On a night when the presumptive Vezina Trophy winner sat on the Winnipeg Jets’ bench, Eric Comrie looked like one against the Golden Knights.
Comrie made 26 saves for his second shutout of the season, and the Knights lost 4-0 to the Jets on Thursday at T-Mobile Arena.
The Jets played Comrie over Connor Hellebuyck, who is on pace for his second straight Vezina Trophy with a league-leading 43 wins.
It was the second time this season the Knights faced the 29-year-old Comrie. The Knights scored four times on Comrie on Nov. 29.
They got nothing this time.
“I think it feels like a step back,” center William Karlsson said. “They’re a good team, and we’re in the hunt to catch them. To have a performance like this is not good enough, and we’ve got to learn from it.”
Goaltender Adin Hill made 16 saves before he was pulled in the third period for Akira Schmid. The Knights (45-22-8) were shut out for the fifth time this season.
Winnipeg (52-20-4) showed why it’s been one of, if not the best team in the league all season and is the top club in the Western Conference.
The Knights went 10-2-2 in March, but it was mostly against Eastern Conference teams. Against the West, and teams they may see down the road in the playoffs in the next two weeks, there’s a heightened sense of urgency.
“I’m concerned,” coach Bruce Cassidy said. “This isn’t a one-off. We should be prepared to play. We didn’t.”
The Jets suffocated the Knights from the start. Passing lanes were closed. There were plenty of one-and-dones in the offensive zone.
The Knights looked disjointed offensively and got next to nothing. They were held to five shots in the opening 20 minutes.
It wasn’t any better defensively.
The fourth line and top pairing of Brayden McNabb and Shea Theodore were on the ice for both Jets goals in the first period. McNabb and Theodore were caught flat-footed on both.
Jets right wing Alex Iafallo got a full step behind McNabb to spring a two-on-one and fired a backhand pass by Theodore to center Mark Scheifele at 13:01 of the first.
Center Adam Lowry made it 2-0 when he got behind the Knights’ defense and jammed home a loose puck on a sprawling Hill at 18:15.
“The difference in the game was the start of the game,” captain Mark Stone said.
Former Original Misfit defenseman Colin Miller made it 3-0 at 11:53 with a power-play goal.
Schmid, playing in place of the injured Ilya Samsonov, made two saves in relief of Hill.
The Knights are playing a back-to-back in Calgary on Saturday and Vancouver on Sunday. Hill made his fifth straight start over a span of 10 days.
But it’s not Hill the Knights need to worry about right now. They’ve been held to two goals combined in two losses following their six-game winning streak.
Suddenly, their lead in the Pacific Division is down to three points after the Los Angeles Kings defeated the Utah Hockey Club 4-2 on Thursday.
It’s a tighter race than what it was when the Knights were reeling off six straight wins. It’s far from over.
“You can feel sorry for yourselves, or you can pick yourself up off the mat and play your best game against a desperate team on Saturday,” Stone said. “We’re not going to roll over.”
Three takeaways from the loss:
1. Comrie terrific
It was a quiet start to the game for Comrie, but when the Knights got their chances, he shut them down.
Comrie made multiple key stops to halt any of the Knights’ momentum, including consecutive stops on Stone starting at 16:43 of the second.
Comrie entered Thursday 0-2 all-time against the Knights with an .846 save percentage and 5.15 goals-against average. Those numbers will look slightly better now.
2. Missing Hertl
The Knights got their offense going on their three-game road trip last week, even without center Tomas Hertl in the lineup.
The net-front presence is sorely lacking, especially in games like these when the offense is limited. The Knights had just 22 shots Tuesday against the Edmonton Oilers and had only 12 through two periods Thursday.
The Knights went 0-for-1 on the power play for the second straight game, but it was another instance when a timely goal could have swung the momentum.
Hertl has returned to practice after injuring his shoulder March 23. Though he won’t play the next two games, his return could not come at a more important time.
3. Reinforcements in Henderson
The Silver Knights will soon be joined by two of the Knights’ top prospects.
Forward Trevor Connelly and goaltender Cameron Whitehead signed professional tryout deals Thursday and will join the American Hockey League club for its final eight games.
Whitehead practiced Thursday after completing his college career at Northeastern. Connelly, the Knights’ 2024 first-round pick who played his freshman year at Providence, traveled to Las Vegas on Thursday and could join the team for Friday’s game against the Coachella Valley Firebirds.
Contact Danny Webster at [email protected]. Follow @DannyWebster21 on X.
