Jets Fall 6-5 to Mark Stone and the Vegas Golden Knights

On Tuesday evening, the Pacific Division-leading Vegas Golden Knights made their way to Canada Life Centre for a test with the Central Division's top squad in what many touted either as a preview of the 2023 Western Conference Final, or a rematch of the 2018 Western Conference Final. Either way, it was expected to be a hot-ticket item, but sadly it drew the smallest crowd of the year at 13,102 tickets sold. Sure enough, fans left downtown Winnipeg significantly better than they had a couple nights prior, when the Jets gave up four goals in the second period and ultimately fell 5-2 to Alexander Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals. It wasn't a win, but certainly was a back-and-forth game. Fans at Canada Life Centre were treated to an 11-goal outing, with the home team finishing the night just one tally short of the visitors' six. Mark Stone and Jonathan Marchessault each had two goals for Vegas, while Mark Scheifele responded with a hat trick for Winnipeg.

"They're a good hockey club. That was a hell of a hockey game and give their goalie credit," Jets head coach Rick Bowness said post-game. "On our last power play in the third, he made four Grade A (saves), give him credit for that. So that was a hell of a hockey game. It could have gone either way. We battled hard tonight. We showed we can certainly play with them and with the best teams in the league and we're going to continue to stay in that fight."

Chasing history, Josh Morrisey needed just 9:22 to extend his now six-game point scoring streak. In picking up his 27^th assist of the season, he moved into sole possession of first-place amongst all NHL defenceman in assists, while setting a new career high as well. The assist was his 27^th in just 28 games played this year and it came on Mark Scheifele's 16th of the season.

Despite the personal success, Morrissey’s team seemingly fell apart as the period wore on. Giving up two-straight goals before time ticked off the clock, Winnipeg surrendered its 1-0 lead just two minutes after getting on the board.

"I am just so very happy for my mom and dad, my family, and my fiancé and her family, it’s just unreal," Miromanov said. "The only thing I’m upset about is that my mom and dad are not here but they watch every single game. I am sure they are really, really happy for my mom and dad.”

Before the clock could hit zeros, Vegas struck again. In putting up eight shots in the final five minutes of the period, the Golden Knights pulled ahead 2-1 with exactly 1.6 seconds left on the clock. A Nic Hague rebound fell to Winnipegger Mark Stone, who picked up career point No. 499 in his hometown, as Jets fans ran for the exits early.

"First 10 minutes was really good," Bowness said of the opening frame. "They took over the last 10 minutes of the first. They made more of their chances in the second half of the first than we did in the first half but then, as the game wore on, it was an even game."

Leading Winnipeg 2-1 and ahead 15-7 on the shot chart, it was a strong second half the opening period for the visitors, who didn’t seem to be pushing over any time soon as the middle stanza rolled around.

Winnipeg did get the equalizer with 8:44 left to play, as Morgan Barron stuck with an opportunity on the doorstep, potting his third of the season in the process. Dylan Samberg's point shot bounced to Barron, who put the rebound off the post. He maintained his place in the crease and flipped it over Adin Hill's pad. But it didn't take long for Vegas to respond. Once again, it was local legend Mark Stone. In picking up his second goal of the game and 500th career marker, the former Kirkfield-Westwood homemaker picked up a nice makeup pass from Stephenson, celebrating emphatically, clearly aware of the significance of his tally. https://twitter.com/CBrooksie84/status/1602852922336894977 However, much like the overall game story to this point, it was Winnipeg's turn to respond in a timely fashion. Sam Gagner got his fourth of the season, perfectly deflecting a Brenden Dillon floater, knotting the game up once again less than a minute after Stone's go-ahead tally. "We were trying to get pucks low to high and get to the net, that was my mindset," Gagner said of the goal. "I was able to get a stick on it, it was a great shot from Dilly. It’s certainly nice to contribute, obviously you’d rather it come in a win, but just keep building on it." Out-duelling the Golden Knights in the frame, Winnipeg put up 10 shots to Vegas' nine, but still trailed 24-18 through 40 minutes of work. But with Alec Martinez in the box for slashing, the Jets scored on their first power play opportunity of the game. The goal came before many had even found their seats for the third. 41 seconds into the period, Scheifele received a cross-ice pass from Kyle Connor and hammered home his team-leading 17th of the year past a sliding Adin Hill. Blake Wheeler was charged with a delay-of-game minor midway through the period, however, and Vegas needed just 32 seconds of the man advantage to find a power play marker of their own. With Stone on the doorstep, it was Jonathan Marchessault who took a skate around the top of the circle and put another puck past Hellebuyck low, blocker side. "We just had to kind of rebound the whole night," Scheifele said. "It was, you know, kind of back and forth all night – a goal for them, a goal for us – and we just had to kind of stick to our game and not let off the gas.” Hill came up huge in a late-period kill for Vegas, holding off a fantastic chance off a strong Pierre-Luc Dubois fake shot and pass. With Winnipeg taking over the shot lead on its power play, Connor Hellebuyck also needed to stay on his toes with less volume directed his way. End-to-end hockey ensued for the final four minutes of the period, with the man advantage taking over the gameplay as the minutes ticked by. Much like that of Wheeler, Neal Pionk found himself in the sin bin late in the frame, after catching Phil Kessel up high on a partial break. With 3:03 left in the game, the Jets made their way onto the ice for what would be their biggest test of the night. But taking just 47 seconds, the Golden Knights found the twine again. A perfect pass from Miromanov landed on the stick of Marchessault, who one-timed his second of the game past Hellebuyck on a perfect setup. The goal came with 2:13 left on the clock. Hellebuyck joined his mates on the bench for the extra attacker with 1:36 to play, while coach Bowness called a 30-second timeout. This time it did not pay off, as William Karlsson put the cherry on top with an empty netter with 1:24 to go. Scheifele added a garbage time hat trick, scoring his third of the game with 1.7 seconds remaining on the clock, but it was all for nothing, as the visitors topped the stats sheet 6-5. Connor Hellebuyck ended up stopping 27 of Vegas' 32 shots on the night and saw his record fall to 14-7-1 on the season, while Adin Hill turned aside 29 total shots, and saw his record improve to 8-2-1 on the year. For Winnipeg, the loss moved them down the standings into second place in the Central Division with a record of 18-9-1. Vegas remains in first in the Pacific Division with a 21-9-1 record. Next up for Winnipeg is the final test of the three-game homestand, a Thursday evening Central Division battle with Roman Josi and the Nashville Predators. Game action will be provided on TSN, with the opening face-off coming at 7:00 PM central time. The Jets will then hit the road for back-to-back weekend games against Seattle and Vancouver. “We’re just a good team," Scheifele said of his team's ability to bounce back following a loss. "We don’t want to lose games and we want to rebound. We come in the next night and battle hard and give it our all and that’s all we can do here, is get some rest and be ready for Nashville.”