The Winnipeg Jets may not have won Tuesday night, but fans still got to see Jonathan Toews in a Jets jersey for the first time.
They roared when he was introduced in the starting lineup, cheered loudly when he won the opening faceoff, but he was held off the scoresheet in a 3-2 loss to the Edmonton Oilers. It was Winnipeg’s second straight loss to begin the preseason.
Toews centred the Jets top line of Cole Perfetti and Gustav Nyquist, and the trio had several quality scoring chances, but couldn’t find the back of the net.
“There was some good stuff,” said Jets head coach Scott Arniel. “I thought he picked up sort of our systems. There’s some areas there. There’s other times where, like he said, he felt he could be a little better. And I think that’s just rust. I think that’s just timing. That’s getting to know his linemates. I think there was a little bit of both there. I think that’s a good first game and I know for a fact he’ll end up being better in the next one.”
Toews took 22 shifts, playing 18:36, and won just over half his faceoffs, going 11 for 20 at the dot in his first game in close two and a half years, but it will take some time for the Jets new-look second line to find their chemistry.
“It was nice to play some hockey, and get back in the groove of things, play with some new linemates,” Perfetti said. “It was fun. Obviously, first pre-season game, first game as a line, so there’s going to be some growing pains and figuring each other out and learning. But I thought we had some good looks and had some shifts where we were working together, connecting well, and something to build on for sure.
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“I think tonight was a good start and a good step in the right direction.
“It’s not going to be a Picasso night one.”
Colin Miller and Colby Barlow scored the goals for the Jets in a losing cause. Barlow was originally credited with their first goal, but it was later given to Miller. Barlow had a game-high five shots on goal.
“He shed a lot of pounds,” said Arniel. “You can see the transition, the transformation in his body. And it’s paying off. I think he’s got a better understanding about how we play, how we defend.
“He finds a way whether getting the shot off or he had two great looks in the first period. Those tips, those are things that goal scorers do.”
Lambert assisted on both goals as the Jets scored with the goalie pulled with 61 seconds left to get within a goal, but they couldn’t muster the equalizer.
Neither team scored in a fairly uneventful first period where Winnipeg outshot the Oilers 6-3.
The Jets had the lone power play of the first but the biggest moment happened in Winnipeg’s own end where Edmonton had the chance at an odd-man rush but Toews made a great backcheck to take the chance away.
Edmonton opened the scoring at the 7:39 mark of the second with a goal that felt like it happened in slow motion.
Noah Philp took the puck toward the corner in the Jets end and tried to slide the puck on goal. It glanced off the skate of Miller and careened toward the crease, where Quinn Hutson tipped it high over the glove of Eric Comrie.
Edmonton continued to be the better team in the second until a great shift from the Jets resulted in the equalizer.
The trio of Lambert, Barlow and Parker Ford put in the work to keep the puck alive in Edmonton’s end. Lambert made a great play along the boards before slinging the puck around the boards to the left point where Kale Clague collected it before sending it to the middle of the ice for Miller. His shot found its way through Calvin Pickard.
The game did not stay tied for too long, however, as Winnipeg was called for a high-sticking penalty and the Oilers took full advantage.
Isaac Howard took a cross-ice feed from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and wired it through Comrie from the faceoff dot to put the Oilers back in front just 2:05 after Winnipeg drew level.
Edmonton took the 2-1 lead to the third after a period in which they outshot the Jets 9-6.
Winnipeg had a couple decent looks to tie the game in the third, with both Barlow and Brayden Yager failing to convert in the slot before the Oilers picked up an insurance marker with 8:03 remaining.
The Jets were in control of the puck in their own end, with Miller sending it up the wall from behind the net but Perfetti lost the handle, sending it skittering back toward the corner. Philp picked it up and four Jets converged around him before he found a streaking Ty Emberson, who walked in and wired a wrister off the post and in to make it 3-1.
The Jets pulled Comrie with just under three minutes left and didn’t put a ton of pressure on the Oilers until there was just over a minute to go, when Barlow this time for sure redirected a Ville Heinola point shot through Matt Tomkins to make it 3-2.
Comrie remained on the bench as Winnipeg pushed for the tying goal in the final minute, but they would get no closer.
The Jets continue their exhibition schedule with the rematch in Edmonton on Friday night.
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