The Winnipeg Jets faced meaningful adversity on Tuesday for the first time on the young season, and failed to rise to face it.
Vilardi Goes Down, Jets Go Down With Him
After playing two strong games to open the 2023-24 campaign — one resulting in a hard-luck loss to the Calgary Flames and one resulting in a win against the Florida Panthers — it went downhill in a big way against the Los Angeles Kings at Canada Life Centre.
Gabriel Vilardi suffered a lower-body injury early in the first period as the result of a Blake Lizotte trip. Vilardi’s leg bent awkwardly underneath himself as he fell, and while he made his way off the ice on his own, he was quickly ruled out for the rest of the game. Head coach Rick Bowness said postgame Vilardi would be reassessed Wednesday.
The Jets were engaged and competitive in the first but went into the intermission tied 0-0. Coming out of it, they looked like a completely different — and much worse — team. Over the next 40 minutes, they unraveled and by the time the final horn sounded, the Kings had potted five straight and the Jets’ only marker was a meaningless goal from Mark Scheifele with 76 seconds left.
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The only thing worse than Vilardi — an up-and-comer who is a big part of the Jets’ plans and was given top-line and top-power play assignments to start the season — getting injured was that a certain someone lit the lamp to break the scoreless deadlock.
Of course, the game’s first goal went to none other than Pierre-Luc Dubois, the disgruntled power forward the Jets traded to the Kings for Vilardi, Alex Iafallo, and Rasmus Kupari back in June. Dubois, who was held off the scoresheet in his first two games as a King and was being booed every time he touched the puck, banged a rebound past Connor Hellebuyck from the dirty area in front of the net.
Jets Can’t Overcome Officiating
The goal demoralized the team and the fans not just because of who scored it, but because came just after a phantom interference call to Morgan Barron expired.
That was just the first example of questionable officiating from the refereeing crew of Pierre Lambert and Kevin Pollock — a few minutes after Dubois’ goal, they lost total control of the game. Cole Perfetti, in a vulnerable position in the neutral zone, was hit from behind by Andreas Englund, and defenceman Dylan Samberg dropped the gloves with Englund in defence of the young centre.
However, not only was Englund not assessed a major, he wasn’t even assessed a minor. Since Samberg was slapped with an instigator penalty, the Jets ended up shorthanded.
The Jets killed the penalty, but the momentum had permanently shifted. The Jets were clearly frustrated — and attempted to police the game themselves shortly after as a big scrum ensued — but lost sight of their game plan: the shift after the brouhaha, Trevor Moore scored, doubling the lead.
Jets Lines Couldn’t Find Chemistry After Vilardi’s Exit
Vilardi’s early exit forced Bowness to bring out the line blender for the first time this season.
The lack of chemistry was apparent not only at even strength but also on the power play, as the Jets found nothing but futility in their attempts to get through through the Kings’ stout 1-3-1 forecheck in the second and third. Nikolaj Ehlers, Kupari, and Vladislav Namestnikov all took turns in Vilardi’s spot as first-line right winger, but none had much impact. It was not an encouraging sign considering the team looked poised to roll four lines and use its increased forward depth to its advantage this season.
The Kings scored three more in the third as the Jets were soundly outplayed, including in goal. While the defence was certainly guilty of some turnovers and the Brenden Dillon/Nate Schmidt pairing had another rough night, Hellebuyck was not up to the task — he has allowed 13 goals in his first three starts after signing a sever-year contract extension that will make him one of the league’s highest-paid goaltenders from next season through age 38.
It Won’t Get Any Easier for the Jets
The Jets are now 1-2-0 and the rest of the week isn’t going to get any easier.
Vilardi, who already has a long history of injuries, being out for any length of time would be a big blow to the top six, and one always has to wonder if the Jets — who have historically not shown much resilience when things go sideways — will rebound quickly or wallow for a while. It’ll be up to new captain Adam Lowry to ensure they refocus on the blueprint for success they followed against the Flames and Panthers.
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The rest of the week will certainly keep providing adversity. The next two games are against fearsome, high-octane opponents in the defending Stanley-Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights (Thursday at home) and the Connor McDavid-led Edmonton Oilers (in Edmonton.)
The Jets not only need to prove to themselves they can rise above adversity, but also their fans. Just 11,226 took in the highly-anticipated game in person, the lowest in Jets 2.0 history by a wide margin. This comes after they fell nearly 2,000 fans short of selling out Saturday’s home opener.
