier this season, but deemed too valuable an asset to risk losing on waivers in order to send him to the Manitoba Moose to get some much-needed action, the 24-year-old former American Hockey League defenceman is the odd man out right now.

“Yeah, it’s a tough spot for him, for sure. Because he’s a good player, and we want to keep as much depth as we possibly can. We’re in a little bit tougher spot because we have the third goalie on our roster, which changes how flexible we are with that. And that’s what happens. These guys get into that hole and they wait for an injury and they wait for their chance. And it can make for some long days for them,” said Maurice.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg