‘This is the playoffs': Winnipeg Jets disappointed after Game 1 loss to Dallas Stars
WINNIPEG - The Winnipeg Jets reflected the play of assistant captain Mark Scheifele on Wednesday.
After missing two games with an upper-body injury, Scheifele returned to action for Game 1 of Winnipeg's second-round series against the Dallas Stars.
The marquee centre scored as his Jets fell 3-2 to the Stars, but said getting back up to speed took time.
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
'I probably didn't find my stride until the second, probably later in the second, the third period,' Scheifele said. 'Then, I started feeling better. So, you're moving on to the next one, be better for the next one.'
His teammates took just as long to find their stride.
Dallas outshot Winnipeg 9-0 in the opening seven minutes of the game, and took a 3-1 lead midway through the second period.
'It obviously wasn't a great start, so obviously there are some things that we can do better,' Schiefele said. 'We didn't play great and we were right in it, so there's a positive you can take out of it. From there, we can move on to the next one.'
Nino Niederreiter also scored, getting the Jets on the board at the 3:30 mark of the second.
Mikko Rantanen replied with three straight goals for the Stars.
Dallas had a great start on Wednesday, Niederreiter said, and that's something Winnipeg needs to improve.
'Our start was, once again, not very good. It's something we know we've got to do better,' said the Swiss winger, noting the matchup with the Stars will be 'completely different' than the first-round battle his team fought against the St. Louis Blues.
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
'(The Stars) are obviously a very experienced team. They know how to be in a tight game, they are extremely patient. That is something we've got to learn from.'
Falling behind has become the norm for the Jets this post-season. The team has surrendered the first goal in five of its eight playoff games this year, and needed a dramatic comeback to beat the Blues in Game 7.
'We need to be sharper, we need to be better,' Niederreiter said. 'We just need to be better on details. As cliché as it sounds, our overall game wasn't good enough.'
Jets coach Scott Arniel agreed that details were an issue on Wednesday.
'There was a lot of sloppiness to that game,' he said. 'That did not feel like a playoff game, Game 1 in round two. That felt like game 45 in the middle of December.
'Obviously we know the high that we're on coming off that St. Louis game, but man, this is the playoffs. That's a game that, no matter how you start the game or however you get into the game, it's one of those ones that there's a way we have to play as a group and that's not how we played tonight.'
Losing Game 1 in front of a sold-out home crowd is disappointing, the coach said.
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
'We know we just gave up home-ice advantage,' he said. 'And that wasn't a game where they rolled over top of us for three periods. That was a game where we weren't at our best, and we should have been here, especially at the start of another series at home.'
Winnipeg will host the Stars in Game 2 of the best-of-seven series on Friday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 7, 2025.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Winnipeg Free Press
6 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Hart for Hellebuyck heard through the grapevine?
This might be the equivalent of scoring on your own net. It appears the NHL may have sprung a leak and drowned out any drama surrounding two major year-end award winners. A photo currently making the rounds on social media appears to show Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck kneeling in front of the Vezina and Hart trophies. Whoopsie! FRED GREENSLADE / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES Video leaked over the weekend that showed Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck with both the Vezina and Hart trophies. The official announcement will be made Thursday. It's not clear where the image originated and one should always be wary of manipulation and fakes in this age of artificial intelligence. Neither the league nor the Jets will comment. But it's an intriguing twist considering the league has done away with a traditional awards ceremony this season, opting for a more grassroots approach to handing out hockey hardware. They have been pre-recording videos recently in which the winners of various honours, including the Selke Trophy, Masterton and Jack Adams, have been surprised on the spot. There's still a few more big ones to come, including the best goaltender and league MVP, which are set to be unveiled this Thursday at 5 p.m. CT in an hour-long TV special before Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final between the Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers. The purported Hellebuyck photo, which appears to have been taken near a lake, includes a large boom microphone hanging above him and an unidentified person capturing the moment on their phone. There's no question Hellebuyck is a slam-dunk to win the Vezina, which would be his second-straight and third overall. The 32-year-old essentially lapped the goaltending field this past year as he went 47-12-3 in 62 starts with a 2.00 goals-against-average, a .925 save percentage and eight shutouts. Andrei Vasilevskiy (Tampa Bay Lightning) and Darcy Kuemper (Los Angeles Kings) are the other two finalists, but the only mystery is which one is going to finish second to Hellebuyck. The much bigger development would be Hellebuyck becoming just the eighth goaltender in NHL history — and the first since Carey Price in 2014-15 — to capture the Hart. Tampa's Nikita Kucherov (who led the league in points) and Edmonton's Leon Draisaitl (who scored the most goals) are the other two finalists, and Kucherov was just named the Ted Lindsay Award winner as 'most outstanding player' as voted on by fellow skaters. The Hart is decided by members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association, while NHL general managers vote on the Vezina. All ballots had to be turned in before the playoffs, where Hellebuyck struggled at times in going 6-7 with a 3.08 goals-against average and .866 save percentage. Stay tuned. And, if Hellebuyck does take home the hardware, at least pretend to act surprised. Scott Arniel will have to settle for second-best this time around. The Jets head coach finished as the runner-up to Washington Capitals bench boss Spencer Carbery for the Jack Adams Award, which was announced this past weekend. Carbery received 81 of the 103 first-place votes cast by members of the NHL Broadcasters' Association and finished with 464 voting points overall. Arniel got 16 first-place votes and had 249 points, while Marty St. Louis of the Montreal Canadiens was third with 66 points. A total of 13 different coaches received at least one vote for first, second or third. Funny enough, neither Paul Maurice (Florida) or Kris Knoblauch (Edmonton) were among them, despite their teams meeting in the Stanley Cup for the second straight spring. Carbery led the Capitals to top spot in the Eastern Conference and second overall in the regular-season standings behind only Arniel's Jets, who went a franchise-best 56-22-4. Both Washington and Winnipeg won their first-round playoff series before getting knocked out in the second round. One of the more intriguing prospects in the Jets' pipeline might be staying put in Russia. Dmitry Rashevsky, who was selected by Winnipeg in the fifth round of the 2021 draft, was a pending free agent after spending the past five years with Moscow Dynamo of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff said last month the team was in talks with his agent about potentially bringing the 24-year-old to North America for the first time. However, news surfaced this past weekend that Rashevsky has now signed a three-year offer sheet with rival Avangard Omsk of the KHL, which would seemingly close that door. Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. However, in a plot twist, reports emerged Monday that Dynamo will exercise its option to match — but then plans to turn around and trade Rashevsky to another team, Metallurg Magnitogorsk. If Rashevsky balks at that, could he potentially pull a power play and take his puck skills across the pond after all? Rashevsky had 40 points (19G, 21A) in 65 games this past season and scored 24, 19 and 19 goals in the three seasons prior to that. He would be a nice add to the organization's forward depth. There's often a big risk with drafting Russian skaters, and it's the sole reason Rashevsky slipped as far as he did in his draft year. X and Bluesky: @mikemcintyrewpg Mike McIntyreReporter 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. Every piece of reporting Mike produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
CTV News
8 hours ago
- CTV News
Whiteout Street Parties bring in nearly $235K to help Winnipeg's most vulnerable
Nearly $235,000 was raised during seven Whiteout Street Parties this playoff run, with all the money helping the city's most vulnerable. Uploaded June 9, 2025. (Jamie Dowsett/CTV News Winnipeg) Two rounds of Winnipeg Jets playoff hockey have resulted in almost $235,000 being raised for United Way Winnipeg. There were seven Whiteout Street Parties held throughout the Stanley Cup playoffs this year, which resulted in 35,000 fans showing up to cheer on the Jets. Half of the price of each ticket plus money from the Party in the Plaza tickets on Hargrave Street was going toward United Way. The money has now been tallied up, and $234,890 was raised. The money will go back into the community, helping support mental health, addictions, recovery, and homelessness in Winnipeg. 'We are so excited that these dollars raised will go to support frontline agencies doing the incredibly difficult and important work,' said Connie Walker, the president and CEO of United Way Winnipeg. She said four organizations that help Winnipeggers will each be receiving a portion of the money: Downtown Community Safety Partnership, N'Dinawemak-Our Relatives' Place, Okichidah Pimahtisiwin Kiskinawmatowin, and Kã Ni Kãnichihk-Velma's House. 'While this is about hockey and it is about community spirit, this is also about making a difference for people. This is about being a caring community. I could not be more grateful or more proud.' Whiteout Street Parties have been taking over a portion of Donald Street since 2019, as thousands of fans have been packing the area to celebrate Winnipeg Jets hockey. Since then, more than $546,000 has been raised. Speaking at the news conference Monday, Mark Chipman, the executive chairman of True North Sports + Entertainment, said so much work goes into putting on the parties, and the result afterward is so important. 'A friend of mine once said we're a collective act of will. Nothing has ever really come easy to us here. Once upon a time it did, but those days are long past, and everything we have here, whether it's our cultural institutions or our social service network, has been willed by the people who are here and will it every day,' said Chipman. 'This is really a small sum when you think of the totality of it. But we know it's going to places that can really use it, where people are engaged daily, who really, really care about making the most vulnerable people in our community safer.' Chipman said he hopes to be back next year with another cheque in hand, but with more money, which would mean a deeper run for the Jets in the playoffs.
Global News
17 hours ago
- Global News
ANALYSIS: Extending Morgan Barron should rank high on Jets' off-season to-do list
The focus for Winnipeg Jets fans — and rightfully so — would be on GM Kevin Cheveldayoff negotiating contract extensions for Gabe Vilardi and Dylan Samberg. But getting Morgan Barron's name on the dotted line will also rank high on Cheveldayoff's priority list. When we think of the trades the Jets GM has been able to complete over the last few years, two stand out in particular: the return on the Pierre-Luc Dubois transaction with Los Angeles, and the March 2022 Andrew Copp swap with the New York Rangers for Barron — and draft picks that turned into Brad Lambert and Elias Salomonsson. Story continues below advertisement Barron has sometimes been overlooked because of the fourth-line role he has been assigned for most of his first three full NHL seasons, and modest totals of 29 goals, 29 assists and 58 points in his 238 games as a Jet. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy But even though his eight goals and 15 points this past season would appear to be a bit of a step back from year two, my opinion is the six-foot-four, 220-pound Halifax native took strides forward in 2024-25, especially in the post-season. Barron can play in the middle — and with physicality. He averaged just over 14 hits per 60 minutes, which trailed only Luke Schenn, Adam Lowry and Brandon Tanev among those Jets who played 10 or more games in the playoffs. The former Cornell captain lost what would have been his first career playoff goal on a secondary deflection by linemate Jaret Anderson-Dolan in the series-opening victory versus St. Louis, and then another on an offside review in Game 6 of that series. But what should not be forgotten is that 'shoulder down power drive to the net' we saw from him on multiple occasions. Story continues below advertisement With Lowry scheduled to miss anywhere from 10 to 25 games to start next season and Rasmus Kupari opting to play in Europe, this should be Barron's chance to keep pushing the needle forward — and perhaps staking a claim to a bigger role than he has played since becoming a full-time NHLer.
