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The Habs draw first blood, the Jets leave a player out cold and an unlikely villain has emerged in this second-round series between Winnipeg and Montreal.
Mark Scheifele’s charging, high hit on the Canadiens’ Jake Evans as Evans was scoring an empty-net goal to cap a 5-3 win will leave a mark on this series no matter now long it goes.
The No. 1 concern: Evans’ health.
“Just hope he’s OK,” Jets captain Blake Wheeler said. “That’s it, really. That’s all. That’s the concern. It’s never good to see a guy on the ice for that amount of time, the stretcher out — it’s scary.”
At least a dozen doctors and trainers huddled around Evans, motionless on the ice, with less than a minute to play.
It was the Toronto product’s 25th birthday.
“First and foremost, just think about him and hopefully it’s precautionary,” Adam Lowry said.
The arena went dead-silent until Evans was loaded onto the stretcher and wheeled off. What was left of the 500 healthcare workers in attendance applauded and players from both teams tapped their sticks in support, as Evans gave a thumbs-up on his way off the ice.
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Now, to the other ramifications.
Scheifele faces a possible suspension for a hit that was predatory — it caught Evans in a vulnerable position — and capped a night that saw the Jets’ top centre get involved in several scrums and eventually lose his cool with a third-period roughing penalty.
Skating the length of the ice after Evans, who was racing for a loose puck, Scheifele launched himself into Evans just as he scored on an empty-net wrap-around.
“It’s such a highly unusual play because you’re backchecking back to kill an empty-net play, you’re coming full speed,” Jets coach Paul Maurice said. “When Mark stopped skating he kept his arms in. It’s a heavy, heavy hit. There’s no doubt about that. I’m sure the league will have its opinion.”
The Habs, understandably, went after No. 55 immediately.
One player who wasn’t involved in the scrum, the Jets’ Nik Ehlers, protected Evans, who looked unconscious as the mayhem ensued around him.
“I came back and saw that he wasn’t looking good,” Ehlers said. “When something like that happens there tends to be a scrum. So I was just trying to keep everyone away from him. In a situation like that, you don’t want anyone falling on top of him. I was just trying to keep everyone away.”
It was Scheifele the Habs were after, a theme that continued well into the post-game media Zoom room.
“It was a dirty hit but the league’s going to take care of it,” Montreal defenceman Joel Edmundson said. “If he gets back in the series, we’re going to make his life miserable, but I think the league’s going to do a good job with that.”
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Over in the Jets’ Zoom room, Maurice was asked about Edmundson’s comment.
“The players will sort things out on the ice,” the coach said. “Nobody would be stupid enough to say anything premeditated going into the next game.”
Edmundson says the injury was eerily reminiscent of the hit that knocked John Tavares out of the Montreal-Toronto first-round series.
“Just to see him laying there, obviously you never want to see that,” the Brandon native said. “Obviously there was something like that that happened last series and it just kills the vibe and we just hope he’s OK.”
“It’s disgusting,” Montreal’s Jesperi Kotkaniemi said. “No respect for the other players out there. I’m not saying anything more than that.”
Habs coach Dominique Ducharme: “It was vicious and the league will address it. I’m confident about that.”
Ducharmes also compared the feeling to the Tavares incident. With one very notable exception.
“You never want to see that, a player down on the ice like that,” he said. “He’s not a player in our uniform, but it’s an accident and both sides want him to feel better. I didn’t feel that from the other side when it happened.”
Maybe not immediately, but later for sure.
Kotkaniemi bumped fists with Evans while he was being taken off the ice.
“Just seeing him moving after a thing like that, it’s huge,” he said. “Even getting the fist bump, you know, it’s great to see that. I’m feeling much easier now just knowing he’s OK.”
What it does for Game 2, and beyond, remains to be seen.
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Scheifele is obviously not known as a dirty player, so any suspension he’d receive would likely be minimal.
The incident capped a rough night for the Jets.
An injury before the game even started (Paul Stastny). A goal on the first Montreal shot. An injury to a top defenceman on his first shift (Dylan DeMelo). Another goal on the fifth Montreal shot.
To say the start of the series didn’t go as planned for the Jets would be like saying we’re all getting a little tired of the pandemic.
The big question heading into Game 1 was how much rust they’d show after an eight-day layoff.
The ’52 Chevy parked in the bush at my inlaws’ farm looks cleaner than the Jets did.
Winnipeg left the first period down, 3-1, and it could have been worse.
The question at that point was whether or not the Jets were leaking too much oil to overcome the holes the Habs had already shot in their post-season veneer.
That laser focus on being on the right side of the opposition they’d shown in Round 1? Gone.
Winnipeg’s power play could have been the great equalizer, but it was clogged with gunk, too.
The Jets’ other potential equalizer, Hellebuyck, didn’t out-play Carey Price, either, which he has to do if the Jets want to win this series.
One thing is certain: The temperature has changed.
It took less than five minutes for the first scrum, and the game basically ended with the biggest scrum.
Let’s hope Evans is OK, and they can stick to hockey.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMihAFodHRwczovL3dpbm5pcGVnc3VuLmNvbS9zcG9ydHMvaG9ja2V5L25obC93aW5uaXBlZy1qZXRzL2hhYnMtYWNjdXNlLXNjaGVpZmVsZS1vZi1kaXJ0eS1hbmQtZGlzZ3VzdGluZy1oaXQtc2thdGUtYXdheS13aXRoLWdhbWUtMS13aW7SAbIBaHR0cHM6Ly93aW5uaXBlZ3N1bi5jb20vc3BvcnRzL2hvY2tleS9uaGwvd2lubmlwZWctamV0cy9oYWJzLWFjY3VzZS1zY2hlaWZlbGUtb2YtZGlydHktYW5kLWRpc2d1c3RpbmctaGl0LXNrYXRlLWF3YXktd2l0aC1nYW1lLTEtd2luL3djbS84N2Y3ZmI1OC1kYmRmLTRiNTgtYjY0My0wZjA4OWJiOWIzZGMvYW1wLw?oc=5
2021-06-03 04:07:30Z
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