Jets hoping Ehlers will be back for playoffs
An injury to Nik Ehlers and the fallout from Mark Scheifele’s benching were the two headline topics out of the Winnipeg Jets camp, Monday morning.
Ehlers, the team’s most dynamic forward and one of its top goal scorers and point producers, is out of the lineup after taking several hits in Saturday’s 4-1 loss to Toronto.
“Nik is going to be out for the remainder of the regular season,” head coach Paul Maurice said. “We’re confident and hopeful that he’ll be back for the start of the playoffs.”
That takes Ehlers out of the lineup for nine games, starting with a two-game, second-place showdown with the Edmonton Oilers, starting with Monday and Wednesday games in Winnipeg.
With 21 goals, Ehlers trails Kyle Connor by one for the team goal-scoring lead heading into Monday.
His 46 points are second only to Scheifele’s 54.
Scheifele is coming off a game in which Maurice benched him for something he didn’t feel he deserved a benching.
“I understand where he’s coming from,” Scheifele said. “I don’t agree with him benching me. But we don’t have to agree on everything.
He’s the coach, I’m the player. We don’t have to agree on everything. That’s the business of sports.”
Scheifele sat for a good part of the second period after he was on the ice for too long of a shift and glided to the bench, allowing Toronto a two-on-one in which they scored their third goal on Saturday.
The Jets’ No. 1 centre, he even missed a power play, despite the team trailing by two and needing a goal.
Scheifele says he used the benching as motivation when he skated on Sunday but is focused on the Oilers now.
He’ll line up alongside Andrew Copp and Mason Appleton as Maurice juggles his combinations without Ehlers in the mix.
Maurice couldn’t pinpoint which hit did the damage to Ehlers on Saturday, but a late-game collision with Leafs defenceman Jake Muzzin left Ehlers in obvious discomfort on the bench. At one point he appeared to be favouring his right shoulder.
Ehlers also had a gamelong feud going with Toronto’s Joe Thornton, in which the two exchanged hits and slashes and nearly came to blows late in the game.
The loss of Ehlers comes as centre Adam Lowry remains out with a head/neck injury. He missed his second game Monday.