TEMPE, Ariz. — There was an NHL game at a brand new arena in the desert on Friday night but it was almost a sideshow to the unique and unconventional building itself.
That is, until the Winnipeg Jets stole the headlines.
The Jets visited the Arizona Coyotes for the first-ever NHL game played in Mullett Arena, on the campus of Arizona State University.
Like everyone else in the NHL, the Jets were curious to see what it would be like in the 5,000-seat arena, complete with temporary locker rooms, and at least on this night, the atmosphere did not disappoint.
Nor did the game, as the two teams battled into overtime, before the Jets emerged with a 3-2 victory, thanks to a goal by Blake Wheeler 32 seconds into the extra frame.
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The Jets spoiled the Coyotes party with the win, their third straight and second in as many nights, as they improved to 5-3 on the young season. Winnipeg won, despite falling behind by two goals, for the second straight night
“Getting in here late (Thursday) night and getting down a couple goals and just battling back and staying with it,” Jets associate coach Scott Arniel said. “We really took over that game in the second period and our whole bench felt good that we were gonna pull that one off.”
After Christian Fischer scored a pair of first-period goals to give the Coyotes a 2-0 lead, the Jets got a brilliant individual effort from Cole Perfetti to cut the lead in half and then Mark Scheifele scored his team-leading sixth of the season at 8:34 of the third to send the game to overtime.
Wheeler’s winner sapped some of the energy from a festive building that was rocking all night, despite having a capacity that is 10,000 seats less than any other building in the NHL.
“Everything about it was awesome and we had a blast playing in that rink,” said Perfetti, who scored his third of the season.
“… The smaller atmosphere and them being right on top of you, and they were pretty excited for the first game here. It was loud and exciting. Glad we were able to get the win there.”
The Jets had to get ready for the game in a makeshift locker room — the permanent ones are not yet finished — and there were some other amenities they are used to missing from the college-sized arena.
“I think you just try to approach it like any other game,” said Wheeler, who got his second goal of the season and second in as many nights.
“At the end of the day, these games are super important for us. If you get lost in the surroundings, the locker room or whatever, you’re going to be distracted and not give yourself a chance to win. All in all, I think it was made out to be a lot worse than what it actually was. As long as you have a spot to put your gear on, talk about the game. It really is a beautiful college hockey rink. I’ve played in way worse arenas for sure.”
The Jets made a winner of backup goaltender David Rittich, who finished with 19 saves and stopped everything that came his way in the second and third periods, as well as overtime. It’s his first win as a member of the Jets.
“We didn’t do a very good job of supporting him in his first start in Vegas,” Arniel said. “Even tonight, we got down two but he was rock solid when he needed to be. He was there when we needed him and it was so good to see him get his first win as a Winnipeg Jet.”
The Jets outshot the Coyotes 28-12 after the end of the first period and the score could have been worse, were it not for the play of Arizona goalie Karel Vejmelka. He finished with 32 saves and continues to play well against the Jets.
Over the last two seasons, he has a 1-1-2 record against the Jets, has made 169 saves and has a save percentage of .960.
The Coyotes moved into the Mullett Arena this season, after not being invited back to the much larger Gila River Arena in Glendale. They hope it’s a temporary move — they are working to get a new arena built in Tempe — but they could be in the junior-hockey sized arena for three to five years.
They’re going for a college atmosphere at the new place and, at least on the first night, they seemed to find it. Fans were given blond “mullet wigs” to wear and it was a festive atmosphere, especially in the ASU student section, which is features bleacher seating, as opposed to seats with backs.
There, fans pounded on drums and chanted “Let’s go Coyotes,” while cheerleaders danced and waved pompoms, much as they would at a regular Sun Devils game.
They howled, as Coyotes are wont to do, did the wave and got fired up by a t-shirt tossing, desert version of Dancin’ Gabe.
“Everything about the building was actually pretty cool,” Arniel said. “Intensity, atmosphere — it’s like a junior or college game, because everybody is right on top of you and really loud and they seemed to be having a lot of fun. The facility is good. They got a couple weeks before they get all their new stuff ready to go.
“It’s good for us, we’re the first team to win a hockey game here. We’re pretty happy about that.”
Perfetti, a second-year winger with big potential, played a big role for the Jets, scoring just 26 seconds after Fischer gave the Coyotes the 2-0 lead.
He stole a puck in the offensive zone, made a slick play to cut in front of Vejmelka and slipped a shot around his pad for his third of the year, unassisted.
“Cole was great,” Wheeler said. “I think he was getting a little down on himself (Thursday in L.A.). He stuck with it today. A huge individual effort to get us on the board and get us within a goal. That was a big moment in the game for us. It was a great game for him.”
The Jets went 0-for-5 on the power play and Kyle Connor still didn’t score despite having seven shots on goal and 12 shot attempts, but it was mostly a night of positives.
Arniel switched up his lines, moving Scheifele between Wheeler and Perfetti and putting Pierre-Luc Dubois with Connor and Mason Appleton to try to get things going, and it seemed to work.
“I know Kyle (Connor) was looking,” Arniel said of a winger who scored 47 goals last season but has just one empty-netter this year in eight games.
“He’s been trying hard to get a goal, and just the way they were kind of matching up a little bit, we just felt there was some chemistry in the past with Scheifele and Wheeler, and with Connor and Dubois. Just one of things where you try and make it work and tonight was good.”
The Jets will wrap up their three-game road trip on Sunday evening in Las Vegas after opening it with a 6-4 win in Los Angeles on Thursday.
“(We’ve) shown great resilience,” Perfetti said. “We’d like to have a better start each night but coming into another team’s building, we know they are going to have a jump. We can have a better start, but that said, it shows a lot about our group and what we can do and how we don’t give up on each other and how we don’t give up on the game.
“Those are two massive wins for us.”
Twitter.com/Ted_Wyman
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