DALLAS – The handshake line at the conclusion of a Stanley Cup Playoff series stands as one of hockey`s most enduring traditions – a powerful display of empathy and sportsmanship in a sport known for its intensity. One wishes the rest of humanity could demonstrate such willingness to find peace.
However, rarely has a receiving line of opposing National Hockey League players been as profoundly moving, a mix of brilliance and sorrow, as it was on Saturday night when the Winnipeg Jets lined up to shake hands with the Dallas Stars after their 2-1 overtime loss.
The sheer power of the moment wasn`t solely the end of their season – though that, too, was devastating for a Jets team that had a strong regular season and harbored legitimate hopes of advancing deep into the playoffs – but the beginning of a period of mourning.
Mark Scheifele, the longest-serving Jet, chose to play in Game 6 despite receiving the devastating news on Saturday morning that his father, Brad, had passed away back home in Ontario.
Scheifele managed to score Winnipeg`s only goal on Saturday. However, he was in the penalty box during overtime when Dallas defenseman Thomas Harley unleashed a slapshot past goaltender Connor Hellebuyck at 1:33, sending the Stars to their third consecutive conference final appearance.
When Scheifele emerged from the penalty box, visibly despondent and distraught, the competitive barrier against his grief lifted. He was immediately embraced by his Jets teammates, who took turns hugging him. And then, in that poignant receiving line, the Stars players did the same.
The first and longest embrace came from Dallas captain Jamie Benn, who just two nights earlier had punched Scheifele near the end of Winnipeg’s 4-0 win in Game 5, knocking him to the ice and earning himself a $5,000 fine from the NHL.
“I just told him that I respected him as a competitor, and as a hockey player,” Benn shared afterward. “You can grow to dislike guys throughout a playoff series. But when it`s all over, I told him I respect him as a player. I wanted to let him know that it took a lot of courage for him to play today in a tough situation. I`m not sure too many guys would have done that. So, I respected it. I know every guy in our room respected it, and our whole organization respected it.”
Benn added, “I wanted to tell him I cared about him.”
If Benn, Scheifele’s recent on-ice adversary, felt that way, one can imagine the depth of feeling from his Jets teammates.
“Heartbreaking,” commented Winnipeg captain Adam Lowry. “You know, we felt like we had a great regular season. We felt like we had a team that could go on a run, and for it to end the way it did, combined with everything else surrounding the day, it`s just a lot of emotion.”
“It`s tough to put into words what Mark went through today,” Lowry continued. “He scores a huge goal for us, plays a heck of a game, and it ends that way. Just emotional, heavy. Really proud of the group we had, the commitment, the no quit. We ran into a great Dallas team, but we couldn`t find that extra one tonight, and that was the difference.”
Later, pausing briefly to compose himself, Lowry said: “Just an awful day for him. You want to give him strength, you want to get that kill so bad. We just couldn`t do it.”
Scheifele’s tripping penalty with 15 seconds remaining in regulation time was the game`s only penalty. His shot had been blocked inside the Dallas blueline by Sam Steel, who was turning it into a breakaway when Scheifele lunged and tripped him.
In a series where many of the Stars` top forwards were held in check, Steel had tied the game off a big rebound at 11:12 of the second period, less than six minutes after Scheifele had opened the scoring by sliding the puck through Jake Oettinger’s pads following a stop on Kyle Connor.
Besides his team’s sole goal, Scheifele registered nine hits in 18:51 of ice time.
“You know, for him to play tonight and play the way he did is flat out one of the most courageous things I`ve ever seen,” said Winnipeg defenseman Neal Pionk. “So all the credit to him.”
“I can`t stress enough how proud I am of our group,” Jets coach Scott Arniel, who spent the day with Scheifele at the team’s hotel, told reporters. “When things are hard and tough, you know, especially this year, we haven`t cowered away from it. We`ve faced it.”
“I’m just so proud of them and how close we are. Some things have happened over the last couple of years, and just us being a tight-knit group, being family, I really saw it on display today. We see it at different points over the season; might be injuries, personal stuff. But everybody – everybody – wanted to win for Mark tonight. Just the heartbreak at the end, how it ended, it`s a tough one.”
Arniel had mentioned before the game that the Jets were rallying around Scheifele, determined to win for their teammate and his father and force a Game 7.
Their chances were significantly hampered when No. 1 defenseman Josh Morrissey suffered a notable knee injury late in the second period while engaging with Stars forward Mikko Rantanen.
Despite getting outplayed in the first period, the Jets outshot the Stars 19-11 in the final 40 minutes of regulation but could only get one puck past Oettinger, who made a sprawling, desperate save on Nikolaj Ehlers halfway through the third period.
Ultimately, the Jets couldn’t kill Scheifele’s penalty against a Stars power play that proved to be a major factor in the series.
“Just before I take questions, I want to acknowledge a couple things,” Dallas coach Peter DeBoer began his press conference. “Condolences to Mark Scheifele and his family. I consider myself a Kitchener guy [referencing Scheifele’s hometown]; his family’s from Kitchener. Just courageous, what he did tonight. I’m sure his dad would have been really proud of him and what he did. Tough night for him and anybody in the hockey world that has been in a situation like that. So, hats off to him. Courageous young man.”
DeBoer continued, “The second thing I want to acknowledge is the Winnipeg Jets. I can’t imagine there’s a better-coached team in the league… [they] give you nothing, they play hard, they play as a team, great leadership. I think [Arniel] should win the Jack Adams running away, in my opinion, with the job they did this year. So, hats off to those guys too.”
One of the final Dallas players to embrace Scheifele in the handshake line was Mason Marchment, who had been a persistent physical presence against the Jets all series and had previously collided with Scheifele. Marchment had lost his own father, former NHL player Bryan Marchment, three years prior.
“You know, we battle out there,” Marchment explained. “I’m going to keep it between us, but I thought it was necessary to kind of share what I went through, and what helped me get through it. Not over it, but get through it. I wish nothing but the best for him.”
Hockey. This game. Our game.
