Jets Beat Flames 4-2 To win first pre-season game of 2025
Sure, it was just a practice game. And yes, nobody outside the coaching staff will ever remember it was played.
But on Saturday night at Canada Life Centre, a number of young Winnipeg Jets made themselves known to the team’s brain trust.
Brayden Yager, Parker Ford, Nikita Chibrikov and Jaret Anderson-Dolan all played very well as the Jets won their first pre-season game of 2025, a 4-2 win over the visiting Calgary Flames.
While Neal Pionk, Gabriel Vilardi and Josh Morrissey were the best players on the ice and Eric Comrie played very well in net, the kids were solid as the Jets built up a 4-1 lead after two periods and coasted to what was, essentially, a meaningless victory.
It was hardly a Rembrandt, no pre-season games are artistic, but the Jets, with a lineup that included Pionk, Vilardi, Morrissey, Jonathan Toews, Dylan Samberg, Mark Scheifele, Cole Perfetti and Kyle Connor, easily handled a collection of young Flames who will likely spend more time in Stockton than Calgary this season.
Off the opening faceoff, the Jets had some jump, attacked quickly and took an early lead.
Former Flames winger Walker Duehr opened the scoring for Winnipeg at 5:12 of the first period as he flew down the right wing fired a pass across the crease that deflected off Flame D-man Joel Handley and past Calgary netminder Devin Cooley. Neal Pionk drew the only assist.
At 12:02, Nikita Chibrikov took a pass from Brayden Yager in the slot and made it 2-0 with a blistering shot past Cooley.
Then, after Calgary’s Zayne Parekh scored a power play goal at 13:16, the Jets made it 3-1 at 17:37, when Jaret Anderson-Dolan drove down the leftwing and fed a perfect pass through the Flames crease that Parker Ford tipped past Cooley.
The Jets were in control, but they should have been. They were essentially playing the Stockton Heat.
The Jets scored the only goal of the second period when Neal Pionk fired a blast from the point on the power play at 11:41. Gustav Nyquist and Nikita Chibrikov drew the assists.
After two periods, the shots were 18 apiece but the Jets led 4-1.
In the third period, Calgary’s kids came out flying and were peppering Eric Comrie with shots when Yan Kuznetsov scored at 5:23 to make it 4-2, but that’s as close as they’d get.
Winnipeg outshot Calgary 29-24 and the Jets won 60.4 per cent of the faceoffs. Calgary outhit Winnipeg 21-13.
Pionk, Chibrikov and Comrie were the three stars, but Yager could easily have been part of that group.
The Jets, now 1-3 in the pre-season, play another practice game on Tuesday night against the Minnesota Wild in St. Paul. Game time is 7 p.m.
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