The Winnipeg Jets may have lost their top center and top sniper in the same game, as both Mark Scheifele and Patrik Laine left last night’s test against the Calgary Flames with an injury. Scheifele’s in particular looked serious, as he collided with Matthew Tkachuk and fell to the ground bellowing in pain. The hit got quite the response from head coach Paul Maurice, who indicated today that both players were still undergoing examination, and updates would be issued later in the day.
If the Jets do lose Schiefele for the rest of the qualification round they’ll have to figure out an answer on the top line and find a way to dig themselves out of the early hole after losing to Calgary last night. Here’s more info about injuries around the league:
- Nick Schmaltz will not play in game one for the Arizona Coyotes after taking a high hit from Vegas Golden Knights forward Ryan Reaves in the exhibition match. Schmaltz, the Coyotes leading scorer from the regular season, played in four playoffs games with Chicago in 2017 but hasn’t seen the postseason since. Youngster Barret Hayton will be making his own playoff debut after suiting up just 20 times this season.
- The New York Rangers are still not sure of Igor Shesterkin’s availability for game two according to Dan Rosen of NHL.com, but will not have Jesper Fast in the lineup. Fast was hit hard by former teammate Brady Skjei and was forced from yesterday’s game after just a minute of ice time. The depth winger is a key part of the Rangers leadership group and recorded 29 points in 69 games this season.
- Dougie Hamilton is getting better according to head coach Rod Brind’Amour, but won’t be in the lineup for Carolina tomorrow. The Hurricanes did just fine without their top offensive defenseman, but relied heavily on their top two pairings—Jake Gardiner played just 11:55 while Jaccob Slavin logged 24:40.
Walt Jr. #1 is in the middle of it, again. In his postgame comments (as I heard on SN960) last night, he’s stating that his skate is “skipping.” While the CBC website’s video clip is a bit clearer, it appears that it was, in fact doing that and it looks like a glancing blow, with Schiefele turning wrong at the boards with no wiggle room to avoid the damage. Paul Maurice sees Tkachuk’s skate “aiming” at Schiefele’s Achilles area, but it really was skipping as he said. This is one of those rare situations where even I don’t think supplementary discipline is warranted here (shocking, eh?). Walt Jr. #1, however, had one of the most awful-sounding explanations that almost makes you see a cartoon bubble over his head with “C’mon, already!” And, yes, Paul Maurice was livid, but maybe that was to help spark his team, who appeared to be a bit flat last night.
incoherent babbling
Your better than this Mac. That was terrible.
@dugdog83 – Not sure what you mean there. I was listening to the game on SN960, as well as most of the postgame, including Tkachuck’s and Maurice’s comments. You didn’t have to see Maurice on TV to hear the seething in his voice. Matt never sounds really contrite, but that’s just how he sounds. Most people won’t get used to that, but it’s just how he is. I usually shake my head when he tries to explain how the dog ate his homework and chuckle a bit. I expected Maurice’s interpretation to be more accurate than it was. Now, naturally, some would think the SN960 broadcast team could be called homers for disagreeing with Paul, but if you’ve listened to them even once, you know nothing is further from the truth. They are all straight shooters. They couldn’t see what Paul Maurice was describing (the blue line angle he refers to) and when I saw the clip from the CBC site the next morning, it reflected what Tkachuk described, almost exactly. Many were screaming for his head for causing the injury, but it just seemed like unfortunate circumstances. So, I was just describing what each side stated and attempted to show that, as usual, only one side was going to be more accurate than the other. You know when you hear about a questionable hit, the first thought is to evaluate the hitter and the recipient. If the hitter is a repeat offender, the odds are he may very well be guilty of the bad hit. If, however, the recipient takes dives or tries to make a glancing blow look like a head shot, your opinion changes. It was simply recounting the two stories and finding out where the truth lies. BTW, it may sound like I’m a Tkachuk-hater, but I’m not. I don’t hate on Paul Maurice, either. He’s got a great, dry sense of humor. But two conflicting stories mean investigation, that’s all I was trying to convey. Did you see/hear things differently? Let me know…
Walt Jr.? He’s not from my line of Tkachuks
@WalterNYR – I call Matt “Walt Jr. #1” (sometimes) and Brady is Walt Jr. #2. They’re both a chip off the old Walt, but each is his own guy. There’s a bit of dad in both of their games, but they aren’t totally like their dad. They each have their own, unique personalities and games, but you can see their dad’s influence. I really do like all of them, even though some might not see it that way. One of my favorite commercial spots, years ago, was when Walt was in Phoenix, geared up for roller hockey. A girl locked her keys in the car and he was there to “help.” Well, help as only Walt could do. After fidgeting with the coat hanger for a minute, he resorted to more efficient means – he just took two for elbowing, and boom goes the driver’s side window! Then, he skates away into the sunset, almost saying “No thanks necessary, happy to help!” It should be somewhere on YouTube, if you look for alyssahope, but it might be part of a compilation of spots.