The Winnipeg Jets have lost another critical piece of their roster as the opening round, best-of-seven playoff series with the Golden Knights moves to Vegas for Game 5.
On Monday night - just 48 hours after losing all-star defenceman Josh Morrissey for the series due to a leg injury - Winnipeg was handed another blow.
This time in the form of a Mark Scheifele upper-body ailment.
And much like that of Morrissey's setback, Scheifele's injury also occurred on his opening shift of the game.
“We were all hoping he was okay," Pierre-Luc Dubois said post-game. "He went pretty hard into the boards. Yeah, we were hoping it was going to be fine and then he comes back onto the ice, we think he’s okay. Obviously, to lose him is very unfortunate.”
Scheifele, who was flung through the air into the end-boards following a breakaway chance, actually attempted to play another power play shift - much like that of Morrissey on Saturday - but went directly down the tunnel after one attempted shot on goal.
“It feels like this year we’ve been without key players at a lot of moments," Dubois added. "So, obviously, it’s not something you want to see; he’s a great player. He’s huge for our team, but you got to have the next-man-up mentality. We stayed in it, gave ourselves a good opportunity and, unfortunately, we just didn’t win.”
No, the Jets didn't win, but they did come close to another comeback at Canada Life Centre.
"Anything's possible," Dubois said. "We can't be thinking about getting two or three more wins here. We've got to just think about the next game and how we can get that next win. We have what it takes. We have good forwards, we have good D's and in my mind we have the best goalie in the NHL."
For Scheifele, it's another tough break for the on-again, off-again forward. Despite setting a new career-high with 42 goals on the season, he struggled at times, failing to score in large stretches.
"Bad luck, whatever you want to call it," Blake Wheeler said of his injured linemate. "It's not something we can really dwell on. We have to focus on the bodies we have available and certainly we have enough to win on Thursday."
Now down Nikolaj Ehlers, Cole Perfetti, Morrissey and Scheifele, the Jets will need to dig deep to find another gear to avoid losing their fourth-straight after such a strong start.
“The team played hard, our team played very hard tonight," head coach Rick Bowness added. "We adjusted, and we’ve been through this before early in the year when we had five or six guys out, key guys out. And now we’re faced with it again. And the difference now obviously is you’re in the playoffs. And you’re playing an excellent hockey club every night. And they are a good hockey club. So are we. We’ll find a way. We fought through this before. Are we missing some keys guys? Yep. We’ll find a way to win that game on Thursday.”