WINNIPEG – A tough start to the preseason schedule for the Winnipeg Jets as they ran into a hot goaltender at Canada Life Centre in a 5-2 loss to the Minnesota Wild.
The Wild’s goaltender of the future, Jesper Wallstedt, was outstanding from start to finish making 38 saves. Colin Miller and Colby Barlow scored for the Jets. Kaapo Kahkonen made 23 saves for the Jets who will travel to Edmonton Sunday to face the Oilers.
1. BRAD LAMBERT
The Jets first round pick from 2022 centred a line that featured two veteran forwards in Gabe Vilardi and Alex Iafallo. Lambert also received plenty of power play time and looked very comfortable out on the ice. The Finnish forward made his NHL debut last April and ended up recording his first NHL point (assist). Lambert made the choice to attend the Young Stars Classic in Penticton to get a head start before main camp began and it showed.
2. FLEURY FAMILY GROWING
One of the new members of the Jets organization is defenceman Haydn Fleury who made his Winnipeg debut tonight. The Saskatchewan product became a father for the second time this morning and still found a way to come to the rink tonight to play. Scott Arniel gave Fleury the option to make his debut tomorrow in Edmonton, but he chose to get it out of the way. The 28-year-old said he wanted to play on the same day that his son was born.
3. SLOPPY AFFAIR
The Jets dressed a younger lineup tonight because the preseason started a little bit earlier than usual and the Wild also went the route of giving younger players opportunities. Because of that the game looked like each teams first game in quite some time but there were some positives to take from the loss.
"There was systematic stuff that we did that I liked, some pretty good reads defending. At times we hemmed them in with some good forecheck and some offence," said Jets head coach Scott Arniel.
"They got the two quick power play goals (in the first), there is some sloppiness in execution which you are going to see at this time of year."
