With their playoff lives on the line, the Winnipeg Jets faltered to the tune of a 3-1 loss in a 'must-win' game for the Calgary Flames on Wednesday night at Canada Life Centre.
Fresh on the heels of a disgruntling 4-3 home loss to the 32nd-place Chicago Blackhawks, the Calgary Flames made their way to Winnipeg for what was touted to be the game of the season. And the Flames did not disappoint.
The Jets, on the other hand, crashed and burned in yet another disappointing collapse.
"It was one of those nights," head coach Rick Bowness said post-game.
"...Stay out of the box, let’s play five-on-five, and let’s play a lot faster. When you’ve taken six penalties, it’s hard to play the way we want to play. So we have to stay out of the box and play five-on-five."
Nikita Zadorov and Andrew Mangiapane each had a goal and an assist, while Jacob Markstrom made 34 saves in a game that may have given the Flames the inside step in the Western Conference wild card race.
Facing three non-playoff teams in their final stretch of the season, Calgary's schedule may be one game shorter than Winnipeg's, but its opponents are slightly softer.
Sure, the Jets also play the Nashville Predators and San Jose Sharks, but they also face strong Central Division teams in Minnesota and Colorado on the road to end the year.
Although falling to 43-32-3 on the season, Winnipeg (89 points, four games remaining) did maintain its tiebreaker of regulation wins over Calgary (89 points, three games remaining), despite the Flames having won the season series.
It is a toss up, but the Jets prefer to think they still have control in the race.
"We could be in a worse position," Jets forward Pierre-Luc Dubois said post-game. "We could be on the outside looking in. We could be the team that played one more game right now and is still tied."
With just four games left on the schedule, the Jets will need to find a way to get back in the win column, and do so quickly.
After pulling ahead to a quick 1-0 lead, Winnipeg gave up three-straight goals to the Flames, ultimately falling 3-1 on the night.
The game may not have featured as many goals as the Jets' two previous showings, but it did live up to the hype expected between two teams fighting for their playoff lives.
Between coach's challenges, brute physicality, a number of parades to the penalty box and a significant comeback fans certainly got their money's worth at Canada Life Centre on Wednesday. But it wasn't the right team walking away victorious, at least from the perspective of most gathered in downtown Winnipeg.
“I don’t even know how many penalties there were in the game, but I don’t think we even had a five on five shift until about 12 minutes into the first and a bunch in the second," Nate Schmidt said.
Honouring Pride Night, the Jets wore specially designed rainbow coloured jerseys on the ice in warmup, while some players donned colourful stick tape as a way of preaching inclusivity.
The first period provided a testy start, as both the Jets and Flames were granted early power play opportunities.
Pierre-Luc Dubois was given a boarding minor following a heavy hit that sent Rasmus Andersson hard into the end boards. Two additional minors took place before the Jets finally made the Flames play on an extended man advantage.
Milan Lucic was sent to the box on a double-minor high-sticking call on recent lineup addition Saku Maenalanen. Winnipeg needed just 2:25 of the awarded power play to find the game’s opening goal. And it was Kyle Connor’s 31st that gave the Jets the early lead. Dubois got the puck to Nikolaj Ehlers, who fed Connor perfectly for one of his trademark one-timers. It beat Jacob Markstrom cleanly for the only marker of the frame.
The Jets opened the second period up 1-0 and leading 9-7 on the shot chart, but their slim lead was quickly put to the test.
And that test? The NHL Coach’s Challenge.
Moments after not one, but two Nate Schmidt shorthanded breakaways, Calgary scored a goal off a breakaway rebound of its own. It was fellow defenceman Nikita Zadorov who jumped into the rush and hammered home a loose puck after Nick Ritchie was denied by Connor Hellebuyck.
But Jets’ video coach Matt Prefontaine called for a Coach’s Challenge, and following a lengthy review the play was overturned on a goaltender interference call.
“First one it just jumped over my stick," Schmidt said. "So I tried to grab it the second time and I think ran out of space. Second one, just kind of stay in it, I feel like I hadn’t made the right move and just kinda finish it from there.”
Calgary did tie the game shortly after, however, on yet another interesting back-and-forth play up-ice. It was a combination of Winnipeg’s Dubois, Mark Schiefele and Neal Pionk, who missed on a three-on-one in front of Markstrom, before the Flames returned the attack into the Jets’ zone, with Andrew Mangiapane getting the last touch on another follow-up chance on a two-on-one.
A post-goal scrum led to five different penalties, but Winnipeg was unable to capitalize on another power play.
The Jets maintained a slight 21-20 shot lead through 40 minutes of play, with serious playoff implications on the line.
But it was Calgary that responded heavily in the third.
Shortly after killing off a Vladislav Namestnikov minor - which was Winnipeg's sixth kill on six opportunities - the Jets gave up the go-ahead goal on a rather broken play. Former Jet Trevor Lewis got things started, but it was Walker Duehr who put the puck past Hellebuyck on a strong wraparound chance less than five minutes into the period.
With 9:20 remaining in the frame, Zadorov got his revenge for the earlier coach's challenge, as he ripped his 11th into the Jets' net high, glove side, sealing the deal on a gutsy road performance by a dead-tired Flames team.
Ehlers missed on a breakaway chance with less than two minutes to play, before Calgary ran out the clock to a boisterous celebration.
"We had the chances, we just didn’t score to give us that boost," Bowness said. "Even at the end, Adam hits the post, Nik has a breakaway. They went in the last couple of games, they didn’t go in tonight."
Hellebuyck finished the night with 32 saves on 35 Calgary shots, but it wasn't enough, as his record fell to 34-25-2 on the season. Markstrom - who was playing the second time in as many nights - made 34 stops, while improving to 23-21-10 on the year.
“He was huge," Duehr said of his netminder. "He bailed us out a handful of times. You could say he won us the game, for sure. He was amazing tonight.”
Winnipeg will look to rediscover its winning ways in the fourth test of the season-high five-game homestand on Saturday. The pesky Nashville Predators roll into town for another game with sizeable playoff implications on the line. The Jets will then close out their home schedule with a test against San Jose on Monday.
"The tiebreaker for us is better and we have a game in hand," Dubois said. "We are obviously disappointed, like I’m not going to stand here and say that we are happy and thrilled, but we’re still in a good spot being on the inside. We just have to look forward to the next games here.”