Winnipeg dropped their 2023-24 season opener in Calgary 5-3 to the Flames. The Jets got goals from Kyle Connor, Alex Iafallo and Mark Scheifele. Connor Hellebuyck made 17 saves for the Jets, who now head home to start a three-game homestand on Saturday against the Eastern Conference champion, Florida Panthers. Here are three takeaways from Wednesday's game:
1. Late mistake – The Jets carried most of the play outshooting the Flames 37-22 but with the game tied 3-3 in the third period, Winnipeg got called for icing. Nikolaj Ehlers, Rasmus Kupari, Vlad Namestnikov, Brendan Dillon and Nate Schmidt all had been on the ice for over a minute at that point. The Jets would lose the face-off and Elias Lindholm would score the game winner with 1:32 left on the clock.
2. Power play looked good – Rick Bowness said at the start of training camp that the power play had to improve from last season when it finished at 19.26%. In the first period there was excellent puck movement, Jacob Markstrom robbed Alex Iafallo on a one-timer on the first man advantage which had five shots in total. After that, Markstrom would make brilliant stops on Gabe Vilardi, Mark Scheifele, Nate Schmidt and Cole Perfetti during Jets power plays. Winnipeg went 0-for-4 but the new look first unit with Scheifele, Kyle Connor, Josh Morrissey, Vilardi and Iafallo looked very impressive. Connor felt the same way. “I don’t know how many shots we had but it felt like every time we touched the ice it was pretty dangerous.”
3. Perfetti at centre – Cole Perfetti has a tremendous opportunity this season as the Jets number two centreman. He had a fantastic setup to Nino Niederreiter 1:38 into the first but Niederreiter’s shot was blocked by Jordan Oesterle. The 21-year-old had a nice rush at around the eight-minute mark of first which led to another solid scoring chance from Niederreiter. All in all, it was nice game for Perfetti, Niederreiter and Nikolaj Ehlers as a unit.
