Jets’ lapse costly as Ducks pot three goals in 104 seconds

This was a letdown at a time the Winnipeg Jets simply couldn’t afford one.

And while the chances of the Jets simply running the table during the final 20 games were already highly unlikely, this second-period hiccup proved to be costly, whether you were looking at the short or long-term ramifications.

A 4-1 loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday night at Canada Life Centre leaves the Jets at 26-27-10 for the season and five points behind the Seattle Kraken for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

Allowing three goals in a span of 104 seconds is rarely a recipe for success, but the frustrating part for the Jets is that it included two goals in 14 seconds for the Ducks after Winnipeg had opened the scoring.

Jets mailbag: Recouping assets a trade deadline accomplishment

The trade deadline has come and gone. A rather unlikely late-season playoff push is on. Fans are torn and conflicted. And the monthly Free Press mailbag is once again overflowing.

Hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe are back to answer all your burning questions regarding the Winnipeg Jets.

1. What letter grade do you give the Jets for their trade deadline efforts? What could have been done better? ED

WIEBE: It’s been a few years since the Jets found themselves selling instead of buying, but overall the letter grade given to Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff is a B-plus that has the ability to grow into an A or A-minus, depending on what impact Isak Rosen has during the coming seasons.

Jets pull within five points of final Western Conference playoff spot

Don’t look now, but that double-digit deficit has been cut by more than half.

By rattling off at least a point in each of the six games coming out of the Olympic break — and by going 11-4-5 during the past 20 games — the Winnipeg Jets have pulled within five points of the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

It’s still a tall task, but it looks a whole lot more manageable with 20 games left in the regular season, including Tuesday’s tilt with the Anaheim Ducks.

“You’ve got to keep winning games,” said Jets centre Jonathan Toews. “It just goes to show that anything can happen. It’s a horse race. You never know who is going to come from the back and put on a real charge in the last stretch here.

Winnipeg Jets centre Mark Scheifele named NHL first star of the week

NEW YORK - Winnipeg Jets forward Mark Scheifele was named NHL first star of the week Monday after recording eight points over a three-game stretch.

Scheifele scored his 18th career overtime goal in a 3-2 comeback win over the Chicago Blackhawks last Tuesday.

He had the game-winning goal in a 4-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday and scored his 30th goal of the season in a 3-2 OT win over the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday.

Scheifele also had five assists on the week.

Morrissey hits milestone in Jets win over Vancouver

Josh Morrissey couldn’t have scripted a better return to the Winnipeg Jets lineup.

The veteran defenceman — sidelined by an injury during the first period of his Olympic appearance last month — became the franchise’s all-time leading point-getter among blueliners when he scored 1:49 into overtime on Saturday night, giving his team a dramatic 3-2 comeback victory over the Vancouver Canucks.

Morrissey first matched former blue-line partner Dustin Byfuglien by helping set up Gabe Vilardi’s slick game-tying goal with 4:48 left in regulation. He then claimed the record outright when his shot during the three-on-three session deflected off Canucks defenceman Filip Hronek and beat goaltender Kevin Lankinen.

Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck stopped Canucks sniper Elias Pettersson on a breakaway only seconds earlier.

‘I really believe I’m an NHL player’: Rosen ready for takeoff with Jets

Isak Rosen didn’t see it coming.

The Swedish forward found himself on an American Hockey League road trip with the Rochester Americans when news of a pending trade popped up on his phone.

“I was in Laval, kind of asleep actually, and then a friend texted and called me and said ‘I think you’re going, there’s been a lot of rumours,’” Rosen said after taking the morning skate with the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday. “Five minutes later, I get a call. So, it was late Thursday night. It was a weird feeling, at first, but I’m super excited to be here.”

Rosen admitted he hadn’t heard anything about the prospect of being on the move in the days leading up to the NHL trade deadline.

Stanley hoping to make a difference in Buffalo

A weekly lap around the NHL by Free Press hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe

The calls and text messages were coming in fast and furious for Logan Stanley.

As he sat in the press box on Thursday night watching the Winnipeg Jets take on and eventually defeat the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-1, the towering defenceman was dealing with the rumour mill in real time and had a feeling his life was about to change — even if reality hadn’t quite kicked in yet.

Once a pending unrestricted free agent is held out for roster related reasons, as Stanley was at the last minute on Thursday, a trade is often just a formality.

Morrissey grateful for his time on Olympic squad

Josh Morrissey has done a good job of resisting to get bogged down by the temptation to ask ‘why me?’

The Winnipeg Jets star defenceman concedes that the thought has crossed his mind on several occasions throughout the past 13 months as his bad luck seemed to spiral out of control.

During that span, Morrissey had a nasty flu virus knock him out of the gold medal game of the 4 Nations Face-Off, where Canada outlasted the United States.

He suffered an upper-body injury that knocked him out of Game 7 against the St. Louis Blues after being on the receiving end of a hard check during last year’s playoff run.

Hellebuyck has no regrets over how he handled Olympic fallout

Connor Hellebuyck insists he didn’t want to get political. But the Winnipeg Jets goaltender — fresh off leading the United States to a gold medal at the Olympics — finds himself at the centre of a storm for a series of events that have transpired since that magical moment in Milan.

Partying in the dressing room with FBI director Kash Patel. A controversial phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump. And then visiting the White House, where he was awarded the Medal of Freedom while cosying up with a government that has, at times, put Canada in its crosshairs.

“It’s crazy. Politics are crazy. But we’re hockey players. And we’re there representing our country and playing hockey, and making the country proud. So who cares about all that,” a fiery Hellebuyck said Friday as he was made available to Winnipeg media for the first time since returning from Italy.

“We were there to have fun and play hockey and we did that.”

Jets pick up Rosen, Bryson in Stanley, Schenn trade

Kevin Cheveldayoff did his best to straddle the fine line.

The Winnipeg Jets general manager went into Friday’s NHL trade deadline with a clear goal in mind: to try and recoup some assets while not subtracting too much from the active roster.

The Jets were in selling mode, though this wasn’t going to be a fire sale, not with a group that has collected points in five consecutive games (3-0-2) coming out of the Olympic break to keep their slim playoff hopes alive.

As the Jets continue an eight-game homestand on Saturday against the Vancouver Canucks, there will be two new players in the lineup, one of whom (defenceman Jacob Bryson) is getting a test drive before having the ability to become an unrestricted free agent and the other is a prized prospect (forward Isak Rosen) who should benefit from a change of scenery.

Jets send Stanley, Schenn to Sabres

The first dominoes have fallen for the Winnipeg Jets.

What’s left to come remains to be seen.

With the clock ticking before Friday’s arrival of the 2 p.m. CT NHL trade deadline, the Jets are sending defencemen Logan Stanley and Luke Schenn to the Buffalo Sabres in a trade for forward Isak Rosen, pending unrestricted defenceman Jacob Bryson and a second round draft pick in 2027 and a fourth round pick in 2026.

The Jets will also retain 50 per cent of Schenn’s salary-cap hit of US $2.75 million.

‘Great team effort’ lifts Jets over Lightning 4-1

Unlikely? For sure. Impossible? Perhaps. Just don’t tell that to the Winnipeg Jets, who aren’t going to go quietly into the night when it comes to their pursuit of a playoff spot.

An impressive — dare we say dominant?— 4-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday proves there’s plenty of fight left in this group.

On a night when seven regular skaters were out of the lineup for various reasons, the Jets came up with the type of complete, 60-minute effort that has been in short supply this season. And they did it against a powerhouse opponent, one that is a legitimate Stanley Cup favourite.

“It was a great team effort,” said centre Mark Scheifele, whose team-leading 29th goal ended up being the game-winner. “We knew we had a tough challenge ahead of us. The boys just rallied around and had a great game. It was fun to be a part of.”

Strathclair’s Geekie suits up for Tampa Bay in clash against Jets

Conor Geekie feels the difference, even if it’s not quite as noticeable to the casual viewer.

The Strathclair product has been told so many times about the need to work on his skating that he almost became numb to it.

But after his work with Barb Underhill since going to the Tampa Bay Lightning in a trade with the Utah Mammoth, let’s just say the results speak for themselves, even if the process is ongoing.

“Honestly, it’s with the straight-line skating,” Geekie said after the morning skate before the Lightning faced the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday at Canada Life Centre. “I’m always in the play now, I’m not necessarily behind or in front (of it), if that makes sense.”

Salomonsson’s parents cheering on Jets defenceman from Sweden

Elias Salomonsson’s father used to rise at the crack of dawn to drive his son to hockey practices back home in Sweden.

Now? He’s pulling all-nighters, watching that same son live out his NHL dream.

“He’s stayed up to watch all the games we’ve played. He’s pretty tired in the morning,” Salomonsson said Wednesday with a laugh. “But he can take it.”

Memo to folks in Skelleftea: If you happen to come across a bleary-eyed carpenter, maybe give him an extra shot of espresso before he starts ripping apart your floorboards.

Jets pull win from the fire

It wasn’t quite another Manitoba Miracle, but go figure that Cole Perfetti found a way to score another big, buzzer-beating goal for the Winnipeg Jets.