About Last Night: Scheifele cheap shot overshadows Game 1 win
Scheifele #Scheifele
The Montreal Canadiens handled the Winnipeg Jets with relative ease in their 5-3 Game 1 win on Wednesday at the Bell MTS Centre, but it was an unnecessary late hit by Jets forward Mark Scheifele on Jake Evans with under a minute left that cast a pall over the night.
I won’t post what Scheifele did here. It was vindictive and gratuitous. Starting from the other end of the ice, Scheifele charged at Evans, who had just scored in the empty net. Evans fell to the ice and stayed there before he was removed via stretcher. After the game, Evans was being evaluated but not taken to hospital. In the postgame presser, coach Dominique Ducharme called the hit “vicious.” Jesperi Kotkaniemi called it “disgusting.”
It overshadowed a strong performance by the Habs. The Jets were dealt some bad injury luck when Paul Stastny was made a late scratch and defenceman Dylan Demelo left with a lower body injury in the opening shift. Jesperi Kotkaniemi opened scoring with his fourth of these playoffs, emerging in front of a Jeff Petry hybrid pass/shot and redirecting it past Connor Hellebuyck to make it 1-0.
Less than two minutes later, Eric Staal scored his first of the postseason. Staal was alone in front of the net when he received a pass from linemate Corey Perry, who took a hit to complete the play. Staal fired in the open net to give the Habs a 2-0 lead.
With Dominic Toninato in the box, the Habs went on their first power play of the night. Erik Gustafsson coughed up the puck at the blueline to Adam Lowry, who beat the defenceman easily in a footrace down the ice before beating Carey Price with a backhand to halve the Habs lead with a shorthanded marker. Gustafsson played sparingly following his gaffe.
The Habs regained the two-goal advantage when Nick Suzuki patiently waited for Hellebuyck to get out of position before slipping the puck through the smallest of cracks before running out of space. The Canadiens ended the first period up 3-1.
Price was also up to his usual tricks in the first.
Both teams were scoreless in the second. The fourth line of Staal, Perry and Joel Armia were physically dominant cycling down low. Already down a player, Mathieu Perreault took a Shea Weber wrist shot in an area without padding and came off the ice in discomfort. It must’ve left a welt, but Perreault returned to action. The Jets had a late flurry at the end of the second but couldn’t pull to within a goal.
Jets sniper Kyle Connor had a scoring opportunity in the third, getting a loose puck in the slot with no one between him and Price, but the goalie was able to react quickly and make the arm save off the rising shot. The Jets eventually did make it 3-2, with Perreault taking advantage of a failed clear to find Derek Forbort streaking in, who roofed it on Price.
The one-goal deficit was again short-lived. On the power play and starting from a rare breakaway by captain Shea Weber, forward Brendan Gallagher completed the sequence by pouncing on the rebound to give the Habs a 4-2 lead.
A precursor to his outburst, Scheifele was the lone recipient of a roughing minor following a skirmish among multiple players. With the net empty, Connor completed a heady passing sequence by the Jets with the extra man to once again be within striking distance. Under a minute later, Evans raced down the ice to pot the empty net goal, followed by the Scheifele hit. The final minute was played without incident, but the Habs were subdued in the celebration of their 5-3 win. Credit to Nikolaj Ehlers for holding back the other players from landing on Evans as they fought behind him.
The Habs and Jets resume their series Friday. The Liveblog commenters were disgusted by the hit and lacked confidence in the Department of Player Safety to discipline the player. They also showed concern for Evans. They couldn’t even enjoy the fact that the Montreal Canadiens are undefeated since Patrick Roy and Mario Tremblay buried the hatchet for an Uber Eats commercial. That can’t be a coincidence, right?