No Mark Scheifele. No Patrik Laine. No playoffs for the Winnipeg Jets as they fall to the Flames in four games following tonight’s loss to be the first Western Conference team eliminated from the play-in series.
For those who would like to take a deeper dive into the advanced stats here are the results from tonight’s game via Natural Stat Trick.
Notable:
– For the first time this series the Jets allowed the opening goal of the game;
– Jets allowed a goal with 0.7 seconds left in the 1st to give Flames a 2-0 lead;
– Best middle frame of the play-in series as Jets didn’t allow a goal for first time;
– But when push came to shove the Jets couldn’t solve Talbot;
– Two empty net goals in the 3rd sealed the deal for Calgary.
Health News:
With the Jets eliminated Paul Maurice was free to share a health update regarding Mark Scheifele, Patrik Laine and Mason Appleton.
He indicated they don’t think there is any Achilles damage with Mark Scheifele. Added that Patrik Laine sprained his hand and Mason Appleton suffered a shoulder injury. He felt that Laine and Appleton were 2-3 week injuries while Scheifele’s timeline was a little more uncertain.
More in-depth descriptions here.
Post-game interviews:
Blake Wheeler and Josh Morrissey questions:
1. Difficulty without Scheifele and Laine? (Wheeler)
2. Why was it hard to generate? (Wheeler)
3. What made the Backlund line so hard to handle? (Morrissey)
4. Putting the year into words? (Wheeler)
Connor Hellebuyck and Adam Lowry questions:
1. Did they get cheated out of seeing the optimal Jets team due to injury? (Hellebuyck)
2. How would he break down this game 4 loss? (Lowry)
3. What is going to stand out for him this year? (Lowry)
4. What was Calgary doing that made it tough to keep them off the scoreboard? (Hellebuyck)
5. The uncertainty of the offseason. (Lowry).
6. What is the biggest lesson he learned from this series? (Hellebuyck)
7. The emotions of the timeline being off, training camp, return to play, out. (Lowry).
Coach Paul Maurice topics
1. A sense of his team after what they’ve gone through?
2. The play of Tucker Poolman.
3. Injury updates
4. Growth of Nikolaj Ehlers.
5. Finality of this season ending.
6. More on Scheifele’s injury
7. Having a shot at the 1st overall pick, is that a silver lining?
8. Does this make him question his team’s adaptability?
9. What does he feel was the difference in this series?
Up Next:
The Jets will head home to Winnipeg (we think). Considering how unusual things have gone we will have to wait and see what kind of end of season availability is planned. For now we do know that you can kick start your Friday with the AM Jets papers which go live at 7 am on illegalcurve.com.
A look at the projected lineup with all the latest game info.
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Recap of the game.
Keeping you up-to-date with all the latest pro hockey news in Manitoba.
TSN analyst Craig Button shares his thoughts.