Dukin’ Dane throws a mean right hand

By: Ed Tait Posted: 7:28 PM CST Sunday, Feb. 7, 2016

FIVE OTHER TAKES ON THE JETS 1. NOBODY WAS MORE SURPRISED... than Nikolaj Ehlers’ teammates when he dropped the gloves — just his right glove, to be factual — and fought Colorado’s Tyson Barrie Saturday night. Ehlers, who looks so young you’d swear he belongs on a junior varsity volleyball team, offered the following on his first pro scrap:

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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/02/2016 (3564 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

FIVE OTHER TAKES ON THE JETS

1. NOBODY WAS MORE SURPRISED… than Nikolaj Ehlers’ teammates when he dropped the gloves — just his right glove, to be factual — and fought Colorado’s Tyson Barrie Saturday night. Ehlers, who looks so young you’d swear he belongs on a junior varsity volleyball team, offered the following on his first pro scrap:

“I saw Wheels (Blake Wheeler) was pushing with two other guys there. I was just trying to help him out… you know, a big guy like me. No… two against one, I’m not a big fan of that. I just wanted to go in and push him away. He dropped them first, so I wanted to go with him.”

Wheeler would later tweet; “Thanks to my boy Fly for sticking up for me last night. Never felt safer on the ice!”

David Zalubowski / The Associated Press files
Winnipeg Jets left wing Nikolaj Ehlers, right, of Denmark, fights with Colorado Avalanche defenseman Tyson Barrie during the third period of Saturday's game. The Jets won 4-2. — David Zalubowski / The Associated Press files Winnipeg Jets left wing Nikolaj Ehlers, right, of Denmark, fights with Colorado Avalanche defenseman Tyson Barrie during the third period of Saturday's game. The Jets won 4-2.

He more than held his own with 83.7 per cent of Hockeyfights.com voters picking him as the winner.

“That was outstanding,” said Maurice. “If you get an opportunity to watch that again, the best isn’t the fight. It’s the bench standing in behind him. Good for him. He gets a little more room. He gets to eat a little earlier in the food line.”

Asked if he knew Ehlers had such a good right hand — he dropped Barrie with it — Maurice added:

“I don’t think anybody did. It’s out there now, though.”

Ehlers wasn’t completely in uncharted territory. He had two scraps in junior.

2. HE WASN’T PERFECT, BUT… Michael Hutchinson got the job done Saturday. He stopped 32 of 34 shots in his first win as a starter since October. Maurice said he opted to give him the start not just because he was good in relief of Connor Hellebuyck Friday night, but because he had a good week of practice.

“(He didn’t have) a lot of work and then the second goal he would want back all day long,” said Maurice, referencing Matt Duchene’s goal from a weak angle. “But he made two really, really good saves at the end of the second period on their power play and that keeps the game right, because we deserved to be in the lead going into the third based on the play.

“Connor’s played very, very well, but the last two games haven’t been great for him. I’m not hanging them on him, but he needs a break, too, sometimes. It’s his first time in the National Hockey League and he’s played really well for us.”

The Jets will have to decide what to do with their masked men very soon, with Ondrej Pavelec ready to come off injured reserve.

3. NOT SURE IF MAURICE SUBSCRIBES TO SPORTS ILLUSTRATED… But he might find a piece in the Jan. 25 edition interesting. SI followed the Washington Capitals on a back-to-back that saw them beat Tampa Bay in Washington one night and the Maple Leafs in Toronto the next day. In the piece, Caps coach Barry Trotz talks about how he wanted to improve the team’s slow starts in the second game of back-to-backs, in which they were 7-8-1 last season.

Trotz’s solution? He brought in a former special operations agent to speak to the team about mental strength and overcoming fatigue. “This is an area I want to see improved,” SI quotes Trotz as telling the agent. “(Stuff) happens. How do you deal with the (stuff)?”

FYI, the Jets’ win in Denver improved their record in the second of back-to-back games to 4-6-1.

4. THREW THIS OUT ON TWITTER SATURDAY… After seeing those Avalanche third jerseys in person (not a fan)… what would Jets Nation like to see their club trot out for an alternate look?

Many fans suggested the old logo from the Jets 1.0 days and there was a lot of love for the original World Hockey Association look. Good calls, both. My suggestion, for what it’s worth: using the current light blue that forms one of the stripes on the current jersey as the base colour and the ‘J-E-T-S’ script currently on the helmets as the main logo.

Discuss among yourselves.

5. FINALLY, THE LATEST IN A SERIES… Of updates on Kyle Connor, the first of two first-round picks by the Jets (Jack Roslovic being the other) from last year’s draft. Friday, Connor — who is ripping up the NCAA as a freshman at Michigan — was named rookie of the month by the Hockey Commissioner’s Association. It was the second consecutive month he earned the honour, after scoring eight goals and 17 points in six games for the Wolverines.

Connor leads the country in scoring with 20 goals and 24 assists in 25 games, a pace that is ahead of another freshman phenom from a year ago, Jack Eichel.

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPEdTait