The Winnipeg Jets squandered leads twice in a 3-2 preseason loss in Minnesota Tuesday night, but the main concern is the status of Jonathan Toews.
Winnipeg’s top offseason pickup played his last shift of the game just shy of the midway point of the second period.
“He just tweaked something,” head coach Scott Arniel told 680 CJOB after the game. “We’ll just wait and see, we’ll wait until we get home, get it looked at and go from there.”
Winnipeg opened the scoring at the 5:24 mark of the first when Cole Koepke was in the right place at the right time in the Wild end. He intercepted a pass in the Minnesota end and deposited it past Jesper Wallstedt to make it 1-0.
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Just shy of 12 minutes into the period, the Wild drew level when Matt Boldy got free behind the Jets defence and walked in alone on, beating Connor Hellebuyck high in the Hart Trophy winner’s preseason debut.
The game remained tied until the opening minute of the second period. Alex Iafallo won a puck battle behind the Minnesota net and fed Vladislav Namestnikov in front for a tap-in to make it 2-1 Winnipeg.
Minnesota got things level again on the power play just shy of seven minutes into the second. With Dylan DeMelo in the box, Kirill Kaprizov, fresh off signing the biggest contract in NHL history, deflected a point shot past Hellebuyck to tie the game.
The Jets failed on their first power play look of the night and during their second PP chance, the Wild took the lead. Neal Pionk attempted an ill-fated d-to-d pass on the backhand and it was intercepted by Marcus Foligno. He blazed up the ice with the puck and beat Hellebuyck to give the Wild their first lead of the night.
Winnipeg outshot Minnesota 12-7 in the second and 13-7 in the third but 3-2 would be the final score.
The third period was marked by a couple of questionable hits by the Wild. Namestnikov was crumpled into the boards by Yakov Trenin and just a few minutes later, Parker Ford was hit from behind. Namestnikov did not return to the game after the hit, pulled by the concussion spotter but Arniel said postgame that Namestnikov is fine.
Hellebuyck made 16 saves in his preseason debut.
Winnipeg is expected to ice a lineup that either closely or completely resembles its opening night roster when they conclude their preseason schedule Friday night in Calgary.
