WINNIPEG — The words told you Dylan Samberg is already moving on, but his body language suggests he was still stewing a bit.
That’s understandable, given the circumstances.
It shows you how much the Winnipeg Jets defenceman cares, but he also recognzies the importance of turning the page as quickly as possible.
There are growing pains that come with Samberg’s line of work — and some of the most painful ones get magnified under the bright lights of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Especially when a game gets to double overtime.
Early in the fifth period of Saturday’s Game 3 against the Vegas Golden Knights, Samberg watched Brett Howden closing on defence partner Dylan DeMelo on the forecheck below the goal line.
Samberg retrieved the puck DeMelo left for him, picked it up on his forehand and made a composed read, seeing left-winger Kyle Connor open along the near-side boards.
But as Samberg made the pass, the puck caromed off the right shin pad of Ivan Barbashev, bouncing in front of the Jets’ net and landing directly on the stick of Michael Amadio, who rifled the rolling puck past Connor Hellebuyck.
In an instant, the game was over and the Jets suddenly found themselves trailing the series 2-1, with Game 4 set for Monday night, with puck drop set for around 9:35 p.m. ET / 8:35 p.m. CT.
Samberg showed plenty of emotion in his immediate reaction, raising his hands over his head in complete and utter disbelief, but with some time to reflect on the series of events — which included his teammates and head coach Rick Bowness showing their unwavering support — he spoke calmly about what transpired and what he’ll need to do moving forward.
“(DeMelo) made a bump play to me in the corner and I tried to make a play up the wall and it didn’t work out. Bad bounce,” said Samberg, who turned his attention to the encouragement he’s received from his teammates.
“Yeah, they’ve all been great. Everyone has come up to me and said stuff like this is going to happen, that it’s going to make you better for it. It’s obviously unfortunate at the time, but stuff (happens). Pick your head up and move on to the next game. That’s why it’s a seven-game series.
“I feel like everyone has been through a moment like this in their career and it’s just part of the process. Just a bump in the road you’ve got to get over.”
Given how composed he was when he spoke at the podium on Sunday afternoon and the way his teammates are rallying around him, you get the sense this isn’t going to be something that defines Samberg’s season — or stunts his progression.
He’s built up enough scar tissue during his development path to know how to handle this latest batch of adversity.
Remember, this is a guy who suffered a high ankle sprain on the first day of training camp in 2021 when he got tangled up with frequent AHL defence partner Johnny Kovacevic during a harmless play at the end of practice, likely costing him a spot on the opening-night lineup as he missed roughly eight weeks of action.
Even this season, Samberg was in and out of the lineup in the battle for the sixth defenceman spot, despite becoming an important part of the penalty kill and showcasing an ability to block shots while providing a physical presence, to go along with his mobility and puck-moving skills.
One of Samberg’s biggest assets is his mature and calm demeanour, which is one of the reasons he should be able to put this tough moment behind him.
“It’s going to be a long series,” said Jets defenceman Nate Schmidt, a frequent partner and mentor of Samberg’s. “Just talking with him post-game, I know how hard it is to be in that situation. It takes a bad bounce off a guy’s leg. That’s what it is. That’s what it comes down to this time of year. He’s a kid that is awfully resilient for 23, 24 years old. I’ve been really impressed with how he’s matured this year and how he’s been able to handle the pressure and the situations like this.
“I foresee him coming in and having a great game (Monday) night. That’s just the type of kid he is. He’s really impressed me. I played with him a lot over the course of the year and he’s a kid that, him and I have pretty similar personalities in the rink. We like to have fun, we like to keep an upbeat energy. For a guy like that to be like that at a young age and have that confidence in himself, I’ve been proud of the way he’s handled himself this year. I can’t think of another reason why he wouldn’t make us proud (Monday) night.”
Bowness continued to be in full playoff mode when it came to questions about his plan to replace Josh Morrissey in the lineup after he left early in Game 3 with a suspected right knee injury that will keep him out of action for at least the rest of this series.
About the only thing Bowness would confirm is that he wouldn’t be inserting a recalled player from the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League, like Ville Heinola, directly into the lineup.
That leaves Kyle Capobianco and Logan Stanley as the internal candidates under consideration and Bowness went so far as to suggest the Jets could shift the lineup construction to include seven defencemen and 11 forwards.
No matter who jumps in, the Jets will be looking to try and bottle up what they were able to achieve during the third period on Saturday, which included rallying from a three-goal cushion to force overtime before the Golden Knights regained home-ice advantage.
This will need to be a cumulative effort from the group, it’s not a plug-and-play situation when it comes to trying to replace all of the things Morrissey does well, both on and off the ice.
“It’s never easy to lose your difference-maker. A guy that has been driving the bus for us all year. He does so many things for you on the ice as well as off. We’ve had guys come in and out all year, guys that we’re confident can come in and get the job done for us.,” said Schmidt.
“There was a lot of emotion, but there was a different type of emotion for the third period. It was a little bit more concentrated. (In) the first period, we came out and were fired up and that emotion was all over the place. We were excited about this and that, fired up for a scrum here and there. You have to have that bite to your game. I just think in the third period we took that emotion and brought it into a much more directed north game. We made sure we didn’t feed their rush, we didn’t feed their offence.
“That’s the recipe we’re finding has to be what we use. That has to be how we do it. If we try and get into the track meet and flutter pucks around, we’re not as successful as we are when we play a little more direct.”
The Jets might also get a lift from the potential return of dynamic winger Nikolaj Ehlers, who missed the past four games with an undisclosed upper-body issue that he suffered in Game 81 of the regular season when he took an unsuspecting check from Minnesota Wild forward Ryan Hartman.
Even if Ehlers isn’t playing, the Jets will be looking to find a way to build on the template they built during the third period of Game 3, where they produced a level of urgency that will be required as they look to avoid being pushed to the brink of elimination by the Golden Knights, who were one of the best road teams in the NHL during the regular season.
“Yeah, it should give us motivation that we can come back from anything and that we can overcome any challenge,” said Jets defenceman Neal Pionk, who had three assists in the third period of Game 3 and led all skaters with 41:08 of ice time. “We didn’t finish the comeback, but coming back down from three goals and tying the game should be a spark or some motivation for the rest of the series.”
