In the first meeting between two teams involved in one of the biggest offseason deals in the NHL, players who were moved in the trade were a big part of the story in a 5-1 win for the Los Angeles Kings in Winnipeg Tuesday night.
Former Jets forward Pierre-Luc Dubois scored his first goal as a member of the Kings in his return to Winnipeg, while new Jet Gabriel Vilardi was forced to leave the game in the first period with a lower-body injury.
Trevor Moore led the charge for the Kings with two goals and an assist in the win, while Phillip Danault also had a three-point night with a goal and two helpers. Mark Scheifele had the lone marker for Winnipeg and he’s scored in all three games so far after signing his long-term contract.
The Jets had a solid opening period that ended scoreless, but the Kings only got stronger as the game wore on, scoring three times in the final frame for their first win of the season.
“We missed too many chances in the first when we played really well in the first,” said Jets head coach Rick Bowness. “They played really well in the second. But we made it too easy for them in the second.
“The things that we were doing so well in the first in terms of competing in our zone, managing the puck going through the neutral zone, which we did such a good job in the first. In the second,we got stubborn and tried to make plays that weren’t there and kept turning the puck over.”
The Jets managed just 13 shots on goal over the final two periods in front of a surprisingly small crowd with only 11,226 in attendance, 4,000 short of capacity at Canada Life Centre.
“We played better in the first period,” said Jets forward Nikolaj Ehlers. “Played more direct, more to the net, shots, and they kept doing that, and we didn’t.”
In his first game against his former team, Vilardi had to be helped to the dressing room just six minutes into the hockey game. Blake Lizotte took out his legs in the corner and Vilardi fell awkwardly with his right leg underneath him. He grabbed his knee in pain immediately and Lizotte received a two-minute penalty for tripping.
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Bowness didn’t reveal anything on the severity of the injury afterwards.
“Be re-evaluated in the morning,” said Bowness.
Cole Perfetti was also on the receiving end of a bad hit in the second period as he was driven head first into the boards from behind by Andreas Englund. He didn’t even get a penalty for the hit but fought Dylan Samberg soon after.
“My face is smeared against the boards,” said Perfetti sporting a cut on his nose. “I feel like I’m pretty defenseless. I don’t know. I’m just trying to get the puck in deep. I’m not much of a threat there.
“It didn’t feel good that’s for sure.”
The Jets began the night by starting Vilardi, Rasmus Kupari, and Alex Iafallo, the three players who came over from LA in the Dubois deal.
They weren’t able to do much before Samberg sent the puck out of play from his own end for a minor penalty just 24 seconds into the game.
Dubois got his first touch of the puck during the man advantage and was booed heartily by the Winnipeg crowd, as he would be every time he touched the puck throughout the game.
The Jets killed off the penalty and got their first power play try just shy of six minutes into the night when Vilardi was tripped by Lizotte. Vladislav Namestnikov took his spot on the top line.
Winnipeg managed to get several decent looks on the power play but couldn’t cash in. The Jets’ best chance came off the stick of Josh Morrissey when his slap shot from the point rang off the crossbar and dropped straight down into the crease but never crossed the goal line.
Winnipeg held a 14-9 edge in shots on goal through 20 minutes but the score remained tied 0-0.
The Jets got a second crack with the man advantage early in the middle frame but couldn’t do anything with it, and after that, the Kings took control of the game.
The visitors kept the pressure on Winnipeg until Morgan Barron was handed a very questionable interference penalty just shy of the midway point of the period.
While the Jets were able to kill it off, their penalty killers were hemmed in their own end and weren’t able to clear the puck.
Exhausted, they couldn’t take care of the front of the net, leading to a rebound goal for Dubois from in close on Hellebuyck at the 11:01 mark of the period.
It was Dubois’ first goal as a King and led to the loudest boos of the night when his goal was announced over the public address system.
That was until things got heated over a missed boarding penalty with roughly six minutes left in the period. Perfetti was shoved from behind into the boards by Englund, prompting Samberg to come to Perfetti’s defence.
Samberg and Englund dropped the gloves briefly before Englund landed a hefty punch to Samberg’s face, ending the fracas. Samberg was given an instigator penalty on the play, putting the Kings back on the power play and sending the Jets faithful into a loud ‘ref, you suck!’ chant.
Winnipeg killed it off but after icing the puck right as the penalty expired, another scrum ensued, with Perfetti, Scheifele, Matt Roy and Vladislav Gavrikov earning minor penalties.
The faceoff stayed in the Jets’ zone and seconds after LA won the draw, Moore doubled the Kings lead when he snuck one through Hellebuyck from the slot.
LA outshot the Jets 12-4 in the second as they looked to close out their first win of the season.
Aiding that cause was Arthur Kaliyev, who put the Kings up 3-0 early in the third. Perfetti and Brenden Dillon were unable to handle the puck behind the Winnipeg net, turning it over to Moore who found Kaliyev wide open in front of Hellebuyck.
Moore added a second marker of the game when he beat Hellebuyck from distance with a clean wrister at the 14:30 mark to make it 4-0. It’s the third straight game with four goals allowed for Hellebuyck to start the season.
But the Kings weren’t done yet. Seconds after Barron went to the box to serve another interference minor, Danault banged home a rebound through a crowd to make it 5-0.
Scheifele ruined the shutout bid with 1:16 to go but it was of little solace to the smattering of fans who stayed for the full 60 minutes.
The Jets will have to regroup quickly as they host the reigning Stanley Cup champions, the Vegas Golden Knights, Thursday night. Puck drop is just after 7 p.m. with pregame coverage on 680 CJOB starting at 5 p.m.
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