Cam Talbot made 26 saves and the Los Angeles Kings beat the Winnipeg Jets 5-1 on Tuesday night for their first victory of the season.
The game drew a crowd of 11,226 fans to Canada Life Centre in downtown Winnipeg. It is believed to be the lowest attendance — outside of game restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic — since the Jets moved from Atlanta in 2011.
The arena’s capacity is 15,324.
Trevor Moore had two goals and an assist, Phillip Danault had a goal and two assists, Arthur Kaliyev had a goal and an assist Pierre-Luc Dubois also scored in his return to Winnipeg as the Kings built a 5-0 lead.
Dubois was traded to Los Angeles in June for forwards Gabriel Vilardi, Alex Iafallo and Rasmus Kupari.
“It was an honour to play here,” Dubois said. “They were passionate tonight even when they were booing me, so it was great to see.”
The number of empty seats at Jets games these days is concerning. Long gone are the ten straight years of sell-outs. This is the smallest crowd I’ve ever seen. <a href=”https://t.co/UUj8EL8Hu2″>pic.twitter.com/UUj8EL8Hu2</a>
—@brent_bellamy
The Kings opened their season with a two-game home stand, falling 5-2 to Colorado and 6-5 to Carolina in a shootout.
Mark Scheifele ended Talbot’s shutout bid Tuesday night with 1:16 left in the game. Connor Hellebuyck stopped 24 shots for Winnipeg.
Vilardi left in the first period after being tripped by Kings forward Blake Lizotte. Vilardi grabbed his right knee and writhed in pain on the ice briefly before he skated off, putting some weight on it.
“Did we miss Gabe? Absolutely,” Jets coach Rick Bowness said after the game. “He’s our top guy. He’s a huge part of the power play but injuries happen. You move on.”
Tempers flared late in the period after Kings defenceman Andreas Englund hit Jets forward Cole Perfetti in the back and into the boards.
Dylan Samberg jumped to Perfetti’s defence but took the worst in a fight with Englund. Blood trickled down Samberg’s face from his forehead as he skated off the ice.
He and Englund were given fighting majors, and Samberg was also handed a penalty for instigating and a 10-minute misconduct.