Los Angeles stunned the Winnipeg Jets with a 5-1 road win on Tuesday.
On Tuesday evening, the Los Angeles Kings picked up win No. 1 of the season with a 5-1 shocker over the Winnipeg Jets at Canada Life Centre.
Former centreman Pierre-Luc Dubois scored the opener for the visitors in his highly-scrutinized debut, helping Los Angeles push Winnipeg to 1-2-0 on the season.
Despite all the hype and pent-up excitement, things couldn’t have started worse for Winnipeg.
Just 5:55 in, prized offseason acquisition Gabe Vilardi was tripped up by former teammate Alex Lizotte. He fell backward awkwardly on his right leg and headed straight down the tunnel.
It wasn’t long until the Jets officially ruled him out for the night with a lower-body injury. The immediate concern for Vilardi – based on the way his leg bent – is for his MCL, which saw serious aggravation as all his weight bore down on the inside of his knee.
Bringing a damper on a fired-up Canada Life Centre, the injury certainly changed the game’s forecast in a heartbeat.
Los Angeles broke the scoreless tie in the second period by none other than Mr. Pierre-Luc Dubois. With a chorus of boos raining down each time the former Jet touched the puck, he hammered home a loose puck atop the foot of the crease moments after the expiry of a Winnipeg minor.
Things got chippy shortly thereafter, as Andreas Englund hammered Cole Perfetti from behind into the side boards. There was no call on the play, but Dylan Samberg took exception – or at least tried to, but his hand got caught up in his glove and stick. He took two heavy punches directly to the face from Englund and found himself needing immediate repairs.
Not only was Samberg assessed a fighting major and likely some stitches, he also found himself marked down for the instigator and a 10-minute misconduct, for his 19th penalty minute of the game.
“I’m not going to talk about the refs," a frustrated Nikolaj Ehlers said post-game. "They’re doing their job as best as they can. It’s not going to change anything.”
“You don’t want to take penalties. You don’t want to be on the PK. No team wants to be on the PK. We obviously thought that that hit was not necessary. I don’t know why there wasn’t a penalty on that play, but again, it doesn’t change anything now.”
Then it was Mark Scheifele – who can’t seem to go a single game without fighting these days – and Lady Byng winner Kyle Connor attempting to get in on the action. The two worked in near-unison, as they each jumped on the backs of their Kings opponents and attempted WWE-style takedowns in a late-period skirmish.
With the ‘Ref You Suck’ chants becoming nearly an ever-present anthem, Jets fans watched as Phil Danault perfectly setup Trevor Moore on the doorstep, doubling the Kings’ lead. Moore’s goal put the visitors up 2-0 with just 3:41 to go in the frame – a period Los Angeles controlled from the get-go.
Entering the frame up 14-9 in the shot department, Winnipeg finished the second trailing 21-18.
The Kings sealed the deal in the early stages of the third period, as Arthur Kaliyev – fresh off his four-game suspension – scored the dagger, putting the visitors ahead 3-0 with nearly a full period to play out. Some miscommunication between Perfetti and Brenden Dillon led to a strip and perfect pass by Moore to the young goal scorer.
Moore found another marker late in the third, as he beat Hellebuyck high, blocker side, before Danault added insult to injury, putting the visitors up 5-0.
But just before time ran out, Scheifele got his third of the year with 1:16 left in the game, spoiling Talbot's bid for a shutout just about as late as possible.
The disgruntled Jets goalkeeper finished the night with just 23 saves on the 28 Kings shots he faced, while Talbot played one of the best games he's had in some time, shutting the door on 26 of 27 shots.
“We needed to get back to how we played in the first, and we weren’t really able to do that," Ehlers said. "It was a lot of east-west plays and not as much… we were ripping that puck down for icing, all of us. That’s not how you’re going to get back into the game.”
Next up for Winnipeg is the final test of the three-game, season-opening homestand from Canada Life Centre, as the reigning Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights make their way to Manitoba for a Thursday night showdown. That game can be viewed live on TSN at 7:00 PM central time.
It is very likely Laurent Brossoit will make his 2023-24 debut in net for the Jets in that game against his former teammates.