Stanley questions Frederic’s choice of dance partners

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This article was published 11/12/2024 (301 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Logan Stanley would have gladly accepted an earlier invitation, had one been offered.

On a day Winnipeg Jets head coach Scott Arniel confirmed David Gustafsson was in concussion protocol after taking a couple of big right hands from Boston Bruins forward Trent Frederic, Stanley still wasn’t happy about what transpired in the third period of Tuesday’s 8-1 victory.

Eight seconds after Alex Iafallo had given the Jets a 6-1 lead, Frederic cross-checked Gustafsson on multiple occasions after the faceoff at centre ice and eventually dropped the gloves with him.

Frederic, with 38 NHL tilts on his resume before Tuesday’s, dropped Gustafsson (who was out of his weight class in his first NHL fight) with one punch and landed another as the Jets forward was falling to the ice.

“It’s a tough one. Obviously, (Gustafsson) gets his gloves off. I just think (Trent) Frederic has been in a lot more fights than David Gustafsson has,” said Stanley, who suited up in his seventh consecutive game since returning from a mid-body injury. “I was standing right there, so if there was anyone he wanted to go, it didn’t have to be Gus.”

With one more meeting between the two non-conference opponents set for Jan. 30 at TD Garden in Boston, it wouldn’t come as a surprise if Stanley and Frederic square off.

Gustafsson needed to be helped to the bench by a pair of teammates and before play resumed, Stanley got involved in a secondary altercation with Bruins forward Mark Kastelic, with both players earning fighting majors and automatic game misconducts.

“It’s unfortuante to see a teammate get hurt like that. I’m not a huge fan, but stuff happens in the game,” said Stanley. “You see a teammate and one of your best friends down on the ice, you want to stick up for him anyway that you can. You talk about having good people in your room and that’s what (Gustafsson) is. One of the best people that I know.”

The third fight in a two-second span of play involved Jets captain Adam Lowry and Bruins D-man Nikita Zadorov.

“I’ve got a lot of respect for Z over there, he doesn’t have to answer the bell, (the) game is kind of over,” said Lowry. “Both times I fought him, they’ve been in kind of blow out games. So, he shows up, and I appreciated that.”

As the Jets continue a four-game homestand against the Vegas Golden Knights, Rasmus Kupari figures to draw back into the Jets’ lineup for Gustafsson.

Arniel was happy with the way his team responded, but reiterated he wanted the focus to be on how well his team played, not how they showed up when the extra curriculars arrived.

“There’s no secret, we frustrated Boston last night because we played our game,” said Arniel. “And to me that’s why I don’t want to get caught up in what happened, whatever that was.”

The Jets got goals from seven different players, generated 35 shots on goal, which was up dramatically from recent games when the team occasionally had issues with both quality and volume.

This was what Arniel and company were talking about when mentioning the need to get back into attack mode.

“We had (59) shot attempts last night, which for us is probably 20 higher than what we’ve been averaging,” said Arniel. “What it does is it forces the opposition now to have to defend. Now maybe they’re running (into) the corners or they’ve got to figure out what their assignments are, whatever.

“We get people on the run and when we do that, that’s more like us and that’s what we saw earlier in the year and I’m glad we got back to that. That has to be sort of in our DNA every game.”

The Jets are 8-8-2 against the Golden Knights since the franchise entered the NHL for the 2017-18 season, but Vegas has eliminated Winnipeg from the Stanley Cup playoffs on two occasions (2018 and 2023) and held a decisive advantage in recent meetings — winning 11 of the past 12, including the post-season.

The Golden Knights have won three consecutive games and haven’t played since a 3-2 win over the Dallas Stars last Friday.

They currently lead the Pacific Division with 39 points in 28 games and welcomed back Winnipegger and captain Mark Stone from injury on Dec. 6.

Despite missing 14 games this season, Stone is still tied for third in team scoring with six goals and 22 points.

Defenceman Zach Whitecloud has been sidelined with an upper-body issue since Nov. 23 and is inching closer to a return, while the Golden Knights Manitoba content also features forwards Keegan Kolesar and Brett Howden, the Oakbank product who scored twice and provided the game-winner in the Nov. 29 meeting at T-Mobile Arena.

POWER-PLAY UNITS PUSHING ONE ANOTHER: By scoring three times in five chances — including once on an abbreviated power play after a four-on-four situation that lasted 71 seconds, the Jets improved to 30.4 per cent efficiency for the season and moved into second place in the NHL behind the New Jersey Devils (31.3 percent).

Mark Scheifele ripped home a one-timer, but the second unit also got goals on a redirection from the slot by Iafallo and another from Vladislav Namestnikov that was a byproduct of he and Nino Niederreiter crashing the net.

That leaves the top unit with 17 goals with the man-advantage and 11 others recorded by the second unit.

“When you have both units firing on all cylinders, it helps everybody,” said Iafallo, who has scored four of his five goals on the power play this season. “When everybody is buzzing like that, it gives us momentum.”

Namestnikov’s marker snapped a nine-game goal-scoring drought and moved him to seven goals for the season.

ken.wiebe@freepress.mb.ca

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