Winnipeg Free Press https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/hockey/jets/planes-strains-and-automobiles- 476422133.html Planes, strains and automobiles Frenzied, frustrating 6 1/2-hour travel adventure a little much for Hutch after Jets dial 911 By: Mike McIntyre PHILADELPHIA — Michael Hutchinson knew something was up when he checked his phone and saw he'd just missed a call from Manitoba Moose head coach Pascal Vincent. "There was a text message to call him right away," Hutchinson recalled Friday, recapping perhaps the wildest day of his pro hockey career. The urgent plea from Vincent came at about 11:20 a.m. Thursday, as Hutchinson was making his way to the downtown rink in Milwaukee, Wis., where the Moose were set to practice at 12:30 p.m. Only there was about to be a major change of plans. "You kinda do the math in your head and figure out that the Jets just finished morning skate so something was probably up," Hutchinson said. It certainly was. Goalie Steve Mason had abruptly left the morning skate in Newark, N.J., suffering from what the team has called a lower-body injury. There was no way Mason was going to be able to dress as Connor Hellebuyck's backup 6 1/2 hours later when the Jets faced off against the Devils. So the bat signal was sent out to Hutchinson, who was already racing against the clock considering the Jets were an hour ahead of him on the East Coast. "So I had to get a car service from Milwaukee to Chicago (located about 150 kilometres away). That was a rush. The driver there did a great job getting me to Chicago in time, because I had a 2:30 p.m. (CT) flight," said Hutchinson. "I had to rush through security and barely made it on the plane. That was a little bit hectic." The day would get even more chaotic for Hellebuyck and the Jets, as his flight departure was delayed. "What they thought was going to be a 10-minute delay ended up being closer to an hour. You're just kind of sitting there, and by that time you've just come to grips with it that it's out of your control and try to relax and just sit there," he said. After finally taking off at about 3:30 p.m. — 150 minutes before the puck was set to drop in New Jersey — Hutchinson said he caught a "nice nap" during the approximately two-hour flight, only to hit yet another obstacle. "To make matters worse, as soon as we landed (in Newark) there was a plane at our gate. So were delayed about another 30 minutes," he said. Then there was an even further wait for his goalie equipment to get through to the baggage claim area. "When I was sitting on the plane I thought I might not get there until the third period," he said. "It felt like an eternity." Meanwhile, the Jets had to scramble to get another body ready in time for the pre-game warmup and the opening faceoff. Enter Zane Kalemba, a 32-year-old New Jersey native who had been out of pro hockey for two years. The highest level he played was in the East Coast Hockey League following an amateur career that included a season with the Flin Flon Bombers and four years back on his home turf at Princeton University. Kalemba is listed as one of the emergency goaltenders in the area; all NHL teams must have a list to deal with such situations. "Hang in there, brother," was Jets coach Paul Maurice's response when asked if he gave Kalemba a pre-game pep talk. Turns out Kalemba had a familiar face in the room; he played with captain Blake Wheeler on the Green Bay Gamblers when they were juniors in the United States Hockey League in 2004-05. And Hutchinson also knew him as well — it turns out they were briefly teammates eight years ago on the Reading Royals of the ECHL. Hutchinson was in his first year of pro, while Kalemba had just finished up his collegiate career and joined the team late in the season. "It was kind of cool seeing him in the hall. It was nice to see him, but I didn't get much time to catch up with him as I was kind of in a rush. The hockey world is small, and the goalie world is even smaller," said Hutchinson. The Jets had a car waiting at the Newark airport to rush Hutchinson to the Prudential Center. He arrived during the first intermission and was dressed and ready for the start of the second period. "I think I made pretty good time, all things considered," said Hutchinson. Oh, the glamorous life of a backup goalie. Hutchinson will remain with the Jets for the foreseeable future, as the extent of Mason's injury is still unclear. "We don't think it's significant right now. It doesn't feel right to him. So we're going to get as many tests as we need to to get it cleared up. My information now is this isn't overly significant, it's a few days," Maurice said Friday. The undisclosed injury was something that apparently began to bother Mason two nights earlier as he shut out the New York Rangers 3-0 at Madison Square Garden in his first game back in an NHL crease since suffering his second concussion of the season two months earlier. "He finished the game. He started to feel a little off. And it's not a concussion. It's lower-body," Maurice said. Hutchinson is expected to get a start with the Jets, either Monday in Washington or Tuesday in Nashville, according to the coach. By then, he'll have had a chance to catch his breath. https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/winnipegger-finding-his-place-with-flyers- 476437423.html Winnipegger finding his place with Flyers By: Mike McIntyre PHILADELPHIA — He may not be scoring goals like Brock Boeser. And he’s certainly not piling up the assists like Mathew Barzal. But Philadelphia Flyers forward Nolan Patrick has been coming on strong of late, as he works his way through his first NHL season. The 19-year-old Winnipeg native, selected second-overall in this past summer’s draft, didn’t exactly explode onto the scene as many other first-year players have done. He had just five goals and eight assists in his first 48 games — including an ugly 25-game stretch from late November to late January where he racked up just one goal and two helpers. But in his past 11 games, Patrick has scored five times and added four assists, looking much more like the dangerous two-way player who had been ranked so high by scouts. And he’s helped Philadelphia make a strong push toward a playoff spot. The former junior star with the Brandon Wheat Kings has seen his ice time increase in recent weeks and he’s now centring the second line for the Flyers, most recently between Jakub Voracek and Oskar Lindblom. He was held off the scoresheet during a mid-November game in Winnipeg, but appears to be a much different player these days. He’ll no doubt have some extra incentive when taking on the Jets this afternoon. Patrik Laine is lighting the lamp at an almost historic rate these days. The sophomore sniper has scored 14 times in his past 10 games — making him just the second player since 2001-02 to put up that many goals over a 10-game span. The only other player to accomplish that feat was Anaheim winger Corey Perry in 2010-11, which was the year he won the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s most valuable player. Laine is also on a 10-game point streak, the longest of his career, with 14 goals and six assists in that span. He has scored in nine of those 10 games, and had two assists in the one game he was blanked. He is just one goal back of Washington Capitals sniper Alexander Ovechkin in the race for the Rocket Richard award as top goal scorer in the league. Laine’s next goal, which will be his 40th of the season, will also move him past Sidney Crosby and into a tie with Wayne Gretzky and Brian Bellows for third all-time in goals scored by a teenager at 76. The top two — Jimmy Carson with 92 and Dale Hawerchuk with 85 — would appear to be out of reach with only 15 regular-season games left as a 19-year-old. But with the tear Laine’s been on lately, never say never. "That puck is off Patty’s stick where he wants it now, every time," Jets head coach Paul Maurice said Friday. "He’s feeling it, he’s feeling good. I still go back to the start of this. You watched him skate today. It’s a different guy skating on the ice. He’s figured it out, the legs are driving a lot of what he’s doing. He’s playing a little faster, it sets his timing up because his timing’s bang on." Toby Enstrom believes his longtime defence partner has never been better. Dustin Byfuglien has been a major part of the Winnipeg Jets’ recent success, especially after top-pairing defenceman Jacob Trouba went down with an ankle injury in late January. "I’ve been playing with him for a very long time.