WINNIPEG — Blake Wheeler figured he ought to get those haymakers he had planned for Evgeni Malkin out of the way early.
And so, just 3 minutes and 33 seconds into the second meeting of the season between Winnipeg and Pittsburgh—who’ve managed to build up a lot of bad blood, despite limited time together—the Jets captain dropped his gloves, and Malkin followed suit.
"A lot of respect for him answering the bell," a stone-faced Wheeler said after Winnipeg’s second straight loss, and a 7-4 Penguins victory. "He didn’t have to do that."
But Malkin—who’d later score No. 30 and 31 of the season—did. The two-time Stanley Cup champion didn’t throw any punches, but he ate a few and tried to protect himself as Wheeler threw his own and then wrung Malkin around and dropped him to the ice, to the delight of everyone (except a surprising number of Penguins fans) at the MTS Centre.
The dislike between these teams dates back to a game in mid-February, when Malkin left his feet and gave Wheeler a head shot, Dustin Byfuglien gave Justin Schultz a concussion, and Penguins defenceman Olli Maatta suffered a wrist injury he still hasn’t recovered from thanks to an away-from-the-play hit from Jets forward Adam Lowry.
But if you thought the Wheeler-Malkin scrap settled all that, you’d be wrong.
Two seconds after those two fought, Jets veteran Chris Thorburn and known brawler Tom Sestito (who the Penguins called up especially for this game) went at it.
And then, less than 10 minutes after that, Sestito hit defenceman Tobias Enstrom from behind, and was met with punches from Jets centre Andrew Copp before Sestito was tossed from the game. Enstrom, meanwhile, went to the hospital to get checked for facial fractures.
Sestito’s ninth NHL game of the season saw him register 1:04 of ice time and 20 penalty minutes.
Two fights, five goals (one was disallowed), 43 minutes worth of penalties—and that was just the first period.
A game that featured the top two-goal scorers in the league saw neither register a goal (Sidney Crosby did get an assist, but Patrik Laine got blanked). Penguins centre Nick Bonino put up his second career hat-trick and Malkin got a Gordie Howe hat-trick to lead the defending Stanley Cup champions to a third straight win.
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Winnipeg’s playoff hopes, meanwhile, are on life support. The Jets are five points out of the last wild-card spot in the West, held by the St. Louis Blues, who also have three games in hand.
And they actually led this one after the first period. Things really went sideways in the second, though. The turning point, as Wheeler pointed out, was a five-on-three the Jets gave up in the second period.
"I think we stopped playing the way we should be playing, the way we have been playing lately," said Jets forward Nikolaj Ehlers, who scored his 22nd of the season—a laser-beam in the top right corner—to put Winnipeg up 2-1 in the first period. "Obviously they’re a great team, they can score, they’re all around really good. But I think we could have done more today."
Added Jets coach, Paul Maurice: "We got into that second period and had a hard time keeping up. They’ve got such speed to their lineup that, you’re behind it at all, you’re not catching it…couldn’t match their speed for 60 minutes."
Pittsburgh scored four times in the second period, including three times on the power play. The Jets, meanwhile, went 0-for-5 with the man advantage.
"Our power play is not working right now," Ehlers said. "We gotta be better on the power play in every aspect."
And goaltending, which has been a problem on and off for much of the season in Winnipeg, was again an issue Wednesday. Connor Hellebuyck, who was making his 12th consecutive start and had played well of late—he’d stopped 78 of 81 shots in his last three games and posted a .963 save percentage—got yanked after giving up five goals on just 15 shots.
"Five was enough," Maurice said.
Halfway through the second, in came Michael Hutchinson, who in 21 games this season had a 4-11 record and a 3.21 GAA. He gave up two goals on 17 shots.
On a night when the highest-scoring team in the NHL was in town, the Jets goaltending had to be stellar.
And a game that started with tempers flaring ended that way, too—though, less like a house on fire. In the latter stages of the third period, Lowry hit Malkin, and a scrum ensued. Penguins winger Conor Sheary—shortly after he registered an assist—got into it with Jets rookie defenceman Josh Morrissey and both left the game.
Well, maybe we should have seen this coming. Sestito’s presence in the lineup was definitely a tip. And pre-game, Crosby did point out, "when we play here, it’s usually a pretty physical game."
Sadly, barring a completely shocking playoff meeting that nobody is predicting, that’s the last time the Jets and Penguins will play this season.
There’s always next year, though.
