We opened tonight’s final preseason home game with minimal stoppages over the first 8 minutes of the opening period. At 8:04, Jake Bean fired a wrist shot from the blue line that was double-screened and tipped by Czech-born Martin Frk.

Anthony Mantha drew the first penalty of the game with a hook against Simon Lundmark, which led to the Jets’ first power play goal. Nikolaj Ehlers found the back of the net with a quick snapshot from a pass below the goal line.

Nino Niederreiter took less than two minutes to score the second Jets goal of the game. Ehlers slid the puck through the slot to find Niederreiter right in front of the net, and he made a beautiful backhand shot over Dustin Wolf’s glove.

Calgary scored 17:55 into the first period. Haydn Fleury made a bad pass that Hunter Brzustewicz capitalized on, bringing the puck into the Jets zone, where Winnipeg-born Justin Kirkland scored on a chaotic tip-in to tie the game.

The second period was uneventful. The Jets started the period on the penalty kill, as Matt Coronato drew an interference penalty against Dylan Coghlan. The Jets managed only one shot on net with the extra man. They doubled up the Flames in shots during the second period, with the Jets getting 8 shots on Wolf while the Flames only managed four on Hellebuyck.

As the second period counted down, Adam Lowry gave us his best Dustin Byfuglien impersonation, holding two Flames in his grasp while one of them troubled Big Bad Brad Lambert.

The Jets were awake for the final 20 minutes. They had several quick breaks down the ice, but Wolf stood tall until 6:28, when Niederreiter scored his second goal of the game, assisted by Adam Lowry and Gabe Vilardi.

Vilardi was into this game; he was caught speeding down the ice, looking to crash the net and score.

2019 second-round draft pick Simon Lundmark found the back of the net after Lambert outplayed Flames forward Matt Coronato behind their net and made an incredible pass to Lundmark, who scored at the top of the hash marks.

To top off the scoring in the third, the Jets’ top line worked together to score the final goal of the game. Scheifele and Vilardi passed to each other behind the goal line, and as the Flames chased the puck, there was more than enough time for Kyle Connor to score with a snapshot.

Connor Hellebuyck stopped 17 of 19 shots tonight. He didn’t need to be too sharp, but tonight was a good game to get back into the groove.

The Jets will need to choose between Lundmark and Dylan Coghlan for the Jets’ sixth defender to start the season. Personally, I prefer Coghlan, as he has been more consistent, but Lundmark’s goal might give him the push to play for the Jets early on this season.

The final preseason game goes Friday night in Calgary starting at 8:00 PM