For the second time in three pre-season games, the Winnipeg Jets needed a shootout to decide things Wednesday night.
But unlike Sunday night in Edmonton, the Jets fell short in a 3-2 decision to the Calgary Flames for their first exhibition defeat.
The Jets had a one-goal lead in the third period until Connor Zary tied the game as a power play just expired with seven minutes left. After a furious back-and-forth goalless overtime, Calgary scored the only goal of the shootout to pick up the win.
Jansen Harkins and Parker Ford scored the goals for Winnipeg in the loss.
After killing off an early Flames power play, the Jets got on the board first thanks to a player fighting for a depth role on the team.
Harkins made a good play to take the puck into the Calgary end before dropping it off for Ford. Ford eluded some Flames defenders before sending a crisp return pass into the slot for Harkins, who wired it off the post and past Dustin Wolf to open the scoring just over seven minutes in.
But the visitors funneled pucks towards Connor Hellebuyck for most of the opening frame and it finally paid off in the final minute.
After a scramble in front of Hellebuyck, Dryden Hunt corralled a loose puck and knocked it home with 22 seconds to go in the first, evening the score after a period that saw Calgary outshoot Winnipeg 16-3.
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There was a brief injury scare for Winnipeg in the second when Nino Niederreiter was involved in an awkward collision. He skated slowly to the bench, hunched over and grabbing his neck. But after going to the locker room, he returned to the ice, missing just a shift or two.
Hellebuyck’s night ended during the first media timeout of the second period, making way for Oskari Salminen after stopping 18 of 19 shots.
Not much happened for most of the period until the final minute when Calgary’s Martin Pospisil caught Cole Perfetti with a late and high hit to the head as they skated up the ice.
With Perfetti down on the ice, Logan Stanley grabbed Pospisil and started punching him while Jeffrey Viel also got in on the scrum near the Calgary bench.
When the dust settled, Pospisil was given a match penalty for an illegal check to the head plus a fighting major, Stanley was given a minor for instigating, five minutes for fighting and a ten-minute misconduct while Viel also received a ten-minute misconduct. Perfetti left the game and did not return.
The teams played 4-on-4 to start the third period and just before Winnipeg was to begin a three-minute power play, Jonathan Aspirot took a hooking penalty, giving the Jets a lengthy 5-on-3.
After keeping the puck in the Calgary end for almost two straight minutes, Winnipeg finally cashed in when Ford blasted one high over the shoulder of Wolf to put the Jets back in front.
The game already felt a bit chippier than Winnipeg’s previous two pre-season contests but after the Pospisil penalty, the physicality seemed to ramp up even further in the third period.
Calgary got a power play near the halfway point of the period when Niederreiter got a bit overzealous and took an interference penalty. Not long after Winnipeg killed it off, Vladislav Namestnikov was denied on a breakaway and then took a holding penalty.
The Jets technically killed it off, but just as Namestnikov stepped out of the box, and moments after Niederreiter’s stick broke to free up space in the Winnipeg end, Zary wired a wrist shot top shelf past Salminen to level the score and force overtime.
Calgary came closest to ending it during a chaotic five-minute session of 3-0n-3 hockey when Nikita Zadorov rang a shot off the pipe. The puck ricocheted into the neutral zone and led to a partial breakaway for Rasmus Kupari but he couldn’t beat Wolf.
After the first three shooters were stopped, Andrew Mangiapane beat Salminen, forcing Namestnikov into a must-score situation. Wolf denied him with a great pad save to secure the win for Calgary.
Wolf earned the win with 19 saves, while Salminen stopped 13 shots in relief.
The Jets continue their pre-season Friday night in Ottawa. The puck drops just after 6 p.m. with pregame coverage on Power 97 beginning at 4 p.m.
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