By Canadian Press

Jets dominate Flames behind Rittich’s 37 saves, four second-period goals in 5-0 win

Oct 5, 2022 | 8:51 PM

WINNIPEG — David Rittich made 37 saves and Kyle Connor scored two of Winnipeg’s four second-period goals as the Jets defeated the Calgary Flames 5-0 in pre-season action Wednesday.

Connor and Mark Scheifele each had power-play goals 44 seconds apart to start the middle period. Dominic Toninato also scored during the 20-minute attack.

Nikolaj Ehlers added a power-play goal in the third period and contributed a pair of assists. Sam Gagner also recorded two assists.

Rittich used to play for the Flames, signing as a free agent with the club in 2016. He was traded to Toronto in April 2021 and signed as a free agent with Nashville three months later. The Jets signed him this past summer.

Dan Vladar stopped 13-of-15 shots for Calgary before being replaced by Dustin Wolf midway through the second period. Wolf made eight saves.

roster shakeup

Nanaimo Clippers lose two major players to Major Junior ranks

1h ago

armed robbery

Knife-wielding man robs south Nanaimo liquor store

9h ago

Shorthanded

Clippers fall short hosting Bulldogs

16h ago

The Flames went 0-for-6 on the power play while the Jets were 3-for-5.

Calgary iced a squad close to its projected regular-season roster, including new acquisitions Jonathan Huberdeau and Nazem Kadri, but sat starting goalie Jacob Markstrom.

Winnipeg didn’t play forwards Pierre-Luc Dubois and Blake Wheeler, defencemen Nate Schmidt and Brenden Dillon, as well as starting goalie Connor Hellebuyck.

The Flames had a three-on-one chance early in the first period, but couldn’t beat Rittich. Vladar turned aside a Connor breakaway shot late in the period.

Calgary outshot Winnipeg 10-8 in the opening frame.

Connor began the second-period barrage with a power-play goal at 8:28, followed by Scheifele’s man-advantage marker at 9:12 that sent Vladar to the bench and bumped the lead to 2-0.

Toninato got the puck after stepping out of the penalty box, went in alone on Wolf and beat him close in after a little body move at 12:53.

A clearing attempt by Calgary’s Noah Hanifin was intercepted by Ehlers, who passed the puck to Connor for his second goal of the game at 18:51 that made it 4-0.

Tempers rose in the third period.

Winnipeg went up 5-0 when Gagner sent a pass to the circle for Ehlers, who fired a power-play blast by Wolf at 10:47.

The goal came after Scheifele and Nikita Zadorov got into a tussle. Kadri was later dinged for boarding Cole Perfetti with two minutes remaining.

The teams meet again in Calgary on Friday for their final pre-season game.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 5, 2022.

Judy Owen, The Canadian Press