Scheifele injured as Jets drop Game 4 to Golden Knights

WINNIPEG -As if the Winnipeg Jets weren't dealing with enough adversity - with all-star Josh Morrissey and speedy forward Nikolaj Ehlers already out of the line-up - they may have to head into Vegas with their backs against the wall without Mark Scheifele too.
The Jets leading goal-scorer was injured early in the first period - a storyline all too familiar to Morrissey's departure from Game 3 - and no matter how hard the Jets scratched and clawed, they couldn't find the equalizer in Game 4.
Two Brett Howden goals gave Vegas a 4-2 win, and a 3-1 series lead.
"Our team played very hard tonight," said head coach Rick Bowness, adding that Scheifele's upper-body injury - which resulted from a crash into the end boards after a breakaway chance - will be re-evaluated on Tuesday.
"We've been through this before early in the year when we had five or six guys out, key guys out. And now we're faced with it again," Bowness said. "The difference now obviously is you're in the playoffs."

Blake Wheeler had a goal and an assist, Neal Pionk had two helpers, and Pierre-Luc Dubois had the other Jets goal in the loss.
"Bad luck, whatever you want to call it. It's not something we can really dwell on," Wheeler said of the injury situation the Jets face. "We'd really like to have the guys that aren't good to go but like I said we believe in the group we've got and we'll go out there on Thursday and fight like hell."
Greeted by the whiteout, the Jets came out flying early and drew an early power play. Scheifele, injured shortly before that man advantage, hopped on the ice to give the injury a go. However, he left shortly after attempting to put a puck on net from the left circle.
"Obviously it's not something you want to see; he's a great player," said Dubois. "He's huge for our team, but you got to have the next-man-up mentality."

The Jets still managed to take advantage of the opportunity, with Wheeler snapping home his second of the postseason to give the Jets a 1-0 lead. The goal, which 5:53 into the first, was Winnipeg's first lead since Game 2.
The lead lasted exactly four minutes, as Howden, a Manitoba product, tied the game on a Vegas rush chance. His initial shot was blocked by Pionk, but Howden got to the loose puck and then beat Connor Hellebuyck on the glove side for his first of the playoffs.
Vegas took a 2-1 lead with 6:28 to play in the second, as William Karlsson redirected a slap pass from Jonathan Marchessault with his skate and through the legs of Hellebuyck. Officials reviewed the play to check for a kicking motion, but the power play goal stood, giving Karlsson his third of the series.
"The chances are even five-on-five, so their pucks are going in better than ours. Right? They are," said Bowness. "What do we have to do better? Find a way to get some of those greasy goals."
That lead increased to 3-1 just 47 seconds later, as Shea Theodore's wrist shot from the top of the left circle was deflected by Ivan Barbashev and snuck inside the right post.

For the second time in two games, the Jets found themselves trailing heading into the third, and that's despite the fact the Jets had a 22-12 share of the shot attempts at five-on-five in the middle frame - according to Natural Stat Trick.
"The second goal was off a skate, the third one was off a stick. We have to find a way to get those goals," said Bowness. "We did have 65 shot attempts and we've got to do a better job."
Winnipeg pushed forward, with Mason Appleton drawing a holding call early in the third period to give the Jets their second power play of the game. Once again, they cashed in, though it was anything but routine. Wheeler's shot from the right circle was stopped by Brossoit, with the rebound getting knocked in the air. Brossoit's blocker hit it further in the air, and Alex Pietrangelo tried to leap to catch it. He missed it, and it went off Brossoit's back and in. Dubois, engaged in a battle net front when Wheeler's shot came, got credit for the goal which made it 3-2 three minutes into the third.
"That was a weird one. It got us back in within one," said Dubois. "When you're down two or three, you can't be thinking about scoring three goals or two goals, you got to be thinking of scoring one at a time and that gave us an opportunity to get within one."

They'd have their looks to tie the game as well. It just seemed every slap pass, redirection, deflection, or shot attempt grazed a shin pad or a skate and veered from the target.
Howden's empty netter with 17 seconds to go sealed Winnipeg's fate in the contest.
"We have two options. We can either feel bad for ourselves, or we can have a positive mindset," Dubois said of the Jets, who are now facing elimination. "We won one in Vegas before. We feel like we have the recipe to do it again."
The team will fly to Vegas on Tuesday, practice Wednesday, then prepare to play their most desperate game of the season on Thursday night in Game 5.
"We just have to approach it as a game on Thursday and we have to give everything we have to win a game," said Wheeler. "These series can be interesting the longer you keep them alive and, just like I said, give it everything we've got Thursday and come out of there with a big victory."