Jets lose pre-season match to McDavid-less Oilers

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This article was published 19/09/2017 (2409 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It was pre-season hockey, totally devoid of suspense, but the Winnipeg Jets tantalized their fans with some shiny new off-season acquisitions Wednesday night. 

Goaltender Steve Mason and defenceman Dmitry Kulikov, a pair of high-profile free agents signed in July, debuted on home ice during Winnipeg’s 4-1 loss to the Edmonton Oilers at Bell MTS Place.

The Jets dressed 15 players who are expected to be regulars (including Patrik Laine, Mark Scheifele and Blake Wheeler) but on this night, they hit five posts and did not resemble a powerhouse. The Oilers, meanwhile, brought a B squad (minus Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Cam Talbot) to Winnipeg that boasted only seven players likely to play in their regular-seaon opener.

Mason allowed a pair of power-play goals, one redirected suspiciously off Jussi Jokinen’s skate, and finished with 21 saves. Earlier markers by Mark Letestu, who victimized the Jets for five of his 16 regular-season goals in 2016-17, and Jujhar Khaira were short tap-ins that were almost certainly not his fault.

“You know what, you always try to find a way to make saves,” said Mason. “I’ll have to take a look at the video on them tomorrow and seeing different ways potentially, of playing those situations. Obviously, you have to honour the shot from the initial pass across and you try to compete to make the save on the back door.” 

Kulikov, meanwhile, took a regular turn with veteran Tyler Myers, who was reintroducing himself to Winnipeg fans after a long absence. Myers had not played since Nov. 11 and suited up only 11 times during the 2016-17 season. His season was cut short by surgery for a lower-body injury and he was understandably fired up to be back.

“It felt great to get back out there,” said Myers. “Endurance was better than I thought it would be. But first game back, it was great to get my legs underneath me and felt pretty good considering.”

The 6-7 defender led all Jets with 23:32 of ice time, including 3:55 on the power play and 2:06 while shorthanded.

“I don’t think it’s a bad thing that I’m coming back during a training camp,” said Myers. “I’ve had a good week to prep. It feels like the start of any season I’ve been in. I feel good, I feel like myself. I think it’s only going to improve going forward.”

Kulikov was beaten to the net on Letestu’s power-play goal in the middle period but otherwise looked very comfortable while playing 5-on-5 with his new blue-line partner. Myers came away impressed with Kulikov’s mobility and head’s up passing.

“I think we had a good chemistry there, we moved the puck well,” said Kulikov, who had 18:17 of ice time including 1:29 on the penalty kill. “He’s obviously a good skater and we can really use it to our advantage as a pair.”

Mason admitted the Jets have work to do defensively. Better communication is always helpful. 

“I think it’s definitely something we have to continue to work on,” said Mason. “It’s such an important part of the game, if we can be clean with our breakouts, communication amongst the goaltenders and defencemen… that’s going to simplify things and help us spend less time in our zone.

“It’s an area we haven’t had a whole lot of time to work on yet and something that, moving forward, will be beneficial.”

Nikolaj Ehlers gave the Jets an early lead, potted his first goal of the pre-season on a power play in the first period. Rookie Kailer Yamamoto added an empty-net goal for the visitors in the final minute of the third.

THE OLD PRO

Matt Hendricks was another newcomer making his Jets debut Wednesday.

The 36-year-old centre, a nine-year NHL veteran and former Oiler, signed a low-risk one-year deal worth US$700,000 to supplement the club’s young forward ranks. He is destined to play a support role on the fourth line (playing 9:25 against the Oilers Wednesday) with extra duty as a penalty-killer.

“The coaching staff has been very forward and communicated very well with me about what they expect,” said Hendricks. “For me, it’s one day at a time. You wake up and you start preparing and that’s all I can control.”

Head coach Paul Maurice loves Hendricks’ sense of purpose and leadership.

“For me, he has already made the players around him better,” said Maurice. “He has completely embraced the role of the bottom six forward guy, that role player. So he practised differently than some of our young, bottom six guys who still practise like they did when they were on their No. 1 line in junior or on their college teams.”

Hendricks’ signing was widely panned by the analytics community.

“In my opinion, I don’t think analytics would’ve been great on my game when I was 25,” said Hendricks. “It’s the type of player I am.” 

 

NOTEWORTHY

Edmonton netminders Laurent Brossoit and Nick Ellis, challenging for the job to serve as Talbot’s backup, combined to stop 33 Winnipeg shots.

The Jets were just 1-for-5 with the man advantage, while Edmonton made good on two of four power-play opportunities.

 

UP NEXT

Winnipeg, 3-2 shootout losers to Minnesota to open the pre-season Monday night, travels to St. Paul for a return matchup with the Wild tonight. Game time at Xcel Energy Center is 7 p.m. 

The Jets practise this morning at the Iceplex.

Winnipeg and Edmonton meet again Saturday in the Alberta capital.

 

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @sawa14