Winnipeg Free Press https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/hockey/jets/one-down-15-to-go-nothing-to-celebrate- its-business-as-usual-for-jets-479576053.html

One down, 15 to go... nothing to celebrate; it's business as usual for Jets

By: Mike McIntyre

It was the day after the biggest win in franchise history, one that set this city abuzz and only reinforced a widespread belief that this Winnipeg Jets team is very much the real deal.

But while city officials were scrambling to make room for more celebrations outside the rink, it was an all-business mindset inside Bell MTS Place. Nobody was getting ahead of themselves, proclaiming Wednesday night's 3-2 win over Minnesota anything more than a hard-fought victory in the series opener.

Three more will be needed to move to the next round. Fifteen more are required to capture the ultimate prize. It's only going to get more difficult, beginning with Game 2 Friday on home ice (6:30 p.m., Sportsnet, TSN 1290), where the Wild will be looking to square the series and wrestle away home-ice advantage before it shifts to St. Paul for games Sunday and Tuesday.

"I think you talk to some of the older guys and momentum doesn’t carry over from game to game in the playoffs. As soon as Game 2 starts, it’s a whole new game, a whole new battle. You have to have sort of a short-term memory, whether you win or you lose in the playoffs and each night, like I said, is a brand-new game, you just have to be ready to go every night," defenceman Josh Morrissey said following his team's optional practice Thursday.

Only about a dozen Jets were on the ice, and Mathieu Perreault was not among them. The veteran winger was crushed with a big hit from Minnesota captain Mikko Koivu Wednesday and appeared to injure his shoulder. He stayed in the game briefly but was officially ruled out after the second period.

Coach Paul Maurice wouldn't offer much, saying he will be a "game time" decision. The same goes for injured blue-liner Toby Enstrom, who missed several games down the stretch and the playoff opener with a lingering lower-body injury.

If Perreault can't go, rookie Jack Roslovic would seem the most likely option to slide in on the line with Bryan Little and Joel Armia. Marko Dano and Shawn Matthias are the other healthy forward options.

"(Roslovic) is a young guy, really fast. We want him to use his speed and kinda fill in for Matty. He can play that game. He’s got a lot of energy and a feel to make plays in their end, so not too much of a transition there," Little said Thursday.

"We’re used to shuffling the deck a bit. Guys have stepped up when we needed them to…. It’s nice to have a talented group where you can get a guy into the lineup and he’s a player right away."

Centre Adam Lowry, who played a big part in Wednesday's win with plenty of physical play and several big defensive zone faceoff wins in the final minute, said the focus for his group is on the task at hand — and not what they've already accomplished.

"It’s important that we use these days to rest and try and tweak some things. There’s certainly some things we want to clean up and there was a lot of things we thought we did well, so you take a look at those and try and build on them for Game 2," Lowry said.

However, Maurice and company said there are important lessons they can take from the first win over Minnesota. They took a 1-0 lead into the third, only to watch it disappear when Minnesota scored twice in just over a two-minute span before the period was even four minutes old.

But the Jets, as they have done most of the season, didn't wilt. They fired off 14 straight shots, including the tying goal off the stick of Patrik Laine and the winner from unlikely scoring hero Joe Morrow to rally for the first playoff victory in the history of the franchise which began in Atlanta in 1999. It's also the first win for a Winnipeg-based NHL team since April 1996.

That kind of resiliency, especially from such a young and inexperienced team when it comes to playoffs, was a positive sign.

"The way we faced that adversity after the first two games of the season (one-sided losses to Toronto and Calgary), I feel like we know we can handle anything. We just keep our confidence and keep to our game. I feel like our persistence in our game is a lot better than last year," said forward Andrew Copp. "When we got down 2-1 (Wednesday), our confidence didn’t run away too much. We just kind of stuck to our game."

Several players pointed to captain Blake Wheeler and defenceman Dustin Byfuglien for helping keep emotions in check.

"You look at what Blake does every night, he drives the ship for us," Lowry said. "Byfuglien, the back end. Guys like that. You don’t let the game get away from you. You get scored on, you go down 2-1, those guys go out there every shift and you just start to get some of that momentum back. I think it’s sometimes you don’t know any better and don’t have that experience, you don’t have that fear of what could go wrong. You’re kind of just going out there to play and sometimes that’s a benefit for our team, as well."

Indeed, the Jets had several players making their playoff debuts. One of them was Nikolaj Ehlers, who admitted there were plenty of butterflies, playing on such a big stage with so much at stake.

"The first 10 minutes were crazy... and both teams kind of had to figure each other out. After that, the nerves were gone," he said. "I tried to play the same game I played for 82 games this year. It's hard, but we've done it for 82 games this year and we've just got to continue doing it."

Defenceman Jacob Trouba said it ultimately comes down to confidence, something the team has a good supply of right now.

"In past years we would go about it a certain way, and we figured out that didn't work. We talked about doing it this way, where you don't really change how you play. But it's easier said than done. When it's a close game you want to make a play. But we've built the trust and belief where if we stay a certain way... a lot of times we're going to win. We're confident our game's going to win most nights," said Trouba.

"When you try it your way enough times and it doesn't work, you might want to try something different. We found that out. You can call it being young or inexperienced or whatever you want, but it's an important lesson to learn." https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/wild-lament-missed-opportunities-in-game-1- 479582713.html

Wild lament missed opportunities in Game 1

By: Mike McIntyre

They see it as a missed opportunity to steal a game they maybe didn't deserve to win. But the Minnesota Wild are vowing to come better prepared for what they face from a talented Winnipeg Jets team and a rabid fan base looking to put them in an even bigger hole.

"The message to the team I’ll keep to myself. Dissecting the tape, we did a few things that we could definitely improve upon," Wild head coach Bruce Boudreau told reporters Thursday as they prepared for Game 2 tonight at Bell MTS Place. "I think in reality we had seven pretty bad minutes from the time we scored the second goal to (Winnipeg's) third goal. But it was a pretty even game after that. And I think we can play a lot better."

Just like the Winnipeg Jets, the Wild had several players making their NHL playoff debuts Wednesday night. Boudreau and several of his troops believe that inexperience showed at times with costly errors. The Jets outshot the Wild 40-20 and carried the play for much of the night.

"I think we can be better. Obviously we got ourselves the lead in the third and from there, I think we took our foot off the gas a little bit. They came at us and were able to get two to get ahead. Overall, as a group we can be a little more assertive, a little better and we’ll look to do that," said Minnesota's leading scorer, Eric Staal, who had 42 goals and 34 assists in the regular season.

His top line with Jason Zucker and Nino Niederreiter had a very quiet night in Game 1 and were kept off the scoresheet.

"Well, they have to become more of a factor. They were only involved in two potential scoring chances. You're most offensive line has got to be as good as their best offensive line. There's room for improvement," said Boudreau.

Zucker took responsibility, saying he needs to bring much more. He had 33 goals and 31 assists during the regular-season.

"I think our line was a bit hesitant. I think we sat back a little bit more than we usually do. I don’t think we were very aggressive. It started with me. I don’t think on the forecheck I was very good, but it’s things we can fix overnight, which is good, and get right back after it," said Zucker. "I think there were opportunities to be more aggressive and we weren’t. I think there were opportunities to make some plays that didn’t happen as well. I think it all kind of went hand in hand."

The atmosphere inside Bell MTS Place was a topic of discussion Thursday and appeared to be a factor, especially when the Jets managed to quickly tie the game in the third period after Minnesota had briefly grabbed the lead. It was all Jets from that point on.

"It was a fun building to play in. They obviously play well in here and the atmosphere was good. I think we're all really excited to get home to Minnesota," said Zucker.

No doubt tying the series 1-1, versus facing a 2-0 deficit, would make the homecoming much sweeter.

"They were amped up and excited, as will our fans be for Game 3. Playoff hockey is always another level," said Staal, who was born and raised in Thunder Bay.

Boudreau hinted at a couple possible lineup changes but didn't give any specifics, while saying the highs and lows his team went through can be important for future success.

"There’s a lot of inexperience out there and they’re only going to get better by playing, so hopefully they learned about the loudness of the building. They learned about those things (Wednesday) night, and they’ll be better (Friday) for it," said Boudreau.

One potential switch could be for forward Joel Eriksson Ek, who was demolished by a Dustin Byfuglien hit during the game. He didn't skate Thursday and his status for Game 2 is up in the air.

"It was a great hit, and it put him out for a couple minutes, and more interesting enough is our captain and our leader (Mikko Koivu) came right back and did the same thing to Perreault and said, 'We can hit, too.' That's what leadership does," said Boudreau. https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/rest-of-jets-wild-series-unlikely-to-veer-much-off- game-1-course-479568083.html

Rest of Jets-Wild series unlikely to veer much off Game 1 course

By: Scott Campbell

"It’s only one game" is something we’ll hear a lot during the NHL playoffs — although it’s a lot more satisfying to say it after a win, as the Winnipeg Jets did after Wednesday night’s 3-2 victory over the Minnesota Wild in Game 1 of their opening-round series.

However, the first contest can help set a tone for a series, so let’s take a look at how some of my biggest concerns and expectations stacked up against the realities of Game 1.

The Jets have been excellent in a lot of areas this year, so my biggest worry going into the series was how well the Wild would attack the left side of the Jets defence, particularly Ben Chariot and Joe Morrow.

Chiarot can get on a bit of a roll, as we’ve seen over the years. Morrow has had some decent moments in his brief stint, but in the past they’ve both been players who, at some point, revert back to what they are, seventh defencemen.

Wednesday night obviously belonged to Morrow and, while he had some less-than-stellar moments as well as good ones, he provided the winning goal.

Chiarot was the same, without the goal, but did some hitting, which can become important in the playoffs if done without penalty or being drawn out of position.

Actually, by the end of the first period it was his partner Tyler Myers who had jumped out as a major concern. He seemed focused on passing the puck into teammates' skates or setting them up to get their heads taken off.

While Jacob Trouba also made a couple of weird decisions early, those were out of character for him and he settled back into his game.

They all survived and, hopefully, will be better for it going forward.

Normally my first concern would be the opposition goaltender and his ability to steal games; that still has Devan Dubnyk in my sightline.

While his save percentage has been propped up by a stifling Wild defensive system that takes away the most dangerous shots, he can get on as good a roll as anyone in the league.

He obviously performed well in allowing only three goals on 40 shots and it took a deflection off his teammate’s stick to get the winner past him. While he looked confident, the Wild did spend a good chunk of the game keeping shots confined to the less-dangerous areas.

I always look at coaching in the playoffs.

Winnipeg’s Paul Maurice and his staff have been pushing most of the right buttons over the year, dealing with numerous injuries.

Bruce Boudreau had to guide his club through the same. He’s coached every year in the NHL since 2007-08, and has gone to the playoffs 10 times in his 11 years, getting to the third round once.

Maurice has 20 years in the league, making the playoffs six times, losing in the Stanley Cup finals once.

Two coaches with something to prove; how these two are able to manage the tactical changes needed, line matchups, etc. will give us another interesting thing to watch.

It’s too early to break this down, as I believe Game 1 is a test game for the bench bosses while they try to figure out how to maximize their rosters with line matches, system tweaks, etc.

Maurice obviously has the advantage at home and, with a deeper forward group, can mix things up more easily than his counterpart.

He will want to keep the Chiarot-Myers pair away from the Wild’s top two lines as much as possible, which will get tougher when they land in Minnesota.

My biggest expectation was that the Jets' four lines would be able to wear down Minnesota, especially taking advantage of their weakened defensive corps. They have the ability to keep rolling over the lines and dominate, and we saw this in the third period once they mounted their comeback.

The Jets dominated possession, but I’ll wait to see if the Wild can continue to keep the Jets at bay by forcing most of their shots to be taken from outside the critical scoring areas.

I expected a return to the terrific power-play numbers posted by the Jets earlier, after a late- season lull. They obviously showed that they were still in sync with Mark Scheifele's snipe.

There are just too many options for Blake Wheeler to choose from, unless the Wild decide to pressure the puck away from him and push the Jets into a lesser comfort zone.

The most important reason for the Jets success so far is Connor Hellebuyck’s stellar goaltending, and I expected it to continue.

Even though he faced only 20 shots, he looked comfortable and confident.

In the pre-season, I wrote that the Jets would "definitely" make the playoffs, a word I hardly ever use, and thankfully they didn’t let me down.

Without that silly bravado, coming into this series I felt the Jets would win, but also thought most of the games would play out like Game 1.

By this time next week it could be over, and I wouldn’t be shocked.

However, if I’ve got this right, I’ll be writing up a preview for Game 5 at this time next week. https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/hockey/jets/whiteout-party-will-double-in-size-for- fridays-jets-wild-tilt-479579683.html

Whiteout party will double in size for Friday's Jets-Wild tilt

By: Ryan Thorpe

A Whiteout of 10,000 strong is brewing in downtown Winnipeg.

After Wednesday’s outdoor street party for Game 1 of the Winnipeg Jets' best-of-seven Western Conference playoff series against the Minnesota Wild was a big hit with fans, organizers announced they are nearly doubling the size of the event space for Friday’s Game 2.

"Yesterday’s party exceeded our expectations. We knew Winnipeggers wanted a place to come out and celebrate. We knew they were going to come out to be apart of the celebration. But we didn’t quite know how many would come out," Dayna Spiring, president and chief executive officer of Economic Development Winnipeg, said Thursday.

Organizers said an estimated 9,000 people attended the event on Donald Street (between Portage and Graham avenues). Maximum capacity was 5,500 at any one time, Spiring said, but many came early and left early or just passed through, and as people trickled out, new fans entered.

Following the turnout, organizers met Thursday morning and decided to extend the designated space on Donald Street one block further to St. Mary Avenue, nearly doubling the event's maximum capacity to 10,000.

In addition, an alcohol-free, family-friendly section will be set up at Millennium Library park. There will also be two more screens set up to broadcast the game, as well as additional portable toilets on site.

"We were pleasantly surprised on a number of levels: attendance, the quantity of people, when they arrived, how long they stayed, the mood within it. It really hit all the marks for us. We were really thrilled with the outcome," said Kevin Donnelly, senior vice-president of venues and entertainment for True North Sports and Entertainment Ltd. (True North owns the Jets and their home arena, Bell MTS Place.)

Organizers did not reveal how much the first party cost, nor what additional price tag will be associated with the expansion.

It also remains unclear how much money was brought in on food and liquor sales — but organizers said that wasn't the point.

"It’s not our objective to make money on this. We want to do this for Winnipeggers and make sure Winnipeg shows well to the world," Spiring said.

Insp. Nick Paulet of the Winnipeg Police Service, who is in charge of security for the event, said Wednesday went off largely without a hitch from a policing and security standpoint, adding there were no arrests associated with the street party.

While he would not reveal how many officers were deployed to police the site, additional resources will be made available Friday to deal with the expected larger draw, Paulet said.

Game 2 of the Jets-Wild series starts at 6:30 p.m. The Whiteout street party will open at 4:30 p.m., and continue for an hour after the end of the game. Prior to puck-drop, there will be live music, alcohol vendors and food trucks on site.

Southbound Donald Street between Portage and St. Mary avenues will be closed from 10 a.m. Friday to 1 a.m. Saturday. Winnipeg Transit will be rerouted off Graham Avenue between Carlton and Smith streets starting at 5:30 p.m. Friday, returning to regular routes by 11:30 p.m.

During that time, eastbound bus stops on Graham Avenue between Hargrave and Smith streets will be moved to northbound Smith Street at Graham. Westbound stops on Graham Avenue between Smith and Edmonton streets will go to St. Mary Avenue at Donald Street, as well as Edmonton at Graham.

"We hope that we have 15 more opportunities to do this. (It takes 16 wins in the NHL playoffs to claim the Stanley Cup.) We’re asking for people’s patience and understanding as we learn. We’re doing this for them. This is to give a free-admission opportunity for Jets nation to come out and show their support, whether you have a (game) ticket or not," Donnelly said. https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/laine-ok-with-decoy-role-479582413.html

Laine is OK with role as decoy on the power play

By: Mike McIntyre

Patrik Laine is certainly no dummy. But he's more than happy to play the role of decoy if it helps his team get results.

Winnipeg's first goal of the 2018 playoffs was a classic case of the Laine factor coming into play. While short-handed late in the second period, Minnesota was clearly paying much attention to Laine and his potentially lethal shot on the left side.

With the puck on captain Blake Wheeler's stick, a cross-seam pass to Laine was a very real possibility. It's worked plenty of times this season.

Laine was well-covered but that simply created a spot in the slot for Mark Scheifele, who was wide open for Wheeler's pass and one-timed it past Devan Dubnyk for his first career playoff goal.

"If they’re cheating on me then Mark is going to be open and they have to pay for it. Those guys, it’s not just a one-guy power play. We have all five guys who can score. We are going to make them pay if they’re going to cheat so much," Laine said following the game.

Minnesota coach Bruce Boudreau said Thursday the play was the subject of much video review for his squad.

"We made a mistake that we won't make again," he said. ______

Nikolaj Ehlers induced a roar inside Bell MTS Place Wednesday night when he nearly went end- to-end with one of his trademark rushes.

He also might have found himself planted in the front row of the seats if Minnesota defenceman Matt Dumba didn't just miss on what would have been a violent open-ice hit.

Ehlers said Thursday he saw him coming.

"I was just trying to skate up as fast as I can and try and create something. I remember about three years ago in pre-season he stepped up on me and got me. So I figured he was going to try and do that again. I had my head up. I knew he was coming. I was just trying to get around him," said Ehlers.

"A rush like that, it's exciting hearing the crowd going, 'Ooooh,' and then it always ends up with, 'Ahhhh.' Hopefully one day it can end up with everybody standing up and celebrating." ______

Adam Lowry has improved in many aspects of his game. But the fifth-year pro said getting better in the faceoff dot is one of the skills he takes great pride in.

The importance was on display in Game 1 Wednesday as Lowry won three defensive-zone draws in the final minute of the game with his team protecting a one-goal lead. All came against Minnesota captain Mikko Koivu after the Jets had iced the puck trying to hit the empty net.

"You want to be out there in those key situations and you want to be taking those key draws. Obviously you don’t expect to win every faceoff, you’re looking to come in and win six out of 10," said Lowry said. He won nine of 14 in the game, for a 69 per cent efficiency rate. Only Jets centre Paul Stastny (10-4) was more effective on either team.

Winnipeg improved immensely on faceoffs this season and went from being one of the worst teams in the league to one of the best. ______

Dustin Byfuglien had what hockey analysts would call a "high-event" Game 1. The hulking Jets defenceman blew up Minnesota's Joel Eriksson Ek with a huge hit, but also made a costly pinch early in the third period that led to a Wild two-on-one and a goal.

"He was all over the place. You have to just be aware of where he is, quite frankly. He can be behind the net. He can stay out for two minutes. He's so physically imposing that we have to know where he is. He's a great player," Boudreau said Wednesday of a player he's been coaching against for more than a decade, beginning in the AHL.

Jets coach Paul Maurice told a story Thursday about coaching Team Europe at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.

"We’re playing Team USA for the first game. And Dustin Byfuglien’s not in the lineup. And I got about seven stories, it’s 'Thank God.' And then they tell you the story, Tomas Tatar, of how Dustin at some point blew them up. And they were so pleased he wasn’t in the lineup. So one of those hits, and he’s been doing that selectively in the second half of the season, very very well. Very clean hits," said Maurice.

"I think you need to know he pulls off on just about every single hit. Because he’s had a couple where he hit somebody, it might have been Bouwmeester in St. Louis a couple years ago, where the feedback was it’s a clean hit but there’s gotta be a penalty there, it was so violent. He’s such a big, powerful guy. He pulls on almost every one of his hits. But it is, it’s not a pun, impactful on the game. He can change the way you think. There are certain defencemen in the league that you play differently as a forward, you’re going to give them a bit more room and maybe move the puck a bit more quicker. That just makes you smart."

As for managing risk on some of the pinches, Maurice said it's a delicate balancing act.

"On every single pinch that we have there’s a forward component to it, so that’s a base to it. There’s a certain amount of offensive-zone time that we generate by an active blue-line. That one got away off a blocked shot, puck was lost, thought he could get to it. We give our defencemen room to make that decision," said Maurice.

"I believe, the stat is still true, we give up the fewest odd-man rushes in the National Hockey League in the past season. Our defencemen normally make very very good decisions there and forwards do a great job of covering up." ______

Maurice made no bones about the fact he loves to watch playoff hockey — even on nights when his own team wasn't playing.

He was planning on a puck buffet Thursday night as five other NHL series got underway, including two in the Western Conference and three in the Eastern Conference.

"The Eastern Conference is like candy, and the Western Conference would be like meat and potatoes. Gotta get the main meal in," said Maurice. "They start earlier. Six o'clock, right, we’re all going to be doing the same things. Five and-a-half straight hours of playoff hockey is a pretty good night."

Maurice had a parting message for the packed media gallery as he finished his 16-minute availability Thursday.

"All right, not too much candy for you people tonight. Meat and potatoes," he said.

Winnipeg Sun http://winnipegsun.com/sports/hockey/nhl/winnipeg-jets/ehlers-gets-rush-from-crowd

Ehlers gets rush from crowd

By Paul Friesen

Nik Ehlers hears the crowd when he’s on one of his patented, end-to-end rushes.

The Winnipeg Jets winger just wishes the soundtrack had a different ending once in a while.

“A rush like that, it’s exciting hearing the crowd going, ‘Ooooh’ ” Ehlers was saying, Thursday. “And then it always ends up with, ‘Ahhhh.’ ”

His voice trailed off in a tone of disappointment.

“Hopefully one day it can end up with everybody standing up and celebrating.”

One of the fastest players in the NHL, Ehlers can bring fans out of their seats.

He was almost knocked out of his skates by Minnesota defenceman Matt Dumba as he crossed the middle of the ice on one of his rushes in Wednesday’s playoff series opener.

“I remember about three years ago in pre-season he stepped up on me and got me,” Ehlers said. “So I figured he was going to try and do that again. I had my head up. I knew he was coming.”

While the play didn’t result in anything, Ehlers says he’ll keep trying to use his speed to create offence.

“If there’s five guys stacked at the blue line, I’m not going to try and skate through. I’m going to dump it in and then go get it. It’s about picking your time and place to do it.”

Ehlers picked up the lone assist on Joe Morrow’s game-winning goal in Game 1. http://winnipegsun.com/contests/the-jets-have-finally-won-a-playoff-game-and-are-now-looking- to-hold-serve-on-home-ice

The Jets have finally won a playoff game and are now looking to hold serve on home ice

By Ted Wyman

For 19 years, the franchise never won so much as a playoff game.

That hurdle was finally cleared on Wednesday night when the Winnipeg Jets beat the Minnesota Wild 3-2 to open the NHL post-season at white and wild Bell MTS Place.

One small step down, many more to go before the Jets get what they really want.

The next bar to clear is winning a playoff series for the first time and the Jets can take a big step toward making that happen with a victory in Game 2 Friday night.

You likely won’t hear players from either side say this publicly, but this is a hugely pivotal game in the series.

Teams that win Game 2 to go up 2-0 in NHL best-of-sevens win the series 87.2% of the time.

Meanwhile, teams that win Game 2 — whether to go up 2-0 or tie it at 1-1 — go on to win the series 71.8% of the time.

If the Jets win, they’ll be in complete control, but if the Wild win, they’ll wrestle away home-ice advantage. Considering they lost only six games in regulation at home this season, that would be a big development.

“We play very well at the Xcel Energy Center,” Wild forward Zach Parise said. “It would be nice to go there with a split series.”

The Jets, who went 32-7-2 at home themselves this year, earned home-ice advantage in the series by finishing second overall in the league.

It’s important that they hold serve.

“I think you want to take advantage of playing at home,” Jets centre Bryan Little said.

“But if they do win tomorrow and it’s tied 1-1 going to Minnesota, that’s not going to shake us. From what we’ve gone through this year that’s something we’d be prepared for.”

Bell MTS Place was a zoo on Wednesday night, with 15,000-plus fans wearing white and emptying their lungs for Game 1 and another 5,000 or so celebrating the win on the street outside.

The atmosphere will be similar on Friday but it will be interesting to see what adjustments there are to the game plans of both teams.

The Jets generated a ton of shot attempts (82) and shots on goal (40) but struggled to get into the middle of the ice to gain quality chances. The Wild seemed content to play a defensive style, putting up only 20 shots on goal, with very few offensive chances created.

The Wild will surely look to generate more offence, while the Jets will simply have to be quicker in the heavy traffic zones.

“We’ve got to take advantage of the chances that we do get, for sure,” Jets winger Andrew Copp said.

“That’s what they’re best at, keeping us out of their slots. We know our chances are going to be limited so we have to limit theirs as well.”

The Jets did some things very well.

They played a strong physical game, as did the Wild, as the two teams combined for 80 hits. Jets defenceman Ben Chiarot led all players with 10 hits, while Dustin Byfuglien and Adam Lowry were punishing forces.

Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck faced seven high-danger scoring chances — most of them off the rush — and only two quality shots from the Wild’s top line of Eric Staal, Jason Zucker and Nino Niederriter.

But to a man, the Jets believe they can and will play better than they did in Game 1. Despite controlling the possession for most of the game, they still found themselves down 2-1 at one point before storming back to win.

“We played well enough to win,” defenceman Jacob Trouba said. “We had a little adversity, which was probably good in the first game. But we responded well.”

The Jets lost winger Mathieu Perreault to an upper body injury late in the second period of Game 1 and he didn’t return. Maurice provided no update on him other than to say “(Matt) Hendricks and (Dmitry) Kulikov are out. Everybody else is game time. Or coach’s decision.”

It’s possible rookie Jack Roslovic will come into the lineup Friday to take Perreault’s spot on a line with Little and Joel Armia.

Perhaps the most important thing for the Jets to do now is have a short memory.

“Momentum doesn’t carry over from game to game in the playoffs,” defenceman Josh Morrissey said. “Whether you win or lose Game 1, as soon as Game 2 starts, it’s a whole new game, a whole new battle.”

LATE ICINGS RISKY BUT WORTH IT FOR JETS In the final two-and-a-half minutes of Game 1, the Winnipeg Jets iced the puck six times and had to deal with tired players and potentially damaging faceoffs in their own zone.

Twice, Jets players took shots at the empty Minnesota Wild net from their own zone, both resulting in icing calls.

Fortunately, they survived and held on for a 3-2 win, thanks to some great defensive-zone faceoff work by centre Adam Lowry.

“It’s going to burn you every once in a while but we’ve ended a bunch of games from that too,” Jets coach Paul Maurice said Friday. “I’ll take a faceoff off an icing all day long over a turnover there. It’s 50-50 on faceoffs and we’re a good faceoff team.”

Jets defenceman Josh Morrissey wasn’t one of the players who iced the puck Wednesday, but he said players would much rather make a hard play, take the icing, rest for a few seconds and do it again, rather that float something soft into the middle and risk a turnover in a bad spot.

“Sure, we’d like to work on our curling ability and have it stop before the line but I think if you’re in doubt or in those tough situations, you’d rather make a hard play rather than anything soft and questionable,” he said.

— Wyman http://winnipegsun.com/sports/hockey/nhl/winnipeg-jets/bang-for-your-buff-d-man-is-jets-x-factor

Bang for your Buff: D-man is Jets X-factor

By Paul Friesen

The Jets and Wild had played a fairly blase first period, by NHL playoff standards. The “feeling- out period,” it’s often called. 90 seconds into the second, Jets defenceman Dustin Byfuglien pressed his nuclear button – and everything changed.

Byfuglien is the X-factor in this first-round series, and both teams were dealing with the shrapnel from his Game 1 performance on Thursday.

His hit on Joel Eriksson Ek not only knocked some of the alphabets out of the Wild forward – Eriksson Ek didn’t practice, Thursday, and is questionable for Game 2 — it changed the tone and raised the temperature of the game, and the series.

“I see plays like that and I’m just glad he’s on our team and I don’t have to play against someone like that,” Jets centre Bryan Little said. “It seems like every time he steps up on a guy, it’s like the guy’s running into a wall. It’s that intimidation factor.

“When the big guy’s out there, you have to keep your head up.”

The effect of a hit like Byfuglien’s on Eriksson Ek not only fires up his team and the home crowd, it can put some doubts in the opposing side.

Call it a double-bang for your Buff.

Fellow defenceman Ben Chiarot led the Jets with 10 hits in Game 1. But none had quite the impact of No. 33’s.

“Hits like that can change the momentum of the game,” Chiarot said. “If you ask a lot of guys around the league, Buff would be the last guy they’d want to go in the corner with.”

Of course, there can be repercussions. The team that’s hit can galvanize.

“It was a great hit, and it put (Eriksson Ek) out for a couple of minutes,” Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said. “Interesting enough, our captain and our leader came right back and did the same thing to Perreault, and sort of said, ‘We can hit, too.’ ”

It was Mikko Koivu who unloaded on Mathieu Perreault. The Jets winger, favouring his shoulder, stayed in the game for a while, but couldn’t finish and is also doubtful for Game 2, if not longer.

The other fallout from having Byfuglien in your lineup was on display early in the third period, when his ill-advised pinch caused the two-on-one that produced Minnesota’s go-ahead goal.

It could have been the game’s turning point and deciding factor, if the Jets weren’t blessed with someone like Patrik Laine, who evened things up less than a minute later.

So we saw all sides of Byfuglien in Game 1.

Lord knows how coaches game-plan for him.

“I don’t know,” Boudreau said. “He’s all over the place. You have to just be aware of where he is, quite frankly. He can be behind the net, he can stay out for two minutes, and he’s so physically imposing you have to watch him wherever he is.”

And be ready to capitalize when he gets caught.

“We’re aware of that,” Boudreau said. “I’ve coached against him for the last 10, 11 years. We know what his propensity for a lot of things is.”

With Byfuglien, there’s rarely a dull moment. But teammates say he’s well worth the risk.

“We want him to be aggressive and be in the rush,” Little said. “If he thinks he can get to a puck, that’s his decision. The amount of good things he does and the stuff he brings to this team, it’s OK if he takes chances and maybe gets beat once or twice.”

Few players in the NHL, if any, bring the same physical threat.

Little still can’t believe the hit Byfuglien delivered on Ottawa’s Mark Stone, two years ago.

“That was probably the biggest hit I’ve seen, live, in a hockey game,” Little said.

Those highlight-reel smacks get everyone’s attention.

Jets boss Paul Maurice was an assistant coach with Team Europe at the 2016 World Cup, and recalls the reaction of his players when they heard Byfuglien wouldn’t be in Team USA’s lineup for their first game.

“I got about seven stories – it’s ‘Thank God,’ and then they tell you the story… of how Dustin at some point blew them up,” Maurice said. “He can change the way you think.”

It was back in early October, on the eve of the new season, when Jets captain Blake Wheeler summed up Byfuglien’s importance to the team.

“In a lot of ways, he can make or break us,” Wheeler said then.

That’s one thing that hasn’t changed in the playoffs. http://winnipegsun.com/sports/hockey/nhl/winnipeg-jets/jets-coach-maurice-everyones-a-game- time-decision-for-game-2-vs-wild

Jets coach Maurice: Everyone's a game-time decision for Game 2 vs. Wild

By Ted Wyman

The time has passed for anyone to expect straight answers from head coaches when it comes to a team’s injury situation in the playoffs.

Asked for an update on left-winger Mathieu Perreault, who missed the third period of Wednesday’s playoff opener against the Minnesota Wild, Winnipeg Jets coach Paul Maurice said: “I can tell you that (Matt) Hendricks and (Dmitry) Kulikov are out and everybody else is game time or a coach’s decision.”

That doesn’t really shed much light on the severity of Perreault’s injury — he left the game after taking a hit near the Jets blue-line from Wild centre Mikko Koivu and getting tackled against the boards by blue-liner Nate Prosser — nor the status of defenceman Toby Enstrom, who has missed two weeks with a lower body injury.

On the bright side, they both could be game-time decisions for Friday’s game, where the Jets will try to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven, first-round series. On the down side, who really knows?

It seems unlikely Enstrom will play since he hasn’t skated with the team yet. Also, the player replacing him, Joe Morrow, has played well, and scored the game-winning goal in Game 1.

If Perreault can’t play, it will take a skilled, hard-nosed forward off the team’s third line, but the Jets have the luxury of depth. The most likely replacement would be Jack Roslovic, a rookie who was lighting up the American Hockey League this season before posting five goals and 14 points in 31 games with the Jets.

The other depth players with the Jets right now are Shawn Matthias and Marko Dano.

Game 2 goes Friday night at 6:30 p.m., at Bell MTS Place.

Minneapolis Star Tribune http://www.startribune.com/game-1-chances-titled-heavily-toward-the-jets/479588193/

Game 1 chances titled heavily toward the Jets The Wild was outshot 2-to-1 and its No. 1 line was quiet.

By Sarah McLellan Star Tribune

WINNIPEG – There were gaffes with steep repercussions, a turnover that ended up on the stick of the most dangerous shooter on the ice and a breakdown that culminated in a point shot that turned from harmless to harsh once deflected.

Those sequences flipped a third-period lead for the Wild into a deflating 3-2 loss Wednesday to the Jets in Game 1 of their best-of-seven, first-round series, but the rest of the effort from a retooled blue line revealed a workable formula for taming a potent Winnipeg offense.

And while improvement is certainly required to cut back on costly errors, proof now exists that the Wild’s defense can contain the Jets — a reality that wasn’t guaranteed when Ryan Suter was sidelined with a right ankle fracture.

But what was harder to detect Wednesday was an attack from the Wild that suggested it had enough execution to deliver, a shortcoming that shifts the spotlight to the offensive zone for Game 2 Friday.

“We definitely have more to give,” goalie Devan Dubnyk said. “On top of that, we’re not just looking to survive here. We’re a very good hockey team, and we can do that same thing while adding more going the other way.”

Before winger Patrik Laine tied it 2-2 with his unstoppable-looking wind-up and then defenseman Joe Morrow completed Winnipeg’s comeback with a shot that clipped Wild winger Charlie Coyle’s stick before rolling five-hole on Dubnyk, the Wild’s defense was steady.

The middle of the ice wasn’t exposed, positioning was sound enough that few of the Jets’ looks were from quality areas, and turnovers were limited.

“They’re going to get their possession and their shots and their chances, and I think the most important thing is to make sure everyone’s under control,” Dubnyk said. “When I feel like things are under control back there, it makes my job a lot easier, and I certainly felt that way with how the guys were playing in front of me. That’s good to see from a young group that hasn’t been in this situation before.”

Jared Spurgeon was back in the mix, his first action since he suffered a right hamstring tear March 13, but it was the first playoff game for Nick Seeler and Carson Soucy — experience expected to make them better now that it’s been logged.

“I was just out of position on some plays that I made the wrong read,” Soucy said. “That could be due to nerves or not thinking fast enough. But I still think I can come away and have a better game [Friday].”

What could also set the blue line up for more success is less time defending.

The Wild put only 20 shots on net and another 27 were blocked or missed the net, while the Jets challenged Dubnyk 40 times and had another 42 impeded or go wide. Only four of those shots by the Wild belonged to the first line of center Eric Staal and wingers Jason Zucker and Nino Niederreiter. And the team had just one shot the rest of the game after winger Zach Parise’s goal 3 minutes, 58 seconds into the third put the Wild up 2-1.

“I think our line was a bit hesitant,” Zucker said. “I think we sat back a little bit more than we usually do. I don’t think we were very aggressive. It started with me. I don’t think on the forecheck I was very good.”

And the forecheck is key for the line because it’s how the unit can get defenses scrambling, disorder that generates more room to operate in the offensive zone.

“Maybe we were guilty too much feeling out at times instead of just being a little bit more aggressive,” Staal said. “When Zucks is skating and Nino is skating and we’re assertive on the forecheck and using our legs, we can create open ice and create chances and I don’t think we did enough of that.”

Perhaps that conservative approach stemmed from the hype of a series opener or the curiosity about how this team would acquit itself without Suter, possibilities Staal acknowledged.

But players should feel more prepared and less nervous after getting through the first test, and the defense certainly showed it can slow down the Jets.

Now it’s up to the offense to flash its potential.

“Your most offensive line has got to be as good as their best offensive line,” coach Bruce Boudreau said. “There’s room for improvement.” http://www.startribune.com/wild-looking-to-be-more-assertive-in-game-2-vs-jets/479563443/

The Wild Beat Wild looking to be 'more assertive' in Game 2 vs. Jets

By Sarah McLellan

In the immediate aftermath of its 3-2 loss to the Jets in Game 1 Wednesday, the Wild focused on the chance it blew to pocket a series-opening victory on the road since the team blew a third- period lead.

The sting of that reality still lingered Thursday when the group reconvened at Bell MTS Place for a video session and optional practice, but the eagerness to improve for Game 2 Friday was front and center.

"I think we can be better," center Eric Staal said. "Obviously, we got ourselves the lead in the third and from there, I think we took our foot off the gas a little bit. They came at us and were able to get two to get ahead. Overall, as a group we can be a little more assertive, a little better, and we’ll look to do that tomorrow.”

Most of Wednesday’s action was going according to the Wild’s plan.

It wasn’t turning pucks over to fuel the Jets’ offense. The team didn’t look overwhelmed by the emotion and energy in the building. And it was mostly disciplined, committing just two penalties.

“I think in reality we had seven pretty bad minutes from the time we scored the second goal to the third goal,” coach Bruce Boudreau said. “But it was a pretty even game after that, and I think we can play a lot better.”

It’s possible, though, the Wild changes up its look Friday. Asked if he could tweak the defensive pairings, Boudreau said, “We’ll consider everything.” He also mentioned winger Tyler Ennis as an option up front.

“Tyler played really good for us in the last [regular-season] game and a lot of games down the stretch, and he’s a veteran,” Boudreau said. “He could play. [Defenseman Ryan Murphy] has played really well for us, too. Like both teams, we’ve probably both got a lot of bumps and bruises because it was fairly physical for a game for us last night. We’ll have to wait and see tomorrow how everyone feels.” http://www.startribune.com/jordan-greenway-brings-brawn-into-play-for-wild/479588163/

Jordan Greenway brings brawn into play for Wild

By Sarah McLellan Star Tribune

WINNIPEG – The Wild chose muscle over maturity when it slotted rookie Jordan Greenway in its Game 1 lineup instead of the experienced Tyler Ennis, and the decision paid off.

Not only did Greenway set up center Matt Cullen’s goal, igniting a Wild rally before the Jets responded to corral a 3-2 win Wednesday at Bell MTS Place, but the 21-year-old had arguably his best game since turning pro — an encouraging sign that he can help the Wild the rest of the series.

“I thought he played really well, to be honest with you,” Cullen said. “I was really impressed with how he handled the atmosphere and first playoff game. He made some really nice plays, poised with the puck, protected the pucks, got into pucks in the offensive zone — exactly what you’d hope he would do. I thought he was really good.”

Greenway seemed to get more comfortable as the game progressed, and what seemed to help him get acclimated was using his 6-foot-6, 226-pound frame to track down pucks and hold on to them — a skill the Wild could certainly use considering the beefy Jets lineup. Winnipeg had nine skaters on the ice Wednesday who were at least 6-3, and the team racked up an eye-popping 39 hits. The Wild had 31.

“Even if a game is not physical, I always try and find ways to be physical just because that’s really the only way I can get a competitive edge,” Greenway said. “Even though I create space for myself, I can’t really use my quickness to create space for myself like these other guys. So for me, it’s all my body. The more physical it is, the better for me, I think, just because when I’m making contact with guys, whether I’m initiating it or not, I think that benefits me.”

Back to business Defenseman Jared Spurgeon logged 20 minutes, 19 seconds in his return to action after missing 12 games to heal a right hamstring tear, but expect his ice time to increase now that he’s reacquainted with the pace of the play.

“That first game back it was a bit faster than when I left,” he said. “Just trying to get the breath back and the wind back, just the timing of things. Just trying to get my gaps and stuff like that. I felt good.”

Experience matters Wednesday was only center Joel Eriksson Ek’s fourth playoff game after appearing in three last year, and the 21-year-old didn’t look out of place.

Eriksson Ek was strong on the puck, had a team-high four shots on net and was resilient — returning to the game after leaving briefly following a crushing shoulder check from defenseman Dustin Byfuglien that dropped him to the ice.

“He was good, and he’s going to be good,” said coach Bruce Boudreau, who mentioned Eriksson Ek wasn’t in concussion protocol when he left the game after the hit. “ … The more experience he gets, the better he’s going to be. But he’s ready to play, and I have no problem when he’s on the ice against anybody.”

Etc. Asked if he could switch up the defensive pairings to reunite Nick Seeler with Spurgeon, as the two played together earlier this season, Boudreau said, “We’ll consider everything,” and explained there could be other lineup changes for Game 2.

“Tyler [Ennis] played really good for us in the last [regular-season] game and a lot of games down the stretch, and he’s a veteran,” Boudreau said. “He could play. [Defenseman Ryan Murphy] has played really well for us, too. Like both teams, we’ve probably both got a lot of bumps and bruises because it was fairly physical for a game for us [Wednesday] night. We’ll have to wait and see how everyone feels.”

Pioneer Press https://www.twincities.com/2018/04/12/wild-rookie-jordan-greenway-sure-looks-the-part-if-hes- playing-physical/

Wild rookie Jordan Greenway sure looks the part … when he’s playing physical

By DANE MIZUTANI | [email protected] | Pioneer Press

WINNIPEG, Manitoba — With the Wild trying to set the tone in their first-round playoff series against the hard-nosed Winnipeg Jets, 21-year-old rookie Jordan Greenway had a chance to lay the boom on veteran Jets defenseman Dustin Byfuglien in the opening minutes of Game 1.

Instead, Greenway stopped short of finishing his check along the boards on Wednesday night, looping back the other way, and allowing Byfuglien to move the puck up the ice unimpeded.

Looking back, the 6-foot-6, 230-pound Greenway realizes that’s not the way the Wild need him to play the rest of the series.

“I always try and find ways to be physical because that’s really the only way I can get a competitive edge,” he said. “Even though I create space for myself, I can’t really use my quickness to create space like these other guys, so for me, it’s all (about using) my body.”

Once Greenway started to play with more physicality against the Jets, he found a rhythm. He used his big body to win one-on-one battles along the boards in the second period, and set up a Matt Cullen goal with a slick backhanded pass in the third period, looking more comfortable as the game wore on.

“I thought he played really well,” Cullen said. “I was really impressed with how he handled the atmosphere and first playoff game. He made some really nice plays. He was poised with the puck. … He got into pucks in the offensive zone. Exactly what we hoped he would do. I thought he was really good.”

That’s just what the Wild were hoping to see out of Greenway, who joined the team last month straight out of Boston University.

“I know my size is probably my biggest asset,” he said. “I thought (Game 1) was pretty physical, and I think that’s going to continue all series. (I am) trying to push back and finish hits and be physical all over the ice … I think that’s going to have a big impact on this series.”

ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT The Wild’s top line of Eric Staal centering Jason Zucker and Nino Niederreiter was completely neutralized in Game 1.

“Well, they have to become more of a factor,” coach Bruce Boudreau said Thursday. “They were only involved in two potential scoring chances. You’re most offensive line has got to be as good as their best offensive line. There’s room for improvement.”

Staal, who led the Wild with 42 goals during the regular season, only tested Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck once in the game.

“It was tough,” Staal said. “It was playoffs, Game 1, and maybe we were guilty of too much feeling out at times instead of being a little bit more aggressive. We know when (Zucker) is skating and (Niederrieter) is skating and we’re assertive on the forecheck and using our legs, we can create open ice and create chances. We’ll be better (in Game 2 on Friday).”

PHYSICAL PLAY Jets coach Paul Maurice noted how Byfuglien can change the way certain players approach the game because thoughts of a big hit are always in the back of their mind.

That was on display in the second period of Game 1 when Byfuglien nearly ended Joel Eriksson Ek with a clean hit in the defensive zone.

“He pulls up on just about every single hit,” Maurice said. “Because he’s had a couple where he hit somebody — it might have been (Jay) Bouwmeester (of the St. Louis Blues) a couple years ago — where the feedback was even though it’s a clean hit there has to be a penalty there because it was so violent.”

Still, the Wild insist he won’t change the way they play in Game 2.

“You have to just be aware of where he is, quite frankly,” Boudreau added. “He can be behind the net. He can stay out for two minutes. He’s so physically imposing that we have to know where he is. He’s a great player.” https://www.twincities.com/2018/04/12/without-ryan-suter-wild-need-more-from-everyone-on- blue-line/

Without Ryan Suter, inexperience showing on Wild blue line

By DANE MIZUTANI | [email protected] | Pioneer Press

WINNIPEG, Manitoba — With the Wild desperately trying to preserve a one-goal lead in the third period of Game 1 against the Winnipeg Jets, it took just two plays in the final minutes to truly feel Ryan Suter’s absence on the blue line.

The first came on a turnover from Matt Dumba, which led to the game-tying goal from Jets winger Patrik Laine on Wednesday night. Then another turnover from Carson Soucy led to the winning goal from Jets defenseman Joe Morrow.

And just like that, the Wild turned a possible victory into a 3-2 defeat.

“There’s a lot of inexperience out there, and they’re only going to get better by playing,” coach Bruce Boudreau said of a blue line that took a major hit when Suter, a 13-year veteran and the guy who has held the Wild defense together the past six seasons, broke an ankle in a March 31 game. “Hopefully they learned about those things (on Wednesday) and they’ll be better for it.”

It’s hard not to think Game 1 might have gone differently for the Wild with Suter on the ice. A veteran of 78 playoff games, he certainly would have helped protect Soucy, a 23-year-old who played his first NHL game on April 2.

“We went over some video today,” said defenseman Jared Spurgeon, who offered some words of encouragement for Soucy. “It’s just simple things. You have to remember that and forget about what happened and go from there.”

After struggling in Game 1, Soucy answered every question thrown at him on Thursday, owning his mistakes and vowing to be better in Game 2.

“I was trying to do too much almost,” he said. “I was just out of position on some plays that I made the wrong read, kind of, and that could be due to nerves or, I don’t know, not thinking fast enough. I still think I can come away and have a better game.”

Boudreau sat down with Soucy before Thursday’s practice, asking him about some of the decisions he made and correcting him when he didn’t like the rookie’s answers.

“It’s definitely a different pace,” Soucy said. “I felt a little bit more comfortable as the game went on. It comes fast and I’ve got to make those decisions quick and hopefully learn from it and have a better game. … I just made a couple of reads that I’d like to have back, and I plan on making better reads (on Friday).”

Soucy isn’t the only blue liner who needs to pick up his play. So does Spurgeon, who played Monday for the first time since tearing a hamstring on March 13. Desperate, the Wild had Spurgeon on the ice for 20 minutes, 19 seconds against the Jets.

“That first game back it was a bit faster than when I left,” Spurgeon said. “Just trying to get the breath back and the wind back. Just the timing of things. Just trying to get my gaps and stuff like that.”

Boudreau hinted that he might switch up the blue line a bit for Game 2, maintaining his top pairing of Jonas Brodin and Dumba, and perhaps elevating Nick Seeler to play alongside Spurgeon, and dropping Soucy to play alongside Nate Prosser.

“It’s a game of chances, so we have to make sure whenever we get the puck we’re making the right play,” Spurgeon said. “If we don’t have anything, just make a simple play. I think that’s something we can do a little better.”

CBC Winnipeg http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/winnipeg-jets-whiteout-1.4616171

'It feels great': Creator of Winnipeg Jets' whiteout awed by tradition's endurance Whiteout first appeared April 16, 1987, as the Jets' counter to Calgary's 'C of red'

Darren Bernhardt · CBC News

As retailers struggle to keep up with demand for Jets whiteout gear, there's one Winnipegger who can't help beaming.

Rod Palson is the advertising brain behind the playoff tradition that began in the city 31 years ago and has become legendary in sports circles.

Many teams in many different sports have attempted to mimic the idea of the whiteout — encouraging fans to dress up in one unified colour — but none has been able to equal the passion the Jets' fans have shown in embracing it.

"It's just so gratifying and it's exhilarating," said Palson, who was creative director at Palmer Jarvis Communications in 1987 when the company got an urgent call from the Jets, who needed a playoff campaign.

The team was facing the Calgary Flames in the first round of the Stanley Cup post-season and Flames fans had taken to wearing red for their team and calling themselves "the C of Red."

"I think the Jets' marketing department was feeling a little intimidated by that, that they didn't have a counter-statement," Palson said. "That was the reason for the meeting that was called."

Man who came up with the Winnipeg Whiteout still proud Initially, the team pitched an idea to encourage fans to wear the Jets' three main colours — red, white and blue.

Not only would it be difficult for people to find multi-coloured clothes, it wouldn't be very bold, Palson thought. It would just look like a regular crowd of people with all those different colours.

"That wasn't going to make any kind of statement. How could it?" he said.

He suggest simply asking fans to wear a white T-shirt, the main colour at the time of the team's home jersey.

There was also a need for a very quick turnaround because the game was less than a week away. Palson figured a white tee was likely something many people already had.

He can still vividly recall heading to the game on April 16, 1987, and wondering if the marketing campaign was going to work.

With his own family dressed in white as they drove to the old Winnipeg Arena, Palson started seeing more people in other cars with the same theme.

At least there will be a few, he thought. Then he walked into the arena and…

"It was mind-blowing," Palson said.

The seats were filled 90 per cent by people in white — whatever white they could find.

"People jumped on it immediately and it was an overnight success," he said.

'Enduring passion' The Jets went on to win the series four games to two but were swept from the post-season by the Wayne Gretzky-led Edmonton Oilers in the second round.

The tradition, however, was cemented.

During his career, Palson was involved in developing advertising for numerous clients. Many of those campaigns won awards and caught a lot of attention.

"But are they remembered today? Probably not," he said.

"The whiteout? It has endured."

Despite going into a hiatus for about 18 years — between the time the original Jets franchise left for Phoenix and when the Jets 2.0 made it to the post-season in 2015 — the tradition has remained strong. Maybe even grown stronger.

"It reappeared with a vengeance, with a celebration that's almost hard to fathom," Palson said.

On Wednesday, during the Jets' 3-2 victory in Game 1 of the first round of the 2018 playoffs, the 15,321 fans inside Bell MTS Place were draped in white. They came dressed in coveralls, tutus, suit jackets, dresses, wigs, masks, costume ears, helmets, beards and a wide variety of other white attire.

Another 5,100 gathered outside, on a blocked-off street next to the arena, to watch the game on a big screen. Again, the vast majority were in all white.

"Since that first whiteout, there's a whole generation, and maybe more, of people who are now buying into this. It means a lot," said Palson.

"How many ad campaigns out there still have the enduring passion attached to them that the whiteout does? I can't think of many."

Even if the Atlanta Thrashers hadn't been renamed the Jets after their relocation to Winnipeg for the 2011-12 season, and even if the team's owners had chosen to ignore the whiteout, it still would have happened, he said.

"The fans would have done it anyway. That's just how strong the passion is. And it feels great."

A whiteout crowd watches the final two minutes of Wednesday's playoff game between the Jets and Minnesota Wild. (Darren Bernhardt/CBC) While the idea was Palson's, there was a team behind the campaign's launch. Palson is quick to give full credit to Palmer Jarvis's designers and writers, as well as the Jets' marketing department for jumping on board and "working it to the max."

"We made it happen very quickly. It was a team effort," he said.

Unfortunately for Palson, he might not be able to witness his creation in person this post- season. He hasn't able to get any playoff tickets to the hottest show in town.

"But I am certainly seeking out all opportunities," he said. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/white-out-party-winnipeg-jets-1.4615992

More, more, more: Whiteout party to expand for Game 2 of Winnipeg Jets- Minnesota Wild series 2 new big-screen areas, no-alcohol zone for families, more vendors to be added for next whiteout bash

By CBC News

More TVs, more washrooms, more vendors, more space — and possibly thousands more people.

The inaugural Jets whiteout party of the 2017-18 playoff season on Wednesday night was such a big draw that organizers are going to expand the bash by another city block in downtown Winnipeg for Game 2 against the Wild.

"Yesterday's party exceeded our expectations," said Dayna Spiring, president and CEO of Economic Development Winnipeg. The agency hosted the party in co-ordination with True North Sports & Entertainment, which owns and operates the Winnipeg Jets and the team's home arena, Bell MTS Place.

"We knew that Winnipeggers wanted somewhere to come and celebrate, we knew they were going to come out to be a part of the celebration, we didn't quite know how many would come out."

Diehard fans filled Donald Street between Portage and Graham avenues Wednesday night to watch the Jets beat the Minnesota Wild 3-2 in Game 1 of the teams' first-round NHL playoffs series.

An estimated 9,000 people attended the party, though there was only capacity for about 5,500 at any one time, she said.

"There were areas of that crowd last night where people were shoulder to shoulder," Spiring said.

"Winnipeg in April this year hasn't been balmy, but Winnipeggers came out in full force."

The city worked with Winnipeg Transit, the Winnipeg Downtown BIZ and Winnipeg police to plan transportation and security for the event, and those stakeholders met Thursday morning to begin planning Friday's party.

Winnipeg Police Service event commander Insp. Nick Paulet said overall, he was proud of how patrons behaved on Wednesday.

Rowdy behaviour was "very minimal actually," Paulet said.

"Considering the scope and size of the event, it would be even below average of what we would see at a large sporting event."

But just because police didn't arrest anyone doesn't mean they weren't busy — some of their measures are intentionally low-key, he said.

2 new screens, more space Spiring said the plans for Game 2 include more vendors and the addition of two new big screens.

One will go in an alcohol-free area at Millennium Library Park, where True North vice-president for venues and entertainment Kevin Donnelly says you can bring those lawn chairs there wasn't space to set down on Wednesday night.

"We thought that adding the Millennium Library Park as an alcohol-free zone for families that want a quieter experience, a less mobile experience, that can bring lawn chairs — there's plenty of space there. That's a great idea," he said.

The fourth screen will be placed on Donald south of Graham, which will be sort of a second nexus for the party, Donnelly said, and there are multiple places to find refreshments and washrooms.

They hope to fit up to 10,000 people in the licensed areas and thousands more in the alcohol- free area.

Not clear who pays for parties Because more of Graham Avenue will be affected by the street closure, Winnipeg Transit buses will be rerouted off of Graham from Carlton Street to Smith Street. Stops in that stretch that are normally along Graham will be moved to either side of the whiteout party zone.

As for who pays for the parties, that's still up in the air. Spiring says Economic Development Winnipeg is committed to hosting them and will sort out who pays for the costs later.

"It's a free event so it doesn't look like it's going to be a money-maker. I mean, sure, there are lots of vendors and those types of things — we're working through that. But it's not our objective to make money at this," Spiring said.

"We really want to do this for Winnipeggers and to make sure that Winnipeg shows well to the world."

Game 2 against the Wild takes place Friday at 6:30 p.m. The whiteout party gets underway at 4:30 p.m.

They're looking at similar events for the upcoming away games, Donnelly said, but there are no firm plans yet. http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/nhl/winnipeg-jets-minnesota-wild-mathieu-perreault-1.4617227

Mathieu Perreault questionable for Game 2, but Jets confident in their depth 21-year-old Jack Roslovic likely to take winger's place in lineup

By Darrin Bauming

For a young team, the Winnipeg Jets showed a resiliency and ability to adjust this regular season worthy of a veteran squad.

Those qualities are being put to the test again early in the playoffs.

Mathieu Perreault suffered an upper-body injury Wednesday night in the Jets' first post-season win in franchise history, a 3-2 comeback win over Minnesota to open their first-round series with the Wild.

As they have done all season, the Jets will turn to their youth and depth for a potential replacement for Perreault, who is a game-time decision for Game 2 on .

"We've been through that all year. The lineup hasn't been quite full," said forward Bryan Little, who began Wednesday's game centring Perreault's line alongside Joel Armia. "We're kind of used to shuffling the deck a little bit. Guys have stepped up when we needed them too, and that's going too happen in the playoffs.

"It's nice to have a talented group where we can get a guy into the lineup and he's a player right away."

The Jets likely look toward rookie Jack Roslovic. The 21-year-old suited up in 31 games this season, totalling five goals and 14 points while spending time on the top unit as well as on the fourth line.

"I think we want him to use his speed and kind of fill-in for Matty (Perreault)," added Little. "I think he can play that game. He's got a lot of energy and he's got skill to make plays in their end. It's not too much of a transition there."

Dealing with an adjusted lineup has become the norm for the Jets. Losing key contributors such as Mark Scheifele, Jacob Trouba, and Tobias Enstrom for long stretches failed to slow them as they finished with the NHL's second-best regular season record at 52-20-10.

Whether it be injury or in-game adversity, staying within their game speaks to the team's conviction and mental fortitude.

"Those close games, we're confident that our offence can score goals when we need them to, especially if we're down a goal," said Little. "We all have that feeling on the bench that the game is still ours. When we'd get down a goal in a tight game before, we just felt like there was that pressure to score and that pressure to get back in the game. We didn't have that confidence we do now."

The Winnipeg Jets won the first playoff game in their franchise's history, defeating the Minnesota Wild 3-2. 0:50 "It's hard top put a finger on it. We've been that way all year," Little added. "Even when we lost key guys to injuries we didn't lose that edge. We didn't get away from our game. I think we have that depth that we've never had before. We can roll four lines now pretty easily so we don't have to worry about matchups."

Despite youth and the lack of much playoff experience, the Jets are finding direction and guidance in their captain Blake Wheeler.

"(He's) a perfect mentor for any young player," said head coach Paul Maurice. "Leadership is much about consistency, being consistent in how you play and how you treat the people around you. He's been that way every day regardless of what's going on around him."

"It's a credit to our leadership. You look at what Blake does every night, he drives the ship for us," added forward Adam Lowry. "I think it's sometimes you don't know any better and don't have that experience, you don't have that fear of what could go wrong. You're kind of just going out there to play and sometimes that's a benefit for our team as well."

Globe and Mail https://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/article-winnipeg-looks-to-channel-the-jets-of-yore/

Winnipeg looks to channel the Jets of yore

By Roy MacGregor

You’ve got to love the cockiness.

A wall poster in the lower lobby of Bell MTS Place tells visitors you have just entered “The Heart of Canada and birthplace of the most intimidating playoff environment in the NHL.”

This, from a relocated NHL team that Thursday night won its first playoff game ever.

“Our winter may be behind us,” says another poster on a day that began with snow, “but a FURIOUS STORM is only about to begin.”

Friday night the Winnipeg Jets will play host to the Minnesota Wild in Game 2 of their opening- round series, with the Jets up one game to none courtesy of a late come-from-behind 3-2 victory that had fans screaming and honking their joy long into the night.

They had come out in force. The 16,345 in the stands had an almost perfect whiteout – two women even showing up in their wedding gowns – and thousands more wearing white clothes and wigs, and even a polar bear mask. while chanting “GO! JETS! GO!” in the streets surrounding the rink.

They are nothing if not believers. As a third poster in the lower lobby says, this is “A place where fierce winters have formed a resilient character in its people.”

Only once in the playoffs since the Atlanta Thrashers moved up to Winnipeg in 2011, never having won a playoff game until this week, and yet you would never know this franchise was anything but a total success. They scream “TRUE NORTH!” at full volume during the anthem in salute to the ownership that brought back the franchise the city lost in 1996. They roar with approval when the scoreboard shows the big smiling face of Len (Kroppy) Kropioski, the Second World War veteran who would drive all the way from Kenora, Ont., for each home game virtually until his passing in 2016 at the age of 98.

It is a city desperate to return to the glory days of the 1970s, when the first version of the Jets were part of the World Hockey Association and won three AVCO World Trophies – not Stanley Cups, pointedly – as league champions.

The lower lobby also has a history lesson in screens that depict moments from those halcyon days. The WHA challenging the NHL with blue pucks and big cheques – Bobby Hull accepting his unheard-of million-dollar payoff right on the corner of Portage and Main, the arrival of Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson in 1974 to form “The Hot Line,” Hull scoring his 1,000th professional goal as a Jet.

When the Jets came back in 2011, Nilsson, now back living in Stockholm, told me that “Hockey is more than a sport in places like Winnipeg. I loved my four years in the city.”

They lost the team and fans gathered at The Forks and wept. They finally got a new rink and the team back 15 years later and fans raced so fast to grab season tickets that the new organization’s computers crashed within minutes.

Shannon Sampert, an associate professor of political science at the University of Winnipeg, published an opinion piece on Thursday in the Winnipeg Free Press in which she correctly argues that, “There is a cultural need for Winnipeg to celebrate its hockey team. For Winnipeg, the need to prove we’re economically competitive enough to sustain a hockey franchise has been like a scar on our collective identity.”

That the Jets were deemed successful, despite missing the playoffs so often, was proof to Winnipeggers that they belonged in the hockey big time. When the Jets of 2017-18 put together a 114-point season that was second only to the Nashville Predators, they took it as proof that they can challenge for the ultimate hockey prize: the Stanley Cup.

In the Jets’ dressing room on Thursday after a morning practice, the confidence was oozing.

“No matter what the score is,” said centre Andrew Copp, “we can come back to win.”

“I just think we’re more confident in those type of games, those close games,” added Bryan Little, also a centre. “We’re confident that our offence can score goals when we need them to, especially if we’re down a goal. We all have that feeling on the bench that the game is still ours.”

“We don’t really have two lines that can score,” added forward Nikolaj Ehlers. “We have four.”

Ehlers’s speed during one third-period rush against the Wild on Wednesday night took away the collective breath of the 16,345. He did not, unfortunately, score on it.

“It’s exciting being the cause of all those ‘OHHHHS!’ he laughed, “but it ends with ’AWWWW…’”

It is the size and speed of this Jets team that allows for such confidence. So adept are centres such as Copp and Little and, especially, Adam Lowry at winning faceoffs, that the team has abandoned the usual strategy of dealing with an empty net at the other end – as was the case for more than two minutes against the Wild. Instead of lugging the puck up to centre before dumping it in to avoid icing, the Jets are told to shoot from anywhere. They might score, but if it’s icing, they’ll simply respond by winning the next faceoff.

It is a strategic gambit that can “burn you,” added head coach Paul Maurice, but with such skill at faceoffs he feels his team is better off with an icing call than with allowing a turnover in its own end that might lead to an opposition scoring opportunity.

The Jets did not get burned Wednesday but they will not be meeting the same Wild that let them come back in a flurry during the third period.

“I think we can play a lot better,” said Wild head coach Bruce Boudreau.

They will and so will the Jets, as early playoff nerves have settled and future games should be less like Wednesday’s chess-like, cautious first period and far more like the furious desperation both sides showed in the third.

It is guaranteed to be a grind.

“The Eastern Conference is like candy,” Maurice said. “The Western Conference is meat and potatoes.”

CTV Winnipeg https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/sharks-jets-balancing-hockey-culture-racial-diversity/ (VIDEO LINK)

Playoff party set to expand for game 2, alcohol-free zone added for families Whiteout party set to expand

By Josh Crabb

The Winnipeg Whiteout Street Party is expanding following a victory for the Winnipeg Jets over the Minnesota Wild in the opening game of the first round of Stanley Cup playoffs.

Organizers said a total of more than 9000 people visited the closed section of Donald Street between Portage Avenue and Graham Avenue on Wednesday, with the crowd reaching a peak of around 5500 people at one time.

Even though the crowd stayed below the capacity of 6000 people, organizers said more space is needed.

Economic Development Winnipeg president and CEO Dayna Spiring said the boundaries will be moved one block south to St. Mary Avenue to create space for more than 10,000 fans for game two on Friday.

Two additional screens will be added for people to watch the hockey game along with more food and drink vendors and additional porta-potties.

For those looking to take in the atmosphere but not the alcohol, the expansion will also include a liquor-free zone at Millennium Library Park for families to watch the game.

“We’ve got a lot of capacity when we open up one more block and having that special area for families, I think, is going to give everybody a little bit more space and we’re ready for big crowds tomorrow night,” said Spiring. “The expansion's actually going to help us with safety. One of the things that we talked about this morning was that there were areas of that crowd last night where people were shoulder-to-shoulder and the police that we're working very closely with – the police and emergency services – one of their messages to us was, 'Hey, we need a little bit more room.'"

True North said it also plans to raise the height of the screen located at the north end of Donald near Portage so fans can see the game better.

The street party will be held before and during every home playoff game the Jets play.

Friday’s festivities start at 4:30 p.m. and will end one hour after the game.

The city said Donald Street from Portage Avenue to St. Mary Avenue will close Friday starting at 10 a.m.

The Athletic https://theathletic.com/311833/2018/04/12/what-impact-each-of-the-jets-defence-pairings-will- have-against-the-wild/?redirected=1

What impact each of the Jets defence pairings will have against the Wild

By Murat Ates

In Wednesday night’s series opening win over the Minnesota Wild, Joe Morrow played the second most minutes at 5-on-5 among Winnipeg Jets defencemen, a massive leap from his career history as a press box player. Then, with just over seven minutes to go in the third period, he scored the first game-winning goal in Jets 2.0 playoff history.

“That's the majority of the reason you play hockey as a kid,” Morrow said. “To come and play in the playoffs, play for the Stanley Cup and getting an opportunity to score a goal like that. So, to say it's a dream come true is a pretty big understatement.”

Morrow’s goal, a long-distance slapper that beat Wild goaltender Devan Dubnyk, was a big moment in a roller-coaster third period that was full of them for the Jets.

Morrow used the same word when describing his NHL career.

“I've had a pretty big roller-coaster of an NHL career so far. It's nothing new to me to get thrown into a situation that is a lot more pressure than what you foresee in the future. It's moments like these that kind of either make or break your hockey career. Take it hour to hour and just play your game, play fun and just enjoy the moment.”

As far as moments go, the eight minutes and 49 seconds between Zach Parise’s go-ahead goal and Morrow’s game-winning goal – a stretch of play in which the Jets outshot the Wild 15-0 – may have been the Jets best stretch of play in the game.

The only contender would be the last five minutes of the game – a stretch in which Winnipeg held the Wild to precisely zero shots on Connor Hellebuyck. Winnipeg’s defensive play deserves a lot of credit for the Jets Game 1 win.

Despite Morrow’s heroics, I’d argue that Josh Morrissey and Jacob Trouba played the most important role among Jets defencemen.

Matched up almost exclusively against Minnesota’s top line of Eric Staal, Jason Zucker, and Nino Niederreiter – a trio who had earned an xG of 60.3 per cent and outscored opponents 11-3 at 5-on-5 in the regular season – Morrissey and Trouba came out on top.

Not only did Staal and company go scoreless on the night, they combined for just five shots between the three of them and their best shot attempt percentage belonged to Niederreiter – at just 33 per cent. Morrissey and Trouba were both over 60 per cent.

This clip is short and it seems so simple, but here is why Winnipeg’s top pairing can handle Minnesota’s elite. It comes down to managing the Wild’s rotating forwards as they cycle the puck:

As this clip begins, Niederreiter – covered by Morrissey – cycles to Zucker – covered by Trouba, behind the net.

One thing the Wild are extremely good at in the offensive zone is rotating off the puck. Watch how Niederreiter circles to the net immediately after his pass to Zucker and how Zucker circles into the slot after his pass to the point. Their movement is excellent and usually gives defenders fits.

As you can clearly see, Morrissey and Trouba manage their rotation extremely well. Each Jets defenceman stays with his man despite the opportunity to switch when Zucker skates into the space Niederreiter has left for him.

When you watch it over and over again, this play begins to seem quite simple. Despite the Wild’s quick rotation, Morrissey and Trouba each stay below their man. But, with Toby Enstrom out to injury, no other Jets pairing can handle this kind of high-speed decision making as well as Morrissey and Trouba do here. Unless Wild coach Bruce Boudreau can get Staal’s line away from Winnipeg’s top pairing, they’re going to have a hard time scoring at 5-on-5.

The Jets defenders who looked the most exploitable on Wednesday night were Tyler Myers and Ben Chiarot. Still, given that each defender was above 50 per cent in shot attempts and finished the night even at goals, let me start by showing what Chiarot and Myers do well:

Here’s Myers working over Matt Cullen behind the net. This is the strongest aspect of Myers’ defensive game – one-on-one battles along the boards. In this case, he knocks Cullen down, then works him over and uses his reach to push the puck up the wall to Adam Lowry. Unlike Morrissey and Trouba above, there is no potential switch to manage, no rotation, just a battle – one which Myers wins.

One of Myers’ weaknesses is his passing game. Observe the following three plays:

Myers, with time, to Chiarot’s backhand. Chiarot recovers but the extra second it takes costs him the easy breakout pass to Mark Scheifele right in front of him. He’s forced to try Connor across the ice, which is fine, but Minnesota has had time to establish extra pressure, which is not.

Next is Myers, with time, into Chiarot’s feet. Chiarot is forced to stop, then stickhandle, and it costs the Jets their speed. Watch Blake Wheeler at the top of your screen go from acceleration to a standstill. Scheifele is already stationary and, at the tail end of the clip, you can see Kyle Connor stuck standing still on Minnesota’s blueline along with Wheeler.

The lack of speed gives Minnesota the opportunity to cover stationary Jets. It costs Winnipeg its zone entry, the puck goes back into the Jets zone, and then this:

For the third time on the shift, a poor pass costs Winnipeg its breakout. This time, Myers’ pass gets picked off inside the Jets zone and it leads to a scoring chance against.

I want to say that these three sequences are made worse because it is the Jets top line whose transition game is killed but, realistically, it doesn’t matter which forwards are on the ice.

I’ll understand if you think this section of the article reads like a Myers hit piece. And, to be clear, I am critical of his first pass. I’m also critical of his ability to track movement – it was Myers who chased Jordan Greenway to the wall, freeing up Cullen for Minnesota’s first goal.

However, let me also state that Myers has a unique gift for attacking from the offensive blueline.

In this 5-on-5 heat map of Myers’ on-ice offence, look at the right point. Myers attacks opposing forwards at the blueline and often beats them to the centre of the ice before shooting.

While I think that Chiarot and Myers represent Winnipeg’s most attackable defensive pairing, it is actually Dustin Byfuglien who got caught up ice for Minnesota’s go-ahead goal.

In this case, Mikko Koivu blocks Byfuglien’s shot but can’t immediately find the puck in his feet. Byfuglien attacks, thinking he can strip Koivu of the puck, but then gets caught. The Wild get a long 2-on-1 and Mikael Granlund makes a superb play around Morrow to set up Parise for the go-ahead goal.

As far as moments go, it was a bad one for the Jets.

“That one got away off a blocked shot, puck was lost, thought he could get to it,” Paul Maurice said on Thursday. “We give our defencemen room to make that decision. (The odd-man rush against) is clearly not something that we want.”

For Winnipeg to have continued success in this series, they’re going to have to limit those odd- mad rushes. Minnesota protects the middle of the ice so well, meaning the games are likely to be extremely close and every moment will count.

I believe Morrissey and Trouba are going to be Winnipeg’s most important defencemen in this series, that Chiarot and Myers are the most exploitable, and that Morrow and Byfuglien will help more than they hurt.

And, thanks to Morrow’s dream-come-true slapshot, Winnipeg enters Game 2 on Friday night with a 1-0 series lead.

Here are his thoughts on the wild ride that has been his NHL career:

“To have a little – I don’t even know if you want to call it a Cinderella story – of a night tonight, it makes you feel good. It makes all of the bad times and all of the times you’ve battled so hard to try and get an opportunity, it makes them go away. It washes them away and you get to enjoy it in front of a crowd like this and a city like this.” https://theathletic.com/312132/2018/04/12/wild-jets-notes-on-staal-line-suter-on-call-eriksson- ek-since-buff-hit-more/

Wild-Jets notes: On Staal line, Suter on call, Eriksson Ek since Buff hit, more

By Michael Russo

WINNIPEG — If the Wild have any prayer of getting a split north of the border and returning to St. Paul with the Western Conference quarterfinals series against the Winnipeg Jets tied at one win apiece, they likely need much better play from the Jason Zucker-Eric Staal-Nino Niederreiter line in Game 2 on Friday.

“Well, they have to become more of a factor,” coach Bruce Boudreau said. “They were only involved in two potential scoring chances. Your most offensive line has got to be as good as their best offensive line. There's room for improvement.”

Interestingly, in a 3-2 Jets win in Game 1, Winnipeg coach Paul Maurice mostly went with his best offensive line head-to-head against the Staal line in order to avoid them going up against Mikko Koivu’s line.

Staal, according to NaturalStatTrick.com, mostly played against the Kyle Connor-Mark Scheifele-Blake Wheeler line and the defense pair of Josh Morrissey and Jacob Trouba. Staal specifically played 16 minutes, 23 seconds at 5-on-5. Connor was with him on the ice for 8:13 of that. Trouba was on for 11:34 of that and Morrissey 11:58.

When Staal was on the ice at the same time as Trouba, the Jets had 21 shot attempts, while the Wild had five. In that same time, the Jets had 11 scoring chances.

For comparison, Koivu was on the ice for six total Jets scoring chances against, going up mostly against Dustin Byfuglien (9:18 of his 13:19 of 5-on-5 ice time).

When it came down to it, while the Staal line didn’t give up a ton of chances, they certainly didn’t generate much.

Jason Zucker swung and missed on one one-time chance and had a couple drives to the net. Nino Niederreiter half-flubbed a point-blank try. Staal had one shot.

“I think the problem was for us we were almost too worried about having that high guy,” Niederreiter said. “It felt like we were two guys high and trying not to get scored against almost. And that’s not what we want to do. We’ve got to make sure we have two guys always on the forecheck and we got to have full support, and that’s something which we didn’t do yesterday. I mean, we didn’t give them any chances. It’s almost, we played too safe.

“(The Scheifele line), they’re all shooters and they can make great plays. We were too safe and that’s not going to win us any games either. We’ve got to play our game. Dumping the puck isn’t a bad play. Sometimes we tried to be too cute on the blue lines instead of hard rimming and going on the forecheck and work the opponent. At the end of the day, those three guys don’t want to play in the defensive zone and that’s where we have to get them in.”

Eriksson Ek brushes off Big Buff The Wild's fourth line of Marcus Foligno, Joel Eriksson Ek and Daniel Winnik were the only players who were on the ice for more 5-on-5 Wild scoring chances than Jets chances.

It’s uncertain if Eriksson Ek woke up Thursday feeling the aftermath of a hard Byfuglien check that made his head snap back. Eriksson Ek, one of the Wild’s best players in Game 1, did leave the game for a few minutes.

On Thursday, Eriksson Ek, during an optional practice that even included most Wild veterans like Staal and Koivu, did not practice and was unavailable to speak with the media. That could be a sign that he’s hurt or at least was held off the ice for precautionary reasons.

Asked if there could be any lineup changes, Boudreau said, “There could be. Tyler (Ennis) played really good for us in the last game (of the regular season in San Jose) and a lot of games down the stretch, and he’s a veteran. He could play. (Defenseman Ryan Murphy) has played really well for us, too. Like both teams, we’ve probably both got a lot of bumps and bruises because it was fairly physical for a game for us (Wednesday) night. We’ll have to wait and see (Friday) how everyone feels.”

As for the check on Eriksson Ek, Boudreau said, “It was a great hit, and it put him out for a couple minutes, and more interesting enough is our captain and our leader (Koivu) came right back and did the same thing to (Mathieu) Perreault and said, 'We can hit too.' That's what leadership does.”

Perreault seemed to sustain a shoulder or collarbone injury on that hit. Later in the game, when taken to the ice by Wild defenseman Nick Seeler, Perreault left the game for good. He didn’t practice Thursday and it would be surprising if he’s available for Game 2.

Maurice was asked what the devastating checks by “Big Buff” do for the team.

“We’re at the World Cup (with Team Europe) and we’re playing Team USA for the first game, and Dustin Byfuglien’s not in the lineup,” Maurice said. “And I got about seven stories, it’s ‘Thank God,’ and then they tell you the story of how Dustin at some point blew them up. And they were so pleased he wasn’t in the lineup.

“I think you need to know he pulls off on just about every single hit. Because he’s had a couple where he hit somebody, it might have been (Jay) Bouwmeester in St. Louis a couple years ago, where the feedback was it’s a clean hit but there’s got to be a penalty there, it was so violent. He’s such a big powerful guy. He pulls on almost every one of his hits. But it is, it’s not a pun, impactful on the game. He can change the way you think. There are certain defensemen in the league that you play differently as a forward, you’re going to give them a bit more room and maybe move the puck a bit quicker. That just makes you smart.”

Suter on call Defenseman Ryan Suter may be out for the playoffs after ankle surgery, but assistant coach Bob Woods, who changes the defensemen, said he has called Suter after every game since the injury for advice.

“Well, he’s so smart,” Woods said. “I mean this is a guy who calms everything down, eats minutes, you can play him against everyone, so he’s watching the game and has a lot of valuable information. He’s kind of like an eye in the sky.”

Dumba’s like the 'Incredible Hulk' Boudreau, a comic book fan, had an interesting analogy for defenseman Matt Dumba, who played half of Wednesday’s game, on Thursday.

“He seems to have endless energy,” Boudreau said. “He's not the biggest guy in the world, but he's like, if you've ever read comics, like the Hulk. The madder he got the better he got. And with Dums, the more he plays, it doesn't seem to tire him, he gets more into the game. When Jared (Spurgeon) went out and he was teamed up with Suter he got better and better the more he played. I think he's OK for six or seven games here anyways.”

Ehlers not the Jets’ fastest? Nikolaj Ehlers made the crowd in Winnipeg whistle when he went coast to coast during one shift Wednesday through Dumba.

“I was just trying to skate up as fast as I can and try and create something,” Ehlers said. “I remember about three years ago in preseason (Dumba) stepped up on me and got me. So I figured he was going to try and do that again. I had my head up. I knew he was coming. I was just trying to get around him.

“A rush like that, it's exciting hearing the crowd going, ‘Ooooh,’ and then it always ends up with, ‘Ahhhh.’ Hopefully one day it can end up with everybody standing up and celebrating.”

Maurice said Ehlers may not even be the Jets’ fastest player.

“Four years ago, we tested and we had Evander (Kane) here, who was real fast,” Maurice said. “And Mark Scheifele was faster than all of them. He just doesn’t look it. Mark’s a really efficient skater. He may well be the fastest guy. Blake (Wheeler’s) not going to agree with you. Kyle Connor is clearly going to have an issue with that. But based on testing results, Scheif I think still has the record here.” …

Maurice said he planned to watch the other playoff games on his off-night Thursday.

“The Eastern Conference is like candy, and the Western Conference would be like meat and potatoes. Gotta get the main meal in. They start earlier, right? Six o’clock, right, we’re all going to be doing the same things. Five-and-a-half straight hours of playoff hockey is a pretty good night.” https://theathletic.com/311924/2018/04/12/carson-soucy-has-been-put-in-a-difficult-spot-but- wild-need-him-to-grow-up-fast/

Carson Soucy has been put in a difficult spot, but Wild need him to grow up fast

By Michael Russo

WINNIPEG — Twenty minutes before practice Thursday, Wild defenseman Carson Soucy nestled up to a laptop next to assistant Bob Woods and watched back a number of his shifts from the night before. This came after a 20-minute team-wide video session in which Soucy, like many of his teammates, regrettably starred in a couple clips from the Wild’s Game 1 first-round series loss to the Winnipeg Jets. This also came after probably a not-so-comfortable conversation the rookie had with Bruce Boudreau.

“I asked him what his thoughts were on some of the decisions that he made, and the answers I didn’t like to get back, I sort of corrected him on,” Boudreau said.

You have to feel for Soucy.

At 23, Soucy has a grand total of three regular-season NHL games under his belt and now one Stanley Cup playoff game.

With Ryan Suter out for the playoffs with an ankle injury and the coaching staff having little confidence in Gustav Olofsson, Soucy has been placed in an unbelievably precarious position. Despite such inexperience, the University of Minnesota-Duluth product has been dropped into a second-pair role in a playoff series against a juggernaut of an opponent that had the second- most points and the second-most goals in the NHL this past season.

Wednesday night in a 3-2 loss, Soucy looked very much like a player with three games of prior NHL experience.

A night full of mistakes proved costly in the end and now the Wild will either have to hope he fixes his issues in Game 2 or shield him somehow. The Wild, who are 0-7 in Game 2s since 2013, look to even the best-of-seven series Friday night or they’ll return to Minnesota with an 0- 2 series deficit for the fourth straight series and seventh time out of the past eight.

“I was trying to do too much almost,” Soucy said Thursday. “I mean I was just out of position on some plays that I made the wrong read kind of, and that could be due to nerves or, I don’t know, not thinking fast enough. But I still think I can come away and have a better game (Friday).”

Woods went over a number of areas Thursday with the young blue-liner:

— Soucy was all over the place, becoming way too exuberant at the defensive blue line and in the neutral zone by continually stepping up, missing checks and subsequently giving up odd- man rushes. The Wild clearly need to lasso him in.

“I just think a lot of it was not moving and re-gapping and he was caught standing still a couple times, and they’ve got a couple guys that can scoot, so if he can get up there and tighten things up, he’ll be fine,” Woods said.

— He didn’t protect the front of the net on numerous occasions.

“He was getting stuck in the corner and too many times we were leaving guys alone,” Woods said.

— And before defenseman Joe Morrow’s game-winning goal, he didn’t execute a planned play off a clean Matt Cullen faceoff win. Soucy was supposed to bang a puck off the glass for Charlie Coyle to skate into it. Instead, he didn’t put enough mustard on his chip up the boards and Patrik Laine picked it off. Scrambling ensued and ultimately Morrow’s point shot deflected past Devan Dubnyk off of Coyle’s stick.

“We made a mistake that we won't make again,” Boudreau said.

“That’s where he just has to bear down a little bit,” Woods added. “Those are little things. Young mistakes.”

According to NaturalStatTrick.com, Soucy had the game’s worst 5-on-5 relative Corsi (24.14 percent) and the game's worst Fenwick percentage. The Jets had 22 of their 51 shot attempts with Soucy on the ice.

Also telling was the fact the Wild only attempted seven shots during Soucy's time on ice. That means the Wild were hemmed in their end for many of his shifts.

Soucy and Jared Spurgeon played 13 minutes, 43 seconds together at 5-on-5 and 14:43 in all situations. Soucy was on the ice for two 5-on-5 Wild scoring chances and 11 Jets chances. Spurgeon was on the ice for three 5-on-5 Wild scoring chances and 11 Jets chances.

Now, Spurgeon was rusty in his first game back from a hamstring injury that caused him to miss the final 12 regular-season games. He admits the game was faster than before he was hurt and he was trying to get his “breath and wind back and the timing of things.”

But he was so hamstrung by the play of his partner, sources say Boudreau actually asked Spurgeon on Thursday if he wanted to play with rookie Nick Seeler instead on Friday night. After all, the two played well together for a small stretch in February.

Not shockingly, Spurgeon dodged the question and instead went over his shifts with Soucy and gave him some words of advice.

“It's just simple things,” Spurgeon said. “You have to remember that and forget about what happened and go from there.”

Still, Boudreau indicated that even if the Wild open Game 2 with Soucy and Spurgeon still together, a Seeler-Spurgeon tweak could be on the horizon.

Soucy said having that first experience of a playoff game and initial taste of the potent Jets attack can only help Friday night.

“It’s definitely a different pace,” he said. “I think it was hesitancy to decision making where you want to go or don’t want to go, where it’s kind of a confidence thing. I felt a little bit more comfortable as the game went on, but still, it comes fast, you’ve got to make those decisions quick and hopefully learn from it and have a better game (Friday).

“I think inexperience is a big part of it, especially against a certain team. Like now that I know their tendencies, experience is almost double-weighted too. We know what they’re going to do and I know position-wise kind of how to be better.”

Soucy also said the video tutorial from Woods helped.

“After every game, there’s things you can improve on, especially last night,” Soucy said. “I just made a couple reads that I’d like to have back in the game that I plan on making better reads (Friday).”

Woods, who no doubt is trying to insulate the young defenseman, says, he still has full confidence in Soucy.

“He’s getting more comfortable every game he plays and impressed the heck out of me handling that situation as well as he did,” Woods said. “I thought he handled himself pretty well for a kid in, what, his (fourth) NHL game in that type of environment. I thought he carried himself very well. Just a few situations where he’s got to be a little bit firmer and just bear down a little bit more.” https://theathletic.com/311465/2018/04/12/systems-analyst-the-jets-found-success-against-the- wild-by-cashing-in-on-a-defensive-weak-spot/

Systems Analyst: The Jets found success against the Wild by cashing in on a defensive weak spot

By Justin Bourne

On Wednesday, I wrote a piece for The Athletic that ended with a throwaway phrase about the NHL, noting that it's pretty clearly a copycat league. You're not going to get fired for trying to do the things successful teams do, but heaven forbid you try something original and fail, you weirdo, because the hockey community will all-to-gladly throw you out on the street.

One of those things that's been so heavily adopted league-wide is the way wingers play in the defensive zone. The theory is basically that goaltenders have gotten so good and so reliable on low danger shots — such as those from 60 feet out at the point — that teams are better off using their wingers to provide additional layers down low, inviting the low-to-high pass rather than risk something from in tighter. And really, if you placed 100 pucks at the top of the blueline, and had a defender — whoever, call it Zdeno Chara — shoot them at an NHL calibre goaltender unscreened, how many are really going in? Like a few, maybe? And fewer if it's not Chara? I've heard numerous coaches say some variation of “If he can't stop 'em from there, we'll find someone who can.” So, the theory does make some sense.

Still, that's led to an NHL that has come to rely heavily on luck for offence, as teams will gladly take the free shot from the point knowing that tips and deflections make for tough saves, but also knowing that those shots create rebounds. In turn, this is another area where you're seeing the game evolve. I can't remember any of my coaches growing up hammering on the point that defenders act like it's basketball and “box out,” but damned if sometimes today's NHL coaches don't do just that. And I should note, that's an AWFULLY difficult skill to master in the NHL, because you can't hold or crosscheck or generally interfere. So, you have to find a way to face the puck while getting your body in the way of a big, athletic person on skates who can spin off you at a moment's notice after a shot comes, when D-men have to switch to worrying about getting sticks up. It's all very thankless, and again, difficult.

Not all teams keep their forwards low in the way I'm describing, but I've noticed in the past that the Minnesota Wild definitely do, and boy, sometimes they employ this positioning to an extreme degree. In Game 1 against the Winnipeg Jets on Wednesday, I couldn't help but notice the oceans of available ice high up in the zone in the first period, while the Jets forwards were left essentially playing 3-on-5 low.

But, to their credit, the Jets either knew what to expect and game-planned for the Wild's defensive style, or their forwards are just smart enough to recognize where the available ice and players are. In Game 1, on average, the Jets defenders attempted more shots than their forwards, and by a good amount (4.83 shots per defender, 3.83 shots per forward). That is not exactly the industry standard.

Now, you're certainly leaving a lot up to the hockey gods with a plan to launch from distance and battle from there, but as the well-beaten adage goes, put enough pucks to the net and good things will happen. And for the Jets, they eventually did.

The play starts off a faceoff, with Charlie Coyle lining up as the right winger on the weak side. As the puck gets won back by the Wild, Coyle watches to make sure his teammates touch the puck first, then he jumps to get skating diagonally across the zone. That signals to us what the Wild's game plan was on won draws from that dot (with a left-shot D on retrieval) — they're looking to either fire it high off the glass out of the zone so Coyle can skate onto it, or if the opposing D-man knocks it down, there's a high confrontation which is fine too. Better than in the corner, anyway.

Here he's reading the play:

But his teammate doesn't get much meat on the clearing attempt, so Patrik Laine is able to hold it in.

Seeing that the opposing team has possession, he heads back low in the zone.

Awesome green arrow, Bourne. Anyway, playing defence is all about making reads, which explains why like 90 per cent of the Systems Analyst pieces I do involve a frame where I say some version of “And suddenly every player is fixated on the puck like it's the dot of a laser pointer in a room full of cats.” Puck staring isn't always smart, but I at least understand why it happens — you need to know who has possession.

So now, two notes. Back in the day, the weak side winger would probably come back to the middle of the ice somewhere above the hashmarks. As I mentioned in the intro, that's not how it's done anymore. Weak-side wingers come deeper than that, AND they push toward the strong side. Look where Coyle (No. 3) settles in as he evaluates the corner battle.

(Note: Hi hockey coaches, Justin here. Just a little tip for you to counter this if the spinning red lights of strategy didn't go off in your head: activate your freaking defence in the offensive zone. Good talk.)

So looking at that picture above, it's become clear that Wild centre Matt Cullen is going to get to the loose puck, and be able to make a play with it. Jared Spurgeon, who was the defender in front of the Wild's net, reads that too, and heads down below the goal line on the weak side to provide a pass option for Cullen, and for what looks like a clean out up the open side of the ice. Coyle starts to head to that side to provide an option for Spurgeon when he eventually gets the puck.

But then, CRAP, Nik Ehlers seals off the boards and gets in the way of the Cullen chip, and it looks like he's even going to be able to get control of the puck.

Now instantly in hockey, the alarms have to sound for this situation, and for a number of reasons. One, a talented player is getting the puck in essentially the most dangerous area of the ice that isn't directly in front of the net, because they can make so many plays into said area.

I'm not sure people realize the effort teams go through to make sure the opposing team can't change sides behind the net, because it forces defences to do the very thing they hate most: make switches, rotate, and think.

Also scary: if Ehlers is going to make a quick slip out front, the available human happens to be Laine, whose magic hockey wand somehow has the power to make goalies seemingly disappear. So, having heard someone pull the alarm, Coyle gets even lower, to the point his skates are nearly touching the crease.

There are basically four Wild players making sure Ehlers is trapped behind the net with no options. So now, look at that picture again below, and you tell me where the open ice is in the O-zone for the Jets.

You could throw a blanket over eight skaters and a goalie here, that's how tight they want to defend. Also, I'd like to emphasize, this is how they want to defend with the puck behind the net. This isn't a bunch of guys puck-staring and out of position.

So whether strategically or intuitively, Ehlers knows where the open guys are — up top — so he angle-banks a pass up the point. Now, Coyle has a long way to go to get close to Morrow, but this is one of the reasons coaches prefer their wingers so low — at least they can still be in the shooting lane.

And really, Coyle was just standing at the dead centre of the crease prior to this pass, he should have a pretty good idea where the lane is.

Now it all comes down to Joe Morrow doing something very Joe Morrowy, which is just head- down one-timing the pass. This is actually a pretty bad offensive play — he's at the literal farthest point in the zone from which to take a shot. The Wild have the Jets completely boxed out with no one in front, the goaltender has a clean sight line, and is completely set. But sure. Launch away!

For some reason, Coyle takes a couple steps out of that aforementioned shooting lane and never finds it again, AND he did something that likely pissed off Don Cherry — he left his stick in the shooting lane.

What's a real shame for the Wild, is that no forward on the team had more blocks or blocks per game than Coyle this season. In fact, he was fourth in the entire NHL in blocks-per-game among forwards. But this time, likely because of how the play developed, he not only couldn't get himself in the way, he provided a deadly just-small-enough redirection to help the puck squeak through a hole that wasn't open one inch left or right, and was going to close in about 0.01 seconds.

Go ahead and watch it at full speed, particularly the replay:

I wouldn't advocate that the Jets go to the Morrow School of Offensive Strategy, but I would encourage them to utilize the space higher up in the zone, particularly with a high F3 that can come downhill into plays, as well as use the defence to create 2-on-1s on the Wild's wingers. You can actually see in the video there Laine drifting out high as F3, knowing where the soft spot is in the O-zone.

It might take some more lucky bounces for them to score on solid offensive zone possessions, but I expect Winnipeg's D to keep hammering away.

Pucks to the net kids. Good things'll happen.

NHL.com https://www.nhl.com/news/joe-morrow-winnipeg-jets-stanley-cup-playoffs/c- 297934222?tid=297171690

Morrow in role of playoff hero with Jets Rare goal elevates defenseman into lofty territory heading into Game 2 against Wild by Scott Billeck / NHL.com Correspondent

WINNIPEG -- In the time from the opening face-off to the final buzzer Wednesday, Winnipeg Jets defenseman Joe Morrow went from depth defenseman to local hero.

Scoring the winning goal in a 3-2 victory against the Minnesota Wild in Game 1 of the Western Conference First Round will do that. Game 2 of the best-of-7 series is here Friday (7:30 p.m. ET; USA, SN, TVAS2, FS-N).

Morrow was acquired in a trade with the Montreal Canadiens on Feb. 26 and scored eight goals for three teams over four NHL seasons.

He has shown an ability to be a quick study with a new team in a new city. That has included getting to know defenseman Dustin Byfuglien, who has been Morrow's partner since the trade that sent Montreal a fourth-round pick in the 2018 NHL Draft.

"Right when I got traded here, I got to sit beside [Byfuglien] and got to understand him as a person and how he thinks and operates," Morrow said. "He plays a pretty risky game, which works for him because he's a big boy (6-foot-5, 260 pounds), highly skilled, a great offense- creating defenseman, so he plays an unorthodox game.

"But getting to know him as a person and realizing that if I have to stray away from a game I like to play a little bit and that makes us both successful, that's just what you have to do. It's what you get slotted in as. That's how I've done it."

Morrow was the No. 23 pick in the 2011 NHL Draft by the Pittsburgh Penguins but never played for them. He was traded to the Dallas Stars on March 24, 2013, and three months later was traded to the Boston Bruins. He played 65 games over three seasons with Boston.

He signed with the Canadiens as a free agent July 1, 2017, before being acquired by the Jets.

"If you believe in karma and trying to be a good person and eventually you get rewarded for it? Yeah, absolutely," Morrow said. "I've had a major roller coaster of an NHL career so far. To have a little, I don't even know if you want to call it a Cinderella story of a night [on Wednesday], it makes you feel good. It makes all of the bad times and all of the times you've battled so hard to try and get an opportunity, it makes them go away. It washes them away and you get to enjoy it in front of a crowd like this and a city like this."

Byfuglien said, "He keeps the game pretty simple. If you talk to him a lot, he knows how to read the game very well. He keeps it pretty simple out there."

With defensemen Toby Enstrom (lower body) and Dmitry Kulikov (back) sidelined, Morrow has proven key, as has his chemistry with Byfuglien.

"With some injuries in our lineup, he's been able to step in and play a role that suits him a little better," Jets captainBlake Wheeler said. "With Dustin Byfuglien, maybe a little more of an offensive role. Moves the puck really well. You could tell once he started playing with [Byfuglien], his confidence started growing and he started to make some plays out there." https://www.nhl.com/news/wild-seeking-more-from-top-line-in-game-2/c- 297936832?tid=297171690

Wild seeking more from top line in Game 2 against Jets Staal, Niederreiter, Zucker had no points in loss in opener by Tim Campbell @TimNHL / NHL.com Staff Writer

WINNIPEG -- The Minnesota Wild will be looking for more from their top line when they play the Winnipeg Jets in Game 2 of the Western Conference First Round at Bell MTS Place on Friday (7:30 p.m. ET; USA, SN, TVAS2, FS-N).

The Jets won Game 1 of the the best-of-7 series 3-2 here Wednesday.

The Wild line of center Eric Staal and wings Jason Zucker and Nino Niederreiter had no points and combined for four of Minnesota's 20 shots in Game 1.

"Well, they have to become more of a factor," Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said Thursday. "They were only involved in two potential scoring chances. Your most offensive line has got to be as good as their best offensive line. There's room for improvement."

Staal, who led Minnesota with 42 goals this season to tie Marian Gaborik's Wild record (2007- 08), said his line's performance was not good enough.

"It was [the Stanley Cup] Playoffs, Game 1 and maybe we were guilty too much feeling out at times instead of just being a little bit more aggressive," said Staal, who had 34 assists. "When [Zucker] is skating and Nino is skating and we're assertive on the forecheck and using our legs, we can create open ice and create chances and I don't think we did enough of that last night. We don't feel good about it so we'll be better tomorrow."

Niederreiter, who had 32 points (18 goals, 14 assists) in 63 games this season, said the line was too conservative against the Jets.

"I think the problem was for us we were almost too worried about having that high guy," he said. "It felt like we were [having] two guys high and trying not to get scored against almost. And that's not what we want to do.

"We've got to make sure we have two guys always on the forecheck and we got to have full support, and that's something which we didn't do yesterday. I mean we didn't give them any chances. It's almost we played too safe."

Zucker, who had 64 points (33 goals, 31 assists) in 82 games, said the safe approach started with him.

"I don't think on the forecheck I was very good, but it's things we can fix overnight which is good and get right back after it," Zucker said.

The Wild have lost seven straight times in Game 2 of a series (they're 2-10 in Game 2). Boudreau did not specify what they need to do better to end that streak.

"The message to the team I'll keep to myself," Boudreau said. "Dissecting the tape, we did a few things that we could definitely improve upon tomorrow. And we did a lot of good things. I think in reality we had seven pretty bad minutes [in the third period]. But it was a pretty even game after that. And I think we can play a lot better."

Boudreau said one thing he won't put much focus on is matching lines with the Jets. Winnipeg will have the last change on home ice before the series switches to Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota for Games 3 and 4 on Sunday and Tuesday.

"With our team, what we've tried to do for most of the year, is everybody plays against everybody," Boudreau said. "So when we get into positions [like] where we are now that I have no problem with the fourth line being on against anybody. I think they're a pretty responsible group right now.

"I think the most important thing is everybody must know how to play against everybody else for occasions like this."

Minnesota, which took a 2-1 lead on Zach Parise's goal 3:58 into the third period, tried to take encouragement from the fact that it played a tight road game, though it was outshot 40-20.

"I think we were pretty difficult to play against," Staal said. "I don't think they had a ton of chances. I think we can be a little more tenacious offensively, get after them a little more. Hopefully that's tomorrow."

A little more determination in the offensive zone could make a big difference, Minnesota goalie Devan Dubnyk said.

"Whether it's just throwing pucks to the net or whatever it is, you have to find a way to create some havoc sometimes and see what happens," Dubnyk said. "That's when things open up."

Boudreau would not disclose any lineup changes for Game 2, but did say he might consider moving rookie defenseman Nick Seeler to play with Jared Spurgeon. Spurgeon played with rookie Carson Soucy in Game 1.

Seeler and Soucy each played his first Stanley Cup Playoff game Wednesday.

Sportsnet.ca https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/koivu-check-puts-perreaults-status-doubt-can-hit/

Koivu check puts Perreault’s status in doubt: ‘We can hit too’

By Luke Fox

WINNIPEG – Six different Winnipeg Jets made their playoff debuts Wednesday, and in light of the upper-body injury suffered by Mathieu Perreault, it’s possible a seventh gets introduced to the post-season in Game 2.

Perreault’s left shoulder bore the brunt of a hard, open-ice Mikko Koivu check in Game 1. The third-line winger tried to play a few more shifts, was slammed to the ice multiple times and left the game early.

The impetus behind Koivu’s check was Jets defenceman Dustin Byfuglien hammering Wild forward Joel Eriksson Ek earlier in the same shift.

“Interesting enough, it was a great hit and put [Eriksson Ek] out for a couple of minutes. But more interesting enough, our captain and our leader came right back and did the same thing to Perreault,” Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said. “Sorta said, ‘We can hit too.’ That’s what leadership does.”

Perreault’s centreman, Bryan Little, admitted his line struggled to find its groove afterward.

“It’s always tough losing a guy early in a game. It’s hard to juggle the lines. You’re mixing and matching guys, trying to fit guys in to play with us,” Little said.

“We just want to bring some energy as a line, and if some offence comes out of that, it’s a bonus. We were going well yesterday, so hopefully he’s back soon.”

Perreault did not participate in the Jets’ optional practice Thursday, nor was he available to the media. Head coach Paul Maurice provided no update on Perreault’s health, beyond saying he’ll be a game-time decision Friday.

Defeceman Tobias Enstrom, sidelined with a lower-body injury since March 23, has been upgraded to a game-time possibility, while Dmitry Kulikov (upper body) and Matt Hendricks (lower body) will not play.

The Jets’ winning ways haven’t been hindered despite injuries to key forwards Mark Scheifele and Adam Lowry this season. Capable young forwards Jack Roslovic and Marko Dano are the top candidates to draw in for Perreault.

First-rounder Roslovic, 21, has contributed 14 points in 31 appearances with the Jets this season.

“He’s a young guy, really fast. We want him to use his speed and kind of fill in for Matty. He can play that game. He’s got a lot of energy and a feel to make plays in their end, so not too much of a transition there,” Little says.

“We’re used to shuffling the deck a bit. Guys have stepped up when we needed them to… It’s nice to have a talented group where you can get a guy into the lineup and he’s a player right away.” https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/jets-believe-resiliency-will-continue-playoffs/

Jets believe resiliency will continue in playoffs

WINNIPEG — For a young team, the Winnipeg Jets showed a resiliency and ability to adjust this regular season worthy of a veteran squad.

Those qualities are being put to the test again early in the playoffs.

Mathieu Perreault suffered an upper-body injury Wednesday night in the Jets’ first post-season win in franchise history, a 3-2 comeback win over Minnesota to open their Western Conference quarterfinal with the Wild.

As they have done all season, the Jets will turn to their youth and depth for a potential replacement for Perreault, who is a game-time decision for Game 2 on .

"We’ve been through that all year. The lineup hasn’t been quite full," said forward Bryan Little, who began Wednesday’s game centring Perreault’s line alongside Joel Armia. "We’re kind of used to shuffling the deck a little bit. Guys have stepped up when we needed them too, and that’s going too happen in the playoffs.

"It’s nice to have a talented group where we can get a guy into the lineup and he’s a player right away."

The Jets likely look towards rookie Jack Roslovic. The 21-year-old suited up in 31 games this season, totalling five goals and 14 points while spending time on the top unit as well as on the fourth line.

"I think we want him to use his speed and kind of fill-in for Matty (Perreault)," added Little. "I think he can play that game. He’s got a lot of energy and he’s got skill to make plays in their end. It’s not too much of a transition there."

Dealing with an adjusted lineup has become the norm for the Jets. Losing key contributors such as Mark Scheifele, Jacob Trouba, and Tobias Enstrom for long stretches failed to slow them as they finished with the NHL’s second-best regular season record at 52-20-10.

Whether it be injury or in-game adversity, staying within their game speaks to the team’s conviction and mental fortitude.

"Those close games, we’re confident that our offence can score goals when we need them to, especially if we’re down a goal," said Little. "We all have that feeling on the bench that the game is still ours. When we’d get down a goal in a tight game before, we just felt like there was that pressure to score and that pressure to get back in the game. We didn’t have that confidence we do now."

"It’s hard top put a finger on it. We’ve been that way all year," Little added. "Even when we lost key guys to injuries we didn’t lose that edge. We didn’t get away from our game. I think we have that depth that we’ve never had before. We can roll four lines now pretty easily so we don’t have to worry about matchups."

Despite youth and the lack of much playoff experience, the Jets are finding direction and guidance in their captain Blake Wheeler.

"(He’s) a perfect mentor for any young player," said head coach Paul Maurice. "Leadership is much about consistency, being consistent in how you play and how you treat the people around you. He’s been that way every day regardless of what’s going on around him."

"It’s a credit to our leadership. You look at what Blake does every night, he drives the ship for us," added forward Adam Lowry. "I think it’s sometimes you don’t know any better and don’t have that experience, you don’t have that fear of what could go wrong. You’re kind of just going out there to play and sometimes that’s a benefit for our team as well."

TSN.ca https://www.tsn.ca/video/boudreau-is-so-competitive-when-his-team-doesn-t-follow-suit-it- drives-him-nuts~1369998

Boudreau is so competitive, when his team doesn’t follow suit it drives him nuts

OverDrive hosts Bryan Hayes, Jeff O’Neill & Jamie McLennan are joined in studio by TSN Hockey Insider Bob McKenzie to discuss Bruce Boudreau’s difficult night in Game 1 and how passionate he is about winning. https://www.tsn.ca/nhl/video/injuries-could-test-jets-depth-in-game-2~1369581

Injuries could test Jets' depth in Game 2

Dave Poulin and Darren Dreger discuss the injury concerns to key Jets players going into Game 2, and why they expect the Wild's top line to be much more aggressive Friday night. https://www.tsn.ca/nhl/video/jets-ability-to-weather-adversity-on-full-display-in-game-1~1368950

Jets' ability to weather adversity on full display in Game 1

One of the hallmarks of the Jets this season has been their ability to weather adversity. It's one of the areas of their team game that they've improved most on from last season, and it was on display again in Game 1 against the Wild. Sara Orlesky has more. https://www.tsn.ca/nhl/video/lebrun-jets-fourth-line-was-dominant-early-in-game-1~1368954

LeBrun: Jets' fourth line was dominant early in Game 1

TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun talks about how the Jets' fourth line set the tone in Game 1 and how important the group will be during what Winnipeg hopes is a deep playoff run.

TSN 1290 (AUDIO LINKS) https://www.tsn.ca/radio/winnipeg-1290/lebrun-the-atmosphere-in-winnipeg-was-sensational- 1.1055531

LeBrun: The atmosphere in Winnipeg was sensational

TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun discussed the Jets game one win vs. Minnesota, the effect the crowd had on the game, how Minnesota managed without Ryan Suter and the effectiveness of the Jets fourth line. https://www.tsn.ca/radio/winnipeg-1290/pardy-maurice-s-system-is-relentless-1.1055524

Pardy: Maurice’s system is relentless

Former Winnipeg Jets defenseman Adam Pardy spoke with Andrew Paterson and Rick Ralph about the Jets game one win vs. Minnesota, his experience playing for the Jets during the 2015 playoffs, Patrik Laine’s shot, Nashville’s chances for a Stanley Cup and his year playing in Sweden. https://www.tsn.ca/radio/winnipeg-1290/campbell-jets-came-alive-in-the-third-1.1055522

Campbell: Jets came alive in the third

Winnipeg Free Press columnist and Winnipeg Jets Alumni Scott Campbell joined Andrew Paterson and Rick Ralph on the Afternoon Ride. They discussed the Jets game one win vs Minnesota, their impressive third period, Minnesota’s defensive style and the Jets depth at forward. www.winnipegjets.com https://www.nhl.com/jets/news/lowrys-big-night-personifies-jets-growth/c-297933408

Lowry's big night personifies Jets' growth In a span of only 15 seconds, the forward won three straight draws to help protect the one-goal lead late in Game 1 by Ryan Dittrick @ryandittrick / WinnipegJets.com

WINNIPEG - It was way back on Nov. 1, 2016.

The Winnipeg Jets had just rallied from a third-period deficit to level the score, 2-2, with the Washington Capitals and were seconds away from sending the game to overtime.

It never got that far, though.

Capitals forward Jay Beagle scored the winning goal with under 30 seconds to play after winning an offensive-zone faceoff, driving the net and depositing a loose puck after establishing body position with the very man he beat on the dot moments earlier.

That man - the one taking the barbs and facing the music post-game - was a young Adam Lowry who, in a cruel twist of fate, scored the emotional game-tying goal earlier in the final frame.

It was a moment Head Coach Paul Maurice knew would be painful at the time, but would one day prove to be an invaluable lesson for the raw, then-23-year-old forward.

"There's going to come a time when he takes that draw in a far more important game with the experience he got tonight.

"That's the job he's training to do."

Fast forward a year-and-a-half, and with the Jets protecting a one-goal lead late in Game 1 of their First Round series against the Minnesota Wild, and there was No. 17 back in the circle to the left of Connor Hellebuyck, staring down one of the league's best in Mikko Koivu.

In a span of only 15 seconds, Lowry won three straight draws - the last with only seven ticks left on the clock, allowing linemate Andrew Copp to easily clear the zone and help the Jets draw first blood in the best-of-seven series.

"You want to be out there in those key situations and you want to be taking those key draws," Lowry said following Thursday's optional practice at Bell MTS Place. "You certainly don't expect to win every faceoff - if you look at the top guys, they're only winning about six of every 10 draws - but (at the very least), you're seeing where their shots are going to come from and you're trying not to lose it clean so they get a clean pay off the faceoff.

"Fortunately, I was able to get those ones back and were able to clear the zone without allowing them any time to set up. It's great to see the work that we've put in to faceoffs paying off."

Indeed, it's one of the tangible areas of Lowry's game that has improved the most over the past year, having jumped more than five per cent to an elite, 55 per cent mark in the dot here today. Along with ample practice time and the cutting-edge coaching of Assistant Coach Todd Woodcroft, Lowry credits the access to video as being a big reason why he's taken that part of his game to a new level this year.

"Some of it comes with experience… and getting to know certain guys and their tendencies," Lowry said. "(Woodcroft) does a great deal of work with us and he presents us with a lot of video, so going into a faceoff, we always have a plan, we're always prepared, and we kind of know what to expect with each and every guy we're going against."

Of course, it wasn't just in the faceoff circle where the 6-foot-5, 210-pound pivot had an impact in Game 1.

The fourth line of Lowry, Copp and Brandon Tanev was one of the top trios in the win, combining for seven shots, a number of high quality scoring chances, nine hits, and all the while delivering a rock-solid defensive game that helped keep the Wild's top guns off the board.

Lowry finished the night with a 69 per cent efficiency in the faceoff circle.

With a game like that and those oh-so critical draws won clean to give the franchise its first-ever post-season victory, the forward's big night personifies the growth of this team and the work they've put in just to get here.

Maurice was right. There was a more important game than the one back in 2016.

"That's what he's been training to do."

- Ryan Dittrick, WinnipegJets.com https://www.nhl.com/jets/news/jets-focus-on-recovery-ahead-of-fridays-game-2-against-wild/c- 297930940

Jets focus on recovery ahead of Friday's Game 2 against Wild Ten skaters take part in optional practice Thursday by Mitchell Clinton @MitchellClinton / WinnipegJets.com

WINNIPEG - A day after the first playoff win in franchise history, the Winnipeg Jets can't be accused of looking in the rear view mirror.

Instead, the focus was on recovering from a physical game one, so all the bodies could be as rested as possible when the puck drops on Game Two tomorrow.

"That's what the coaching staff, what a lot of guys talk about. Just taking the next day, worry about the day in front of you," said Jacob Trouba. "That's the attitude we've embraced all year with not looking forward to too many games too far down the road. That's the same attitude we've taken into this playoffs. Worry about game one, now it's over. Take care of yourself today, and worry about tomorrow."

In total, the Jets threw 39 of the 70 hits in Game One against the Minnesota Wild. Sure, hits like Dustin Byfuglien's big collision with Joel Eriksson Ek get the fans out of their seats, but Jets forward Andrew Copp said hits like those also send shockwaves through the team's bench.

"Not to say everyone wasn't engaged already, obviously, but it was at a key point in the game," said Copp. "Obviously 0-0, they were kind of forcing us back into our own zone on the power play. It turned the momentum on the power play a little bit. His physical presence all game long is something that is intimidating for their forwards. They know when he's on the ice, and they're trying to not go into the corner with him. That turned the tide of the game a little bit."

Byfuglien's four hits were nowhere near Ben Chiarot's team-leading 10 on Wednesday, but head coach Paul Maurice says the hits aren't as important to the Jets as being in the right spot to deliver them.

In other words, don't go looking for hits just to make a statement.

"We don't talk about hitting in our room. We don't talk about playing a physical game. We have men that are, that finish their checks. They're big, and that's part of who they are," said Maurice.

"We haven't been good in games where I thought we tried to set a physical tone early in the game. We played five games in a row here about three weeks ago. We had Dallas come in - very physical against us, that was the plan.

"So we went Dallas, Anaheim, LA, Nashville, Boston. The best part of our game was when we skated, not when we tried to match hits."

Only 10 Jets skaters took to the ice for practice today, along with goaltenders Steve Mason and Connor Hellebuyck.

Mathieu Perreault wasn't one of the players on the ice, and Maurice said the 30-year-old will be a game time decision for Game Two, after leaving Game One with an upper-body injury in the second period.

The coach went as far as saying that only Dmitry Kulikov (back) and Matt Hendricks (lower-body injury) are ruled out for Friday.

"Everybody else is game time," said Maurice with a grin. "Or coach's decision."

Blake Wheeler also didn't skate, following his 20:30 of ice time. While he wasn't on the ice, his day-by-day approach - not only in the postseason, but through the entire regular season - has had a big influence on the room.

"He doesn't deviate from what he does every day whether it's in practice or a game. He brings the same energy, the same physicality, the same everything, every day," said Trouba. "It's not as much everything he says, but you know when you go against him in practice, you know you're going to have a tough match-up. That fades off on every one. You watch a guy do that, all the way back to training camp you can remember, he just brings that extra jump.

"When you're not feeling great, he pushes through it, and that makes you to push through it, and that brings everyone up."

The next challenge is to bring the same intensity, the same work ethic, and the same persistence to Game Two at Bell MTS Place.

And Maurice knows, based on history alone, this one will be every bit as tough as Game One.

"This isn't going to be a big event series I don't think," said Maurice. "This year was really unusual. We played them early, and they had half their team out. Then we played them later, and we had half our team out.

"But if you go back prior to that, (there are) just an awful lot of one-goal games - very tight games, not a lot of offence in it. I don't think that's going to change whether we start to skate a little faster, or they do. It's going to be a grinder."

The Athletic https://theathletic.com/311996/2018/04/13/lebrun-a-qa-with-the-winnipeg-jets-paul-stastny/

LeBrun: Q&A with Paul Stastny on the playoff atmosphere in Winnipeg, playing with Patrik Laine and more

By Pierre LeBrun

WINNIPEG — Paul Stastny’s transition to the Winnipeg Jets after coming over as a trade deadline pickup Feb. 26 has seemingly been seamless, both on and off the ice. His chemistry with linemate Patrik Laine was evident on the tying goal Wednesday night during the team’s 3-2 Game 1 victory over the Minnesota Wild. Off the ice, Stastny’s family has joined him here in Winnipeg, which has given him some normalcy in his routine even if his stop here might potentially be just for the rest of the season. He is a pending UFA and, if he does explore July 1, he’ll be the second-most desirable centre after superstar John Tavares in a market rather thin on available centres. But that’s a story for another day. He’s all about the playoff run in Winnipeg this spring.

(As an aside, the older he gets, and maybe this is just me, the more he has a striking resemblance to his father, Hall of Famer Peter Stastny. It’s just uncanny. For our young readers who don’t remember the great Slovak centre during his heyday in the 1980s, Peter Stastny was an absolute superstar, a horse. How the Quebec Nordiques never won a Stanley Cup with him I’ll never know. But I digress.)

Paul Stastny was born in Quebec City but grew up in St. Louis, which is why it was a thrill for him to sign a four-year deal with the Blues in July 2014. I caught up with the 32-year-old on Thursday in a Q&A for The Athletic on the eve of Game 2:

LeBrun: Paul, you got your first taste of what playoff hockey in Winnipeg is like Wednesday night. First impressions?

Stastny: I thought it was awesome. You could feel the buzz even before warmup. When you come out for warmup and the whole crowd is already basically there in their seats, you know it’s playoffs and it’s excitement around here. Throughout the game, you felt it. You see it on TV, but it’s not as good as how it looks in person. I got a bunch of texts last night about it. When you’re here in person, it’s definitely a different feel. It’s something special, and it was nice for a lot of the guys to get their first playoff game out of the way.

LeBrun: Well, in deliberating whether you would waive your no-trade clause to come here at the deadline, I’m sure that was part of the appeal, is what this would be like at playoff time plus joining a team that has a chance to win. I know you got some good intel from a guy like (former Jet) Chris Thorburn in St. Louis and, of course, (Jets captain) Blake Wheeler was all over you …

Stastny: Yeah, absolutely. But, I mean, locker rooms are all the same. I think 95 percent of hockey players are cut from the same cloth, so you get along with them. It’s really easy to fit in right away. That wasn’t the biggest issue. The biggest thing on my mind was, where is the best chance to win? You don’t know how long you’ll be here. But if you look at a short-term window, 20 games and a potential playoff run, you realize more as you get older how hard it is to win. Decisions like that don’t come around often. They take a lot of time and thought. I see what kind of group we have here. A lot of depth.

Yesterday was a perfect example with the mix of youth and different players. We’re down 2-1, and we just kept playing. We didn’t sit back. We didn’t worry too much about the score. That just shows what the coaching staff has done with all the players. Sending that same message of constantly playing whether you’re up a goal or down a goal.

LeBrun: When you’re making that type of decision in weighing whether you’d waive to come here or not, it’s not just a “Paul Stastny decision.” It’s a “Paul Stastny and family decision,” right? Some players when traded at the deadline will leave their family behind for the rest of the season and figure out their future as a family in the offseason, but you decided to move your family here?

Stastny: Oh, yeah. Family is so important. When the question came up a couple of days before the deadline, I brought up with my wife that something might happen and that we should be ready. She was all for it. It turned out well. Right after the trade, we had two home games but then went out on the road for two weeks. She didn’t have to come out right away. We took some time to find a place to rent and try to get her as comfortable as possible. She’s always been my biggest supporter, and she’s never complained or had any negative thoughts about anything. She knows I’ve got a short window to do this and just wants me to be as happy as I can. When I’m around my family, I’m happy. For them to be around me, it just makes me at ease and makes me more comfortable on the ice.

LeBrun: It beats living in a hotel by yourself for the rest of the season.

Stastny: Oh, yeah. Although there’s pros and cons (he laughs), especially with two kids. You have days when you have trouble falling asleep, and you get up at 10. Like today, I naturally woke up at 7:15. Nothing puts a smile on your face like seeing your kids and family in the morning. Sometimes just in the short term, it’s nice to be in a hotel for a couple of days (for sleep). But then I talk to Joe Morrow and he’s like, “Man, I wish I had a family here. I’m sick of living out of the hotel now and the same routine for six weeks now.’’

LeBrun: Speaking of family, your dad experienced the passion of a Canadian hockey market in Quebec City. And, ironically, I always think Quebec City and Winnipeg are tied at the hip in that they both lost their NHL teams, though the Jets returned. What’s his reaction been to you being here now?

Stastny: He’s just my biggest fan. So whatever team I’m playing for, he becomes their biggest cheerleader. For someone who is so even-kneel, when things are out of his control, which is either when he’s golfing or when he’s watching games, he lets his emotions get the best of him. But he loves it. Early on (after the trade), we talked a lot. He’s been through it. He almost took it harder than I did. He was more nervous than I was. But I think now just knowing the team we have here, he’s watching every game. He was probably stressed out watching last night in the last two minutes with a whistle every 10 seconds. Missing all those empty-netters. He realizes how hard it is to win. He’s never won a Stanley Cup. Maybe by living through me it’s his chance of getting one in a sense. It’s been fun. When I need him or need to talk to him, whether it’s about family or about hockey, he’s always my mentor I can talk to and get feedback from.

LeBrun: Were you caught off guard when (Blues GM) Doug Armstrong broached the possibility of a trade? I mean, the Blues still had a chance to make the playoffs.

Stastny: Yeah, but I wasn’t caught off guard. I always think worst-case scenario. So, in the back of my mind, I remember when I signed four years ago with a no-trade clause and my dad made a great point at the time: “Those don’t mean anything. Just because you have it doesn’t mean you won’t get moved.” The top players in the world get moved. It's always a possibility. … when it’s the last year of your contract, especially if a team is struggling or on the bubble. So, I think in the back of my mind, I wasn’t naive to it. I’ve been around the league for 12 years. I’ve seen it happen before. You never know what can happen.

LeBrun: What was that like because you have a lot of good pals on that Blues team. To see them miss out on the playoffs after losing against Colorado in the last game of the regular season, the other team you played for in your career. What was that like to watch?

Stastny: Yeah, it was weird. Like you said, I have a lot of close friends in St. Louis, and I also still have close friends in Colorado. I feel for those guys (in St. Louis). They battled hard. There were a lot of injuries. There are certain guys I talk to almost every day. When they’re losing, you don’t want to send a message. You feel bad. You kind of want to wait until they talk to you. You don’t want to rub anything in. It’s just so tough. That’s when you realize nothing is given to you.

You look at the Central Division the way it’s been the last couple of years, four to five teams get into the playoffs and how hard it is. You have to be ready from Game 1 to Game 82. To see something like come down to the last game, I think you’ll see that more often.

LeBrun: Had you remembered that the Jets tried to get in on your free-agent situation back in 2014? I know a lot of teams did, but did you remember their interest? Obviously, it’s kind of ironic you end up with the Jets four years later.

Stastny: Yeah, it’s funny how a lot of things come full circle. Whether it’s me starting my career in Colorado and my dad starting his career in Quebec (which moved to Colorado). Or me going to St. Louis and my dad ended his career in St. Louis. Just things like that. You never can predict anything. That’s why you never burn bridges. You keep all your options open because you never know what can happen. There are unforeseen situations. Any time in life you think something’s guaranteed and set in stone and you think you can predict something, I think the Lord throws a curveball at you a different way and keeps you on your toes.

LeBrun: You got the chance to play, at times, on the same line as Vladimir Tarasenko in St. Louis, and now get to play on the same line as Patrik Laine. I know comparisons are hard, but just to have played with two world-class goal scorers, what’s that like as a natural disher?

Stastny: Special players. There are very few pure goal scorers in this league. There’s certain guys who have that knack, there’s maybe five or six guys in the NHL currently that, every time they touch it, can score from anywhere. Those guys are so good. They have more than one or two sweet spots. They have such an open window. You see it with Patty where, on the power play sometimes, even if the puck is behind him or in front of him, he still finds ways to one-time it but not in the same spot every time.

Players like that are very few and far between. When you get the chance to play with a player like that, you enjoy it for sure. And you get caught being in awe. Especially in practice, when you see what those guys are doing. You don’t take it for granted, that’s for sure. Because you just don’t see it very often. As a playmaker, as a disher, I’m always trying to find those guys. And what makes it easy for me is that those guys want the puck and always find ways to get open.

LeBrun: You made a nice drop play to Patrik on the tying goal Wednesday night. How is that chemistry developing between the two of you? You seemed to know where he was heading without really looking at him.

Stastny: I’m just trying to create space knowing that he’s trying to get open because he wants that puck right back in the slot. The more we play along with [Nikolaj] Ehlers, the more the three of us talk about where they’re going to be open at different times. It’s good come playoff time because, the last five or six games of the regular season, there were meaningless games for us and it was a bit like shinny hockey. Too much run and gun. I thought yesterday we simplified the game and tried to get aggressive on the forecheck and create chances off that. That goal obviously was created off a turnover that started off Ehlers putting pressure and Laine making a good play. Anytime there’s a hole or a potential scoring opportunity, you know Patty is going to take off and want the puck.

LeBrun: For sure. Thanks for your time, Paul.

Stastny: You’re welcome.