Despite all the hype surrounding PLD’s return to Winnipeg, the fans only filled the Canada Life Centre to 75% of capacity (11,226) to see it in person. Possibly the start of a troubling trend for True North, but let’s get on with seeing how the game played out.
The Winnipeg Jets coaching staff decided to honour the recent acquired trio of Iafallo, Kupari, and Vilardi by letting the start the game up front. The tribute almost back-fired immediately when the Los Angeles Kings got a scoring chance, but Hellebuyck was there to keep the puck out. However, Samberg panicked trying to clear the puck and it sailed over the glass, giving the Kings an early PP chance. The Jets actually had the best chances while down a man, with both Appleton & Kupari finding space to get shots off. Shortly after, Vilardi was taken down in the corner, awkwardly bending his knee on the way down, and Winnipeg had their first PP opportunity. Despite getting many chances including a Morrissey shot hitting a post, the Jets couldn’t solve Talbot. The teams began trading chances, with the 3rd line (Appleton) getting two scoring chances and Hellebuyck denying an equal amount of quality looks. With Vilardi unable to return, the 1st liners were joined by Namestnikov and they spent a shift in the offensive zone. Los Angeles had a great chance when Kopitar out-waited Hellebuyck as he circled the net, but fortunately there wasn’t an angle to shoot from by that point. The Jets finished the first frame strong with Perfetti testing the Kings’ tender on a deflection from the slot and some serious pressure in the final shift by the 1st line.
First Period Stats: Score 0-0, shots 14-9 WPG, 73.2% Deserve to Win WPG, Expected goals – all (1.76 – 0.6 WPG) & 5 on 5 (0.6-0.45 LA)
The second period opened up with chances for both sides, then Winnipeg had a push that included Barron being robbed from the slot after some nice passing with Lowry & Appleton. A questionable interference call on Barron led to a second PP for the Kings and they controlled the puck for the majority of the advantage, but only got one shot through to Hellebuyck. LA kept the pressure on after the Jets’ player was out of the box and took advantage of some tired skaters to get multiple chances. Hellebuyck made a couple saves, but the third attempt snuck through to give Dubois is his first goal (and point) as a King. Winnipeg had a chance on a PP of their own, but really couldn’t get anything started. The game started to get pretty chippy after Perfetti was clearly hit from behind, but the striped men opted to ignore it. Samberg jumped in to stand up for his teammate, but ended up taking the worst of it, with the bonus of getting the instigator penalty to send LA back to the PP. Winnipeg was able to expertly kill that, but right after Perfetti started a line brawl when he took out his frustrations on a King (maybe wrestling match would be more accurate?). The scuffle led to a period of 4 on 4 play and Los Angeles took advantage after Schmidt was unable to clear the puck from the defensive zone. The failed attempt let LA work the puck to the front of the net, where Moore was able to beat Hellebuyck for the second time tonight.
After Two Periods Stats: Score 2-0 LA, shots 21-18 LA, 60.7% Deserve to Win LA, Expected goals – all (2.44-1.84 LA) & 5 on 5 (2.41-0.7 LA)
Los Angeles clamped down defensively as the teams entered the 3rd period, making it very difficult for Winnipeg to find space to carry the puck into the offensive zone. This resulted in the Jets taking some chances to create scoring opportunities. But with reward, there is always risk and the Kings pounced on a neutral zone turnover. The rush worked its way behind Hellebucyk’s net and Moore noticed that Winnipeg’s defenders had left Kaliyev wide open at the top of the crease to give LA a 3-0 lead. A frustrated Manitoban team really had difficulties breaking down the defensive system and only tested Talbot 3 times in the first half of the period. Scheifele had the Jets’ best chance of the period to that point when he rifled the puck after he received a cross-ice pass. Talbot moved well and while he did bobble the puck, he was able to ensure he covered it before a Winnipeg player could pounce to break his shutout. Morrissey flew down the ice and Doughty had to hold him up to avoid giving up an easy zone entry, sending Winnipeg to the PP to try to get back into the game. Morrissey had a beautiful chance off a face-off win when he stepped in from the point and blasted a slapshot at Talbot. The puck caught the tender’s helmet by the ear and just deflected off target. The rest of the man advantage was filled with poor zone entries, severely limiting the Jets opportunity to get back into the game. Things really fell apart at the 14 minute mark when Moore added a 2nd goal with a terrific release, then Los Angeles added to it with a Danault PP goal. As the time dwindled, Namestnikov worked the puck back to the point to DeMelo, who quickly wristed a low shot on net. Copely kicked it out, but Scheifele was coming out from behind the net and easily tapped in his 3rd goal of the season. And that was how it ended….
FINAL SCORE: LOS ANGELES KINGS 5 WINNIPEG JETS 1
SHOTS: LOS ANGELES KINGS 28 WINNIPEG JETS 27
Game Observations:
- Winnipeg was able to ruin Cam Talbot’s shut out bid, but really struggled to create offense after the 1st period.
- Seems like a noticeable pattern is forming for the Jets’ team. When Ville Heinola went down with his awful injury in the pre-season, Winnipeg stopped playing and allowed the Calgary Flames to dominate them. The same thing happened tonight after Gabe Vilardi twisted his knee.
- Definitely wasn’t a great night for Connor Hellebuyck (.828 save %), but it’s really difficult to judge a goaltender when the defense in front of them plays as poorly as Winnipeg did tonight.
- None of the defensive pairing were particularly good tonight, but the 3rd pairing of Brendan Dillon and Nate Schmidt were horrible in my eyes. Dylan Samberg also had a pretty rough outing, after playing well on the 2nd pairing for two games.
- Mark Scheifele scored again…giving him 3 goals in 3 games.
- Starting to worry about Cole Perfetti a bit more. A small hockey player can’t keep putting himself into the position to get driven into the boards as often as he seems to do. Every once in a while it pays off when you score on the resulting powerplay, but other times work out like they did tonight and the offending player walks away scot-free.
- With it likely that Vilardi will be missing some time, how does Winnipeg decide to handle the situation? Do they promote someone like Nino Niederreiter or Vladislav Namestnikov into the top 6 or do they give one of their higher end prospects (Brad Lambert, Chaz Lucius, Nikita Chibrikov, Parker Ford) a shot?
- MoneyPuck Stats: Los Angeles 65.9% Deserve to Win, Los Angeles 3.24 to 2.25 in expected goals overall, and Los Angeles dominated at 5 on 5 with a 2.97 to 1.05 advantage.
NEXT GAME: Vegas Golden Knights @ Winnipeg Jets – Thursday, October 19th @ 7 pm Central
Things aren’t getting easier schedule-wise for the Jets with the Knights & Oilers on tap. Let’s hope that Vilardi won’t be out long and that the new lines will find immediate chemistry while he is on the shelf.
