Oh, how the tables have turned.
Nikolaj Ehlers spent 10 years making a big impact for the Winnipeg Jets, scoring 234 goals along the way. On Saturday, he got his first against his former team.
And it was a doozy.
Ehlers’ power-play tally early in the third period snapped a tie and proved to be the game-winner in a 3-2 victory for the Carolina Hurricanes in front of 14,415 at Canada Life Centre.
“It is extremely special. In some ways it still feels like home,” the guy known as “Fly” told reporters.
“I loved my time here, and I appreciate the people here so much. So, it’s weird but it’s special for me to come home, and I think the welcome I got last year (in his first visit back) was something that is going to be a fantastic memory for the rest of my life. I was very, very, very proud and happy about that, but it shows what kind of people they have here in Winnipeg.”
Ehlers ripped a shot past Jets goaltender Clay Stevenson at 6:43 of the final frame, with his team on the power play and the Jets failing on several attempts to clear the puck out of their zone and get a much-needed line change.
“We got hemmed in there on the PK. We’ve got to do a better job of clearing, almost kind of protecting the guts once they had us running around for a minute,” said Jets forward Kyle Connor.
“We extended a little bit too much and we were just off our reads. Obviously, a great player like Nik in the slot there, it’s just too much time.”
Ehlers failed to light the lamp in the first two meetings against Winnipeg last season after signing a six-year, US $51 million contract with Carolina.
Third time proved to be the charm.
Winnipeg falls to 4-2-2 on the year, while Carolina is showing no signs of a championship hangover, improving to 7-1-1 which includes seven straight victories.
ROLE REVERSAL
The Jets got off to slow starts in their previous two games against the Minnesota Wild and Chicago Blackhawks, with sloppy first periods which led to strong pushes over the final 40 minutes.
Saturday was the opposite.
Winnipeg was clean and crisp in the opening frame, only to fade in the second and third. You can thank Carolina for that, as they are a relentless group that can wear opponents down as a game progresses.
“They’re the Stanley Cup champs and you can see why. It’s 60 minutes of the exact same thing. It’s a carbon copy,” said Jets head coach Scott Arniel.
“Line after line after line, D partners. It is shift after shift after shift. They force you to play a fast game and if you don’t, obviously they’re going to create their turnovers. They’re skilled at what they do and they do that extremely well. It’s a pressure game. It’s speed and it’s push the puck forward and gain zones.”
The Jets opened the scoring early in the second, as Ehlers coughed up the puck to Mark Scheifele who beat Pyotr Kochetkov for his second goal of the season.
Carolina tied it a few minutes later as Mark Jankowski scored on the power play.
Winnipeg regained the lead just past the midway mark of the middle frame as Kochetkov mishandled a puck, allowing Adam Lowry to feed Alex Iafallo for what was a wide-open tap-in.
“There’s a scouting report on how the goalie plays the puck,” said Lowry.
“Sometimes the riverboat gambler goes all-in and he misses. I’m just going there trying to force a play, and, fortunately, he mishandles the puck and comes right back to me, and I’m able to get it out front to Al. But I think that just goes to our pressure game.”
Unfortunately for the Jets, they weren’t able to take advantage of another gift and make it count as Jesperi Kotkaniemi tipped a Shayne Gostisbehere point shot before the second period was over.
Winnipeg outshot Carolina 10-7 in the first period, and shot attempts were 22-18 for the home team. But the Hurricanes flipped the script in the second, outshooting the Jets 17-6 and holding a 28-12 advantage in shot attempts.
“For some reason, we find it tough to sustain our pace, our game for the full game,” said Connor.
“They’re on top of you. They pressure hard, they skate really well. Just a couple of those plays in a second, you know, you don’t get it in, next thing you know they’re coming back down on you.”
It was more of the same in the final frame, with Carolina outshooting Winnipeg 13-7 and scoring the only goal.
SILVER LINING
Sure, they’d love to have won the game. But Arniel believes some good can come out of a bad result such as this.
“These are all lessons,” he said.
“You play these games early on and we’re going to see them again at the start of November. We also recognize that when we do things the right way, we had them on their heels and we just have to find the way to get those 60 minute games in there.”
Ehlers spoke about that winning mindset, which he’s come to appreciate now early in his second season with the Hurricanes.
“It’s a lot of fun. It’s a lot of hard work. We know the way that we need to play,” he said.
That was certainly evident last season as the Hurricanes only seemed to get better as the year wore on, ultimately plowing through the playoffs in dominant fashion.
“We had so many injuries in the beginning of last year, and the guys that came up and played, they stepped up. We never really had a big setback. We kept improving and improving,” said Ehlers.
“I think the togetherness that we had in this team was what eventually got us the championship.”
Memo to the rest of the NHL — they sure look primed to take another run, especially with three key players still on the injured list in Winnipegger Seth Jarvis, captain Jordan Staal and winger Taylor Hall.
KEY PLAY
The power play goal by Ehlers.
THREE STARS:
1. CAR LW Nikolaj Ehlers: Game-winning goal
2. CAR D Shayne Gostisbehere: 2 assists
3. WPG G Clay Stevenson: 34 saves
EXTRA, EXTRA
This was the first time this season the Jets have surrendered more than one power play goal in a game, as Carolina was a perfect 2-for-2. The Jets didn’t capitalize on their lone man advantage.
“Obviously, it’s disappointing for our PK to give up a couple today. It’s been really, really good for us early on,” said Lowry. “It was 3-2 hockey game, giving up two (on the PK), that’s the difference.”
By early in the third period, Arniel moved veteran winger Nino Niederreiter down to the fourth line, along with Brad Lambert sand Cole Koepke, and essentially stapled them to the bench.
Winnipeg’s lone healthy scratch was defenceman Tyrel Bauer, as forward Vlad Namestnikov (second straight game) and blue-liners Josh Morrissey (third straight game) and Elias Salomonsson (eighth straight game) all remain sidelined.
The Jets are expected to call up a forward from the Manitoba Moose prior to hitting the road to face the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday night.
winnipegfreepress.com/mikemcintyre
Mike McIntyre is a sports reporter whose primary role is covering the Winnipeg Jets. After graduating from the Creative Communications program at Red River College in 1995, he spent two years gaining experience at the Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in 1997, where he served on the crime and justice beat until 2016. Read more about Mike.
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