’Canes’ pressure too much for Jets

‘Extremely special’ — Ehlers scores winner

Jets defenceman Dylan DeMelo (right) defends against Carolina Hurricanes winger Nikolaj Ehlers on Saturday afternoon. (John Woods / The Canadian Press)

HURRICANES 3 JETS 2

Oh, how the tables have turned. Nikolaj Ehlers spent 10 years making a big impact for the Winnipeg Jets, scoring 234 goals along the way. On Saturday, he got his first against his former team. And it was a doozy.

Ehlers’ power-play tally early in the third period snapped a tie and proved to be the game-winner in a 3-2 victory for the Carolina Hurricanes in front of 14,415 at Canada Life Centre.

“It is extremely special. In some ways it still feels like home,” the guy known as “Fly” told reporters. “I loved my time here, and I appreciate the people here so much. So, it’s weird but it’s special for me to come home, and I think the welcome I got last year (in his first visit back) was something that is going to be a fantastic memory for the rest of my life. I was very, very, very proud and happy about that, but it shows what kind of people they have here in Winnipeg.”

Ehlers ripped a shot past Jets goaltender Clay Stevenson at 6:43 of the final frame, with his team on the power play and the Jets failing on several attempts to clear the puck out of their zone and get a much-needed line change.

“We got hemmed in there on the PK. We’ve got to do a better job of clearing, almost kind of protecting the guts once they had us running around for a minute,” said Jets forward Kyle Connor. “We extended a little bit too much and we were just off our reads. Obviously, a great player like Nik in the slot there, it’s just too much time.”

Ehlers failed to light the lamp in the first two meetings against Winnipeg last season after signing a six-year, US$51-million contract with Carolina. Third time proved to be the charm.

Winnipeg falls to 4-2-2 on the year, while Carolina is showing no signs of a championship hangover, improving to 7-1-1 with seven straight victories.

Saturday was the opposite. Winnipeg was clean and crisp in the opening frame, only to fade in the second and third. You can thank Carolina for that, as they are a relentless group that can wear opponents down as a game progresses.

“They’re the Stanley Cup champs and you can see why. It’s 60 minutes of the exact same thing. It’s a carbon copy,” said Jets head coach Scott Arniel.

“Line after line after line, D pairs. If it is shift after shift after shift, they force you to play a fast game and if you don’t, obviously they’re going to create their turnovers. They’re so skilled at what they do and they do that extremely well. It’s a pressure game. It’s speed and it’s push the puck forward and gain zones.”

The Jets opened the scoring early in the second, as Ehlers coughed up the puck to Mark Scheifele who beat Pyotr Kochetkov for his second goal of the season. Carolina tied it a few minutes later as Mark Jankowski scored on the power play.

Winnipeg regained the lead just past the midway mark of the middle frame as Kochetkov mishandled a puck, allowing Adam Lowry to feed Alex Iafallo for what was a wide-open tap-in.

“There’s a scouting report on how the goalie plays the puck,” said Lowry. “Sometimes the riverboat gambler goes all-in and he misses. I’m just going there trying to force a play, and fortunately, he mishandles the puck and comes right back to me, and I’m able to get it out front to Al. But I think that just goes to our pressure game.”

For the Jets, they weren’t able to take advantage of another gift and make it count as Jesperi Kotkaniemi tipped a Shayne Gostisbehere point shot before the second period was over.

Winnipeg outshot Carolina 10-7 in the first period, and shot attempts were 22-18 for the home team. But the Hurricanes flipped the script in the second, outshooting the Jets 17-6 and holding a 28-12 advantage in shot attempts.

“For some reason, we find it tough to sustain our pace, our game for the full game,” said Connor. “They’re on top of you. They pressure hard, they skate really well. Just a couple of those plays in a second, you know, you don’t get it in, next thing you know they’re coming back down on you.”

It was more of the same in the final frame, with Carolina outshooting Winnipeg 13-7 and scoring the only goal.