Though not deployed like one, Jets' Ehlers shows ability to be game-breaker

WINNIPEG — In a game where seven different Winnipeg Jets registered points, Nikolaj Ehlers’ two assists on Sunday afternoon — in the team’s 6-3 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins — stood out above the rest.

Subtly, those two primary assists were the driving force behind Winnipeg overcoming Pittsburgh’s initial 2-0 lead.

Ehlers drew a tripping penalty at the 7:54 mark of the second period, prompting Winnipeg to pull Eric Comrie for a six-on-five during the delayed call. Ehlers picked the puck back up at the blue line and surveyed around the left wing before threading a perfect pass — through a cluster of four Penguins skaters — to tee up Kyle Connor for a one-timer that put Winnipeg on the board. 

Ehlers’ second apple, which gave Winnipeg a 3-2 lead heading into the third period, was another precise pass. During a four-on-four sequence, Ehlers chipped the puck past Lars Eller, who was attempting to exit the zone, cut into the slot, outwaited a sprawled-out Matt Grzelyck and zipped the puck over to Vladislav Namestnikov, who was in prime position to redirect the puck into the net.

Jets coach Scott Arniel referred to Ehlers as a game-breaker post-game.

“If other teams ever forget about Nik, he usually burns them,” Arniel said. “He has such speed and quickness — that opens up lanes and opportunities for other guys.”

But the Jets don’t deploy Ehlers like a game-breaker. 

Ehlers, whose seven points tie him for second in team scoring, finished Sunday’s matinee with just 12:57 minutes on the ice. Morgan Barron, David Gustafsson and Alex Iafallo — Winnipeg’s fourth-line trio — were the only Jets skaters to log less minutes than Ehlers. 

The 28-year-old pending UFA's ice time has long been a hot topic in Winnipeg, and judging by how Winnipeg’s first five games went, it appears that discourse won’t be dying down any time soon. Winnipeg’s “third line” of Adam Lowry, Nino Niederreiter and Mason Appleton has been deployed more at five-on-five than the Jets’ “second line” of Ehlers, Cole Perfetti and Vladislav Namestnikov. While it’s encouraging to see Ehlers on the team’s first power-play unit, it’s fair to question scarce five-on-five deployment. 

The Danish winger was one of the NHL’s most efficient five-on-five producers over the last three seasons, ranking eighth in five-on-five primary points (2.18) among skaters that played at least 500 minutes since the 2021-22 season.

Unfortunately for Ehlers, given that he’s not on the team’s top line — where Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor and Gabriel Vilardi reside — he and his linemates duke it out with Lowry’s line for minutes. And not only is Lowry’s line elite at shutting down opponents but, stylistically, they’re more aligned with the Jets’ defensive identity. 

“We’re kind of a defence-first mindset type of team. We would rather win a game 2-1 or 3-2,” Jets forward Mason Appleton explained after Winnipeg's near-touchdown scoring spree. 

Jets Honour Bryan Little

Bryan Little signed a one-day contract with Winnipeg on Sunday, allowing him to officially retire from the NHL with Winnipeg. 

Little, a Jets 2.0 icon, suffered a severe ear injury on Nov 5. 2019 that cut his career short. Originally a 2006 first-round pick of the Atlanta Thrashers, the now 36-year-old ended up spending nine seasons with Winnipeg. 

"Coming from Atlanta, where it was a whole different (situation), we were struggling to get people in the arena and playing in front of six or seven thousand people,” Little said during a press conference an hour before the game. “To come play in a Canadian city where the fans and the city are so passionate about hockey and about the Jets, that's what every player dreams of. You want to play in that atmosphere. This kind of became our second home.”

Little, suited up in full equipment, led the Jets onto the ice ahead of the game. Mason Appleton said the players didn’t know that ahead of time, which made for a nice surprise.

“We got off the ice from warmup and he was just sitting in his old stall, throwing his gear on,” Appleton said. “He had Ehlers kicked to the corner; he took back his spot. Just threw his gear on and led us out there.”

Other Thoughts

• Neal Pionk had another solid outing. Pionk — who played 21:20 minutes and registered one assist, two shots, three blocks and three hits — was a force at both ends of the rink.

Defensively, he killed plays at ease — he had a nice sequence where he defended Evgeni Malkin eloquently one-on-one during the first period — and offensively, he joined the rush on several occasions. The 29-year-old has one goal and six assists in his first five games.

• Eric Comrie was excellent in his first start of the season, stopping 39 of 42 shots.

“Coms did a great job. They’re a veteran team who capitalizes on turnovers and lulls like that. They obviously had their pushes, but Coms did a great job of slowing their momentum down,” Appleton said. “If he didn’t make some of those saves, I don’t know if we’re winning that game.”

The Jets have discussed monitoring Hellebuyck’s workload — due to his inevitable appearance at the 4 Nations Faceoff — but the two-time Vezina winner is known to take pride in shouldering a heavy workload.

“I was joking with a couple guys. I was like, “Don’t show Helle Miikka Kipprusoff or Marty Brodeur’s old stat-lines on games played because it used to be 76-80 games,” Comrie said. “I don’t want to go that long between games.”