Jets stumble in pivotal loss to Flames but remain in control of playoff destiny

WINNIPEG - This is what having your opponent on the ropes looks like.

It’s also what allowing your opponent to rise up off the mat looks like.

With a golden opportunity to place the Calgary Flames on life support, the Winnipeg Jets stumbled in what became a 3-1 loss on Wednesday night, setting the stage for a drama-filled final week-and-change of the regular season.

Moments after the final buzzer sounded, the Jets were already putting a positive spin on the situation, which includes these two teams in a virtual tie at 89 points in the Western Conference standings, separated merely by percentage points.

“A loss is a loss. But like I said, we could be in a worse position. We could be on the outside looking in,” said Jets centre Pierre-Luc Dubois, who seemed to be in the middle of a lot of melees on Wednesday night as he brought an incredibly high level of engagement. “We could be the team that played one more game right now and is still tied. The tiebreaker for us is better and we have a game in hand.

“We are obviously disappointed, like I’m not going to stand here and say that we are happy and thrilled, but we’re still in a good spot being on the inside. We just have to look forward to the next games here.”

This isn’t Dubois trying to channel his inner Tony Robbins here.

The Jets remain in control of their own destiny, though they do have a tougher road ahead, at least when it comes to playing teams above the playoff line in two of the final four games, compared to none in the final three for the Flames.

Jets head coach Rick Bowness expected both teams to carry a Game 7 mentality into the contest and for the most part, that turned out to be the case.

The game itself featured plenty of tension, including a lengthy review after the Jets used a coach’s challenge for goalie interference after the Flames thought they had tied the game 1-1 on a rebound goal from Nikita Zadorov.

Ultimately, it was deemed that goalie interference had taken place since both the stick and skate of Flames forward Nick Ritchie prevented Connor Hellebuyck from being able to reset after making the initial save.

“You’re rolling the dice. We saw the guy bump into Connor (Hellebuyck) and spun him around, so he couldn’t get set for the next shot,” said Bowness. “It could’ve gone either way, but you have to call it because our goalie got bumped and they scored. Our penalty killers were doing a good job so it was worth the gamble.”

The gamble paid off, though it didn’t prevent the Flames from responding a few minutes later with the actual equalizer, a marker that sparked a stretch of three unanswered goals for a visiting team that had lost 4-3 to the Chicago Blackhawks one night earlier to put their playoff hopes in jeopardy.

It was a penalty-filled affair and the parade to the penalty box for both teams disrupted the flow and limited the even-strength play.

“I don’t even know how many penalties there were in the game. I don’t think we even had a five-on-five shift until about 12 minutes into the first and a bunch in the second,” said Nate Schmidt. “That’s kind of been our bread and butter in the past week and a half or so. Getting in and getting on the forecheck. So I think there was a little bit of disruption in the game. But when that stuff happens….it hasn’t happened in a long time. But we understand those things happen in an emotional game, in a high-intensity match.”

The tilt also featured a rare occurrence, with Schmidt getting two shorthanded breakaways (one partial and one full-on from the offensive blue line and in) on the same shift.

“First one it just jumped over my stick. So I tried to grab it the second time and I think I ran out of space,” said Schmidt. “Second one, just kind of stay in it, I feel like I hadn’t made the right move and just kind of finish it from there.”

Dubois was playing the role of cerebral assassin, getting under the skin of the Flames, drawing several penalties throughout the contest.

One of the more interesting exchanges came in front of the Flames net in the second period after Dubois nearly converted on an odd-man rush with Mark Scheifele.

After Markstom made the save, he gave Dubois a shot and the Jets forward retaliated with a slash.

By the time the play was over, the Flames had gone the other way and took the lead for good when Mikael Backlund found Andrew Mangiapane for a one-timer.

Dubois skated the length of the ice after the goal against and had a few choice words for Markstrom, sparking another scrum that ultimately left the Jets with a power play.

“That's hockey. He punched me in the back of the head. I didn't appreciate it. That's it,” said Dubois, who was squirted with Markstrom’s water bottle. “Yeah, I didn't really care about that. It's water. I drink it, shower, like everybody else. It's just water. I didn't like the punch in the back of the head.

“I moved on after that.”

Dubois is the type of player who can thrive when the temperature gets turned up in the game and he notched his 300th NHL point on an assist on Kyle Connor’s power-play goal - which was set up by Nikolaj Ehlers on a beautiful cross-ice feed.

“High-intensity games. We get two power plays from doing that,” said Dubois. “Sometimes you've got to get punched in the head to get a power play. That's just how it works.”

Instead of building a four-point edge on the Flames, the Jets remain in a serious battle for the second and final wild card spot — which only builds the drama.

Neither team plays again until Saturday when the Jets host the Nashville Predators — the third team in this race — and the Flames host the Vancouver Canucks.

“It’s what it always comes down to. It’s the reason that you’re grinding for the whole year,” said Schmidt. “It’s a grind for games like this, for the next one. It makes for good storylines.”

It most certainly does and the storylines the Jets won’t want to investigate was whether or not this loss goes down as a missed opportunity in the quest to extinguish the Flames.