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Ottawa Senators @ Winnipeg Jets

The NHL preseason is in its home stretch. And the Jets? They're still finding their legs.

By Melissa Martin

September 30^th, 2015

Waiting, FINALLY WINNING

It was the third last exhibition game of the 2015-16 season, and there are just 27 players left in the Winnipeg Jets’ camp. Before the capital club rolled into town, Jets head coach Paul Maurice said he wanted to see how his four forward lines worked all together, and what they might be ready to do.

Unfortunately, he had to wait awhile. True, the Jets came from behind on Tuesday night to triumph 4-3 in overtime, but only after a sluggish opening two periods that Maurice found straight-up lackluster. “Our overall pace has to improve,” the coach said, later.

Now, let’s take a little review.

The FIrst Goal

Ottawa opened scoring halfway through the first, and from the Jets’ perspective the goal was a groaner. The polite way to say it would be that Ottawa’s Milan Michalek caught Jets goalie Ondrej Pavelec napping while, um, there was a crowd of Senators in his end.

Look, there just wasn’t much distracting traffic between Michalek and the net, when the Senators forward whipped a wrister over Pavelec’s stick-side shoulder. Cue the jokes about the Jets’ netminder being in “mid-season form.” One thing that was definitely in preseason form on that goal: this thoroughly subdued post-goal celebration. Bring on the regular season, and the pile-ups.

Oh, hello again

Let’s not say the Jets didn’t show any life in the first period. Adam Lowry and his former teammate, one-time Jets prospect and now Ottawa center Eric O’Dell, took some time to exchange pleasantries in the first period. By “pleasantries,” we clearly mean karate moves. With hockey sticks. Hockarate.

THE SECOND GOAL

The Senators basically handed the start of the second period to the Jets, and the home squad… erm, proceeded not to take it. For almost two minutes, the Jets held a two-man advantage, after Ottawa took a too many men penalty followed promptly by Marc Methot cross-checking Nik Ehlers.

The Jets didn’t score there. But about a minute after their power play ended, Ottawa center Zack Smith snapped a second puck past Pavelec. With the visitors up 2-0, the MTS Centre started rocking a little Taylor Swift over the speakers. Shake it off, indeed. (They didn’t, at least not right away.)

SAVING GRACE

Pavelec, by the way, finished with a .880 save percentage on 22 shots, which isn’t great. But in fairness to him, he made some buttery saves on a couple of breakaways, including this second-period snag off of Ottawa forward Curtis Lazar. Later, in the third, he also brushed off a dangerous shot from Senators winger Matt Puempel, who had sprung forward with a mile of open ice between him and the goal.

Master mixologist

The Jets opened the third period by finally striking twine, as Blake Wheeler tipped in a shot by Andrew Ladd, off a pass from Dustin Byfuglien. (How’s that for a classic Jets 2.0 scoreline?)

But the euphoria didn’t last long, and the earlier frustration started to sink back into the Jets bench. To try to shake things up, coach Paul Maurice started mixing up lines. He put Andrew Ladd, Bryan Little and Blake Wheeler back together. “I think everyone was guilty, kinda, of not having it the first two periods,” Wheeler said. “I think he was just trying to shuffle some things around, catch some fire, and I think it lit a fire under some guys.”

Andrew Ladd couldn’t hold back a smirk, when asked about it after the game.

WHEELER SMASH

With just over six minutes left to play and the Jets still trailing 3-1, Blake Wheeler got into a fight. What’s more remarkable is that he got into a fight with Senators star Bobby Ryan, who had just laid out a couple of clean hits. What’s most remarkable is that Wheeler, previously known for such inspiring tilts as losing against Shane Doan last season and losing to P.K. Subban in 2012, won the fight pretty handily.

The scrap left its mark, as the Jets winger had some bloodied-up knuckles after the game. Still, if there’s one thing the fans like more than 3-on-3 overtime (more on that in a minute), it’s Blake Wheeler dropping the gloves. And as much as it’s a giant, neon-lit cliche to say these things “change the momentum,” it’s hard to argue with what came next…

VICTORY

Senators defenceman Mark Borowiecki took a roughing penalty against rising Jets phenom Nic Petan. Just 16 seconds into the resulting power play, Drew Stafford put one past Ottawa’s Andrew Hammond. Rookie Nik Ehlers and Mark Scheifele picked up the assists on the Jets’ second goal.

Then, the home team went out and got more. With under a minute left in regulation, Andrew Ladd deflected in the game-tying third goal, off a long shot from defenceman Tyler Myers at the blueline. And two minutes into the ensuing 3-on-3 overtime, Scheifele wristed a perfect shot past Hammond to seal the Jets’ first win of the year.

THE END

And that’s the story of how the Winnipeg Jets won their first game of the preseason, Nic Petan made a heck of a case to make the big club, and head coach Paul Maurice went away happy. Well, sort of.

Footnotes

Cover photo: Handout, Ron Wersch, via Canadian Press.

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FootNotes

Cover photo: Handout, Ron Wersch, via Canadian Press.

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