WINNIPEG – It sure looked like a team playing their first competitive game since the spring. The Winnipeg Jets failed to generate any offence in a 3-0 loss to the Calgary Flames to open the pre-season on Tuesday at MTS Centre.
Brett Kulak was in on all three Flames goals. He scored two goals and assisted on the other Flames marker for a three point effort. Chad Johnson and David Rittich teamed up in the Flames net for the shutout. Johnson stopped all 21 shots he faced while Rittich made six saves in the final period to close out the game.
The Jets dressed a very inexperienced lineup for their first exhibition game with Blake Wheeler, Mark Scheifele, Dustin Byfuglien, Bryan Little and Patrik Laine just a few of the players sitting out.
“There’s a lot of positive things that came out of the game just in terms of our structure and our attention to detail in the first two periods.” said Jets assistant coach Jamie Kompon. “For some of the young kids, I think the training camp kind of wore down on those kids and we saw it in the third.”
While it was the first exhibition game for the Jets, the Flames were playing in back to back nights as they improved to 1-2 for the pre-season.
“Obviously they played the night before for the most part.” said defenceman Josh Morrissey. “First period we were kind of getting our legs going and figuring out what it’s like to be in a game situation again after the summer. But I thought overall we did some good things, obviously anytime you lose you’re not happy.”
Eric Comrie played the entire game in the Jets goal and stopped 24 of the 27 shots he faced.
“It was my first game in a long time.” said Comrie. “I was just getting back out there. I made a couple mistakes and they ended up in the back of my net.
Shawn Matthias was the most experienced player in the lineup for the Jets, but he left the game in the first period with an injury. Oak Bank’s Quinton Howden was dressed for the Jets but he didn’t register a shot and finished the game with a -2 plus/minus.
Only four players who spent the bulk of the regular season with the Jets last year played against the Flames on Tuesday. Andrew Copp, Paul Postma, Anthony Peluso and Adam Lowry were all dressed. Michael Hutchinson was the Jets backup goalie.
After a scoreless first period the Flames opened the scoring just over three minutes into the middle stanza. Comrie stopped the original shot but Freddie Hamilton was right there to lift in the rebound to give the Flames the upper hand. Kulak picked up the only assist on the Flames opening goal.
Midway through the second period, Brandon Tanev stole the puck near the red line and waltzed in on the breakaway. He tried to fire it in the 5-hole but Johnson stopped him to preserve the Flames one goal lead.
Soon after though, while playing 4-on-4 hockey, Brian Strait turned the puck over in his own zone. He gave it right to Kulak who fired it into a gaping net with Comrie out to play the puck. The goal was unassisted and the Flames were ahead by two.
The Jets came close to getting on the scoresheet late in the period. From behind the net Michael Spacek sent the puck in front to Copp. But Johnson came diving across to rob him with his trapper. Copp finished the game with four shots on net and the Jets outshot the Flames 16-9 in the period. Johnson exited the game after 40 minutes.
David Rittich replaced Johnson in the Flames net to start the third period and with just under seven minutes remaining the Flames went ahead by three. Kulak cut in front of the net and buried the shot behind Comrie.
JC Lipon came close to tipping the puck past Rittich with three minutes to go but the Jets couldn’t solve either Flames netminder in the 3-0 loss.
The Jets next exhibition game is on Thursday at home to the Minnesota Wild.
WATCH: Winnipeg Jets Post Game Reaction
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