It was written all over Dylan Samberg’s face. The Winnipeg Jets defenceman was visibly uncomfortable the moment he took his seat at the podium at Canada Life Centre Sunday afternoon, knowing exactly why he was there and the questions that would follow.
Fewer than 24 hours earlier, a costly giveaway by the rookie blue-liner led to the game-winning goal in Game 3 of Winnipeg’s first-round, best-of-seven series against the Vegas Golden Knights. The defeat put the Jets behind 2-1 in the series, after their bid to complete a comeback from a 4-1 third-period deficit went unrewarded.
“I don’t think it could get any worse than it is right now, but I think this will definitely test my adversity and I’m just looking forward to Game 4,” the 24-year-old Samberg said.
MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES “I don’t think it could get any worse than it is right now, but I think this will definitely test my adversity and I’m just looking forward to Game 4,” said Dylan Samberg.
The misplay happened just minutes into the second overtime period.
Samberg had just received a pass from fellow defencemen Dylan DeMelo in the corner of the defensive zone and in an attempt to make a pass up the left boards, the puck deflected off the shin pad of Ivan Barbashev and onto the stick of Michael Amadio.
Amadio was positioned in the high-slot in front of the net. Without even cradling the puck, he fired a knuckler past Connor Hellebuyck, ending the game 5-4 and stunning the sold-out home crowd.
“Melo made a bump play to me in the corner and I tried to make a play up the wall, and it didn’t work out. Bad bounce,” was how Samberg explained the play. “Everyone has come up to me and said stuff like ‘this is going to happen, that it’s going to make you better for it.’ It’s obviously unfortunate in the time, but just got to pick your head up and move on to the next game. That’s why it’s a seven-game series.” The support for Samberg — who has been playing some of his best hockey of late, including a career-high 22 minutes in Game 3 — was instant. Immediately after the puck crossed the goal line, Samberg raised his arms to his head, seemingly overcome by disbelief, before being consoled by teammates.
JOHN WOODS / THE CANADIAN PRESS Vegas Golden Knights celebrate their win over the Winnipeg Jets during the second overtime period in NHL playoff action Saturday.
Jets head coach Rick Bowness said he spoke to Samberg immediately after the game, when he shared words of encouragement, and then told reporters it had no effect on his standing with the club. Samberg will dress for Game 4, and with Josh Morrissey out for the series with a lower-body injury, he’s likely to play a pivotal role.
“I gave him a late call last night just to check on him and we move on. He has no choice. The team has no choice. That’s hockey,” said Bowness. “Now, he’s a young guy, and it’s easier said than done: ‘OK, we’re moving on here.’ A veteran, a guy who’s been around the league seven or eight years, would move on a lot quicker than a young guy, so we’ll make sure we’re doing everything that we can to support him.”
FLIPPING FORWARDS
Bowness was asked about his decision to break up his top two forward lines early in the second period. He swapped Mark Scheifele and Nino Niederreiter, moving Scheifele back to centre to play between Blake Wheeler and Vladislav Namestnikov, while Niederreiter jumped to the top line of Pierre-Luc Dubois and Kyle Connor.
“I figured we had milked that ‘Scheifele on the right wing’ as long as we could. We did, and they weren’t generating enough. Mark’s a centreman, so it was after the first period I made that decision, OK, that’s not working right now, we need more offence,” Bowness said. “We weren’t getting enough offence from the second line either, so I just kind of figured, you know what, we’ve milked this, this is about as far as it’s going to go and that’s exactly what I told Mark, ‘We’ve pushed this as far as it’ll go, it’s time to put you back at centre.’ So, that’s what we did.”
It’s safe to say the Jets will go back to the forward lines they ended with Saturday, for today’s tilt.
EHLERS UPDATE
When will speedy forward Nikolaj Ehlers finally return to the lineup? That’s been the No. 1 question ever since he was sidelined following a cheap hit by Minnesota Wild forward Ryan Hartman in the second-last game of the regular season.
Ehlers suffered an undisclosed upper-body injury on the hit and hasn’t been cleared yet by doctors, despite practising with the team and saying for days that he’s good to go. Bowness said it won’t happen until the doctors say he can play.
“Nik is still on the ice, so I do not have an update on him,” Bowness said. “We’ll see how he gets through today and we’ll see how he feels (Monday), but he’s still on the ice. That’s a good thing.”
Twitter: @jeffkhamilton
Jeff Hamilton
Multimedia producer
After a slew of injuries playing hockey that included breaks to the wrist, arm, and collar bone; a tear of the medial collateral ligament in both knees; as well as a collapsed lung, Jeff figured it was a good idea to take his interest in sports off the ice and in to the classroom.
