Ehlers leads red-light race

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This article was published 21/02/2021 (1661 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Kyle Connor has eight. Mark Scheifele has nine. And Nikolaj Ehlers is the current clubhouse leader with 10.

No, they don’t hand out any hardware to the Winnipeg Jets leading goal-scorer at the end of the season, the way the NHL presents the Rocket Richard Trophy to the league’s best lamp-lighter. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t a bit of a friendly race going on.

“We’re competitive guys. There’s always some kind of competition between everyone. We all have that in us. And that’s what makes us good players. Everyone who’s made it to the NHL has made it through being super competitive. So not exactly a competition, but yeah,” Ehlers offered Saturday following his team’s practice in Vancouver ahead of Sunday night’s re-match with the Canucks.

In that sense, he should be looking over his shoulder at the red-hot Scheifele, who has goals in four straight games and points in nine straight contests.

“It is impressive. I mean, you always shoot to score but you know you’re not going to score on every shot. He’s on a roll right now. It’s benefiting the team a lot. He’s obviously a very good player and it’s exciting for us,” said Ehlers.

Also impressive? Winnipeg is the only team in the NHL to have three players with at least eight goals so far this year.

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This is just Winnipeg’s third road trip of the year, with a three-game swing out east in mid-January followed by a one night stand in Calgary earlier this month. But after being away for the better part of a week under strict COVID-19 health and safety protocols, it’s safe to say the “new normal” has become no big deal.

“I think early on, with the changes and stuff like that — we’re such creatures of habit, we love our routines — we’re kind of thrust out of our routines early and have to make all these adjustments. Now that I think we’ve kind of got our processes down, we’re used to it,” said Jets forward Adam Lowry.

“It seems like this is the way it’s been for a while now. It’s certainly different. You’re not going out on the road. You’re not going out for dinners, you’re not allowed to see friends and family kind of thing on the road, and things like that. There are some changes. A little more time in the hotel room, but I think with that, we’ve be able to adapt. Guys are spending a little more time watching shows or podcasts or playing their Nintendo Switch, whatnot.”

Ehlers said one thing you’ll never hear from him is a word of complaint.

“We’re getting to do what we love the most. We’re playing hockey, we’re being safe, the league is trying to keep this as safe as possible for everyone that’s around us as well. It is now it is right now, you can’t change that. Or else it’s just going to snowball into something we don’t want it to end up in. We feel comfortable with the way it’s been, we feel good with it, the hotels have been unreal to us. It’s been good,” said Ehlers.

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It’s safe to say Jets defenceman Derek Forbort has quickly made some enemies on the west coast.

Forbort was the subject of plenty of social media vitriol Friday night for going after Canucks rookie forward Nils Höglander in the final minute of the game. Forbort was assessed a two-minute penalty and a 10-minute misconduct on the play.

“He was just finishing his check, I was just kinda reaching for the puck. Just kind of caught me. It wasn’t like a dirty hit or anything, but I was just kinda pissed off and gave him a couple crosschecks,” Forbort said.

He claimed to be blissfully unaware of the rage coming his way.

“I don’t even check my Twitter. I’ll check Instagram, but they were pretty quiet on there.”

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg