Freshman forces way into lineup

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 28/12/2018 (2444 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Opportunity came knocking for Mason Appleton — and the reigning American Hockey League rookie of the year has made the most of it with the Winnipeg Jets.

Despite now having a fully healthy forward group, Appleton remained in the lineup Thursday night at Bell MTS Place. Brendan Lemieux and Nic Petan both came out to make room for the returning Adam Lowry (upper-body injury, missed two games) and Andrew Copp (concussion symptoms, missed 10 games).

It’s a bit of a surprising development, considering Appleton didn’t make the Jets out of training camp and not only had to leap-frog Lemieux and Petan on the forward depth chart, but also Kristian Vesalainen (who is now in Europe) and Marko Dano (now with the Manitoba Moose) to get his first NHL shot.

Appleton, 22, had one goal and one assist in his first 12 games entering play against the Calgary Flames.

“We think he’s trending really well. Really strong,” Jets coach Paul Maurice said Thursday of keeping Appleton in the mix. “The two guys we’re taking out of the lineup played very well, too. There wasn’t a hole in their game. It wasn’t anything negative.”

● ● ●

They are one of the youngest teams in the NHL. But the Jets haven’t buckled under pressure when the game is still up in the air heading into the final period.

Winnipeg has gone into the second intermission tied with their opponent on 10 occasions this season.

They are a perfect 10-0-0 in those games, including a pair of wins last week in San Jose and Vancouver where they broke the deadlock in the final minutes.

According to the coach, last season’s extended playoff run — including a big Game 7 victory in Nashville — has paid off.

“I think there’s some experience with it. I do think that the playoffs helped that. There are some carryovers that you can sell back into the room,” Maurice said Thursday of coming up clutch.

● ● ●

Blake Wheeler took a shot to the nether regions last weekend in Vancouver and looked to be down and out, in obvious distress as he crawled to his bench and received attention from the trainers.

He missed one shift.

Wheeler, speaking Thursday for the first time since that game, said he was lucky to escape with minimal damage after Dustin Byfuglien unloaded from the blue-line and caught him below the belt.

“Obviously, a lot of things go through your head when you take a slapper from (Byfuglien) from the top of the circle,” Wheeler said. “Luckily, there wasn’t any danger internally and that was that.”

Just another day at the office for a player Maurice called the toughest he’s ever seen.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @mikemcintyrewpg