The 2024-25 season officially got under way for Canada’s western franchises when the Young Stars Classic in BC opened up with a clash between the Calgary Flames and Winnipeg Jets’ prospects.
While the superstitious types may be hiding in their closets on a spooky September Friday the 13th, the Jets’ young players had to take two planes and a bus to get to Penticton early this morning for a pre-game skate. From the sounds of it, Winnipeg’s coaching staff spent the majority of the on-ice time working on special teams, since these tournaments often see a parade of players heading to the box as they shake off the summer rust.
The Winnipeg Jets opted to go with the following lineup for the opening game, with two more games scheduled (Vancouver on Sunday at 4 pm CST & Edmonton on Monday at 1 pm CST).
He-Lambert-Barlow
Julien-Yager-Chibrikov
Torgersson- Zhilkin- Walton
Loponen-Nikkanen-Levis
Anhorn-Salomonsson
Kuzmin-Barteaux
Sward-Mayo
Milic
When the puck finally dropped, the Jets had to briefly defend their zone before they completely took over the flow of play with a tenacious forecheck. Brad Lambert made an early appearance when he used his speed to fly up the ice and test Calgary’s goalie’s blocker with a shot from in tight. Winnipeg’s 2nd line kept up the pressure and Brayden Yager blocked a clearing attempt along the Flames’ defensive boards. The puck bounced to the middle of the ice and Nikita Chibrikov jumped onto it before skating into the slot and firing a wrister by the tender to give the Jets a 1-0 lead. Shortly after, Graham Sward skated the puck up the middle of the ice to gain the zone before dishing it off to the left wing. Markus Loponen corralled the puck and eventually found an uncovered Connor Levis in the slot. The late round draft pick didn’t waste any time before he fired a shot by the goalie before he could get settled, making it 2-0 Winnipeg. Thomas Milic was called on to make his first big save when defenseman Sward turned the puck over right in front of the young tender. Milic was able to stay with the Calgary forward as he cut across the front of the net, keeping the 5 hole closed before stretching out a pad to deny the tuck in attempt. Yager showed some Nikolaj Ehlers’ traits as he cycled the offensive zone twice before setting up a shot attempt. Daniel Torgersson really should have made it 3-0 when he received a pass in the crease with a wide open net, but his quick deflection/shot rose quickly and solidly hit the crossbar. The Flames picked up their forecheck late in the period, but they weren’t able to solve Milic on 9 shots.
The 2nd period was an ugly one for Winnipeg as Calgary’s forecheck caused a never-ending slew of turnovers or bad passes in the defensive zone. The Jets withstood the pressure for a while, but eventually a 2 on 1 for the Flames broke up the goose egg. Milic got a bit unlucky when the initial cross-ice pass was blocked by Winnipeg’s d-man…only to bounce right back to the passer and allow him to catch Milic out of position to open the scoring for Calgary. The Jets responded with a couple chances when Colby Barlow unleashed a 1 timer and then Jacob Julien made a beautiful pass to send Torgersson in all alone. Alas, the big Swede’s backhand move didn’t fool the goalie, which was unfortunately a common theme for him on the night. Milic made a couple really nice saves, but the Flames continued to press and it paid off when Hunter Brzustewicz was left alone in the slot. Torgersson had another missed opportunity when he dangled by a defender only to fire the shot over the net. Winnipeg had to kill off the first penalty of the contest when they get nabbed for a slash to the hands. The Jets were able to kill off part of it and the middle frame ended with the game deadlocked at 2-2. (Calgary Flames leading 18-13 in shots)
Winnipeg was much better in the 3rd period and it led to Calgary getting a bunch of penalties. The man advantage didn’t start off well, but Lambert stayed out for the entire time and it paid off when he spotted Julien down low for a PP marker (3-2 WPG). Danny Zhilkin made a nice move at the blueline to beat a defender, but ended up taking a high stick that killed the rush. On the resulting powerplay, Winnipeg tried to take their time with the puck but the Flames’ pressure kept causing mistakes/bad passes. It got worse when a puck hopped over a Jets’ defenseman’s stick at the offensive blueline, leading to an odd man rush for Calgary. Once again, a Winnipeg player (Barlow) managed to break up the cross-ice pass attempt only to see the puck bounce the wrong way to catch Milic out of position. The short-handed goal knotted things up again and despite another Jets’ PP the 3rd period ended that way.
Overtime didn’t really result in a lot of great scoring chances, despite the 3 on 3 set up providing lots of open ice to work with. Calgary missed the net on a couple of shots from the slot and Winnipeg had most of their attempts blocked until the Jets forced a turnover at their own blueline. The pinching d-man was caught flat-footed, allowing Barlow and defenseman Dmitri Kuzmin to break out on a 2 man breakaway. Barlow carried the puck up the ice before feigning a wrist shot, then slipped the puck over to Kuzmin to finish up high on the right side of the net. The Winnipeg Jets pick up a rare win at the Young Stars Classic and will get some time to work on things before they are back at it on Sunday.
Final score: Winnipeg 4 Calgary 3 (OT)
Goals for the Jets:
1st: Chibrikov from Yager (?? created turnover along boards, but not sure if Yager picked up an assist)
2nd: Levis from Loponen
3rd: Julien from Lambert (PPG)
4th: Kuzmin from Barlow
BOJA’s Observations:
- Brad Lambert was the best player on the ice for either squad, in my opinion. His speed and hockey sense created a lot of Winnipeg’s best chances in the game.
- Daniel Torgersson had a great game, other than the utter lack of finish. The Swede definitely led the game in high-danger opportunities and should have had at least one goal on his 4 or 5 quality looks.
- While I never mentioned his name in the write up, 2nd round pick Elias Salomonsson played pretty well in my opinion. He seemed to be in the right place defensively and didn’t look out of place when battling along the boards. Elias also impressed when he calmly skated a puck out of the defensive zone despite the back-checking Flames’ player doing everything he could to steal the puck. The young Swede also showed some offensive sense when he jumped in to be the 4th man on a rush, testing Calgary’s goaltender on the blocker side from the high slot.
- Brayden Yager stood out to me mostly in the first period, where he had space to use his speed and creativity to create offense. Nice backcheck to break up a quality Calgary scoring chance.
- Winnipeg’s 2nd line as a whole played fairly well, though like all lines there were periods where they got stuck in their own end. Nikita Chibrikov sniped one and was good on the forecheck all night, while Jacob Julien used his size well in front of the net.
- The final two players I will mention are goalie Thomas Milic and defender Dmitri Kuzmin. The under-sized Milic stopped all but one of the shot attempts when he was in proper position, but a couple bad bounces & poor defensive coverage led to inflated goals against. The small Kuzmin showed off his skating & puck handling skills with smart decisions on zone exits and showed some promise in quarterbacking the PP (the Moose will need someone to take over Ville Heinola’s spot).
