[Itse]

I honestly get the Jets fans being so pissed, and the optics couldn't be worse. Tkachuk has a reputation (mostly unearned), and was throwing a lot of hits to the top players.

My first thought when I saw Scheifele hurt was "Oh ####... That's the series there."

Winnipegs big weakness was lack of depth even before the injury, and Scheifele is possibly the worst possible guy to lose. Maybe even worse than losing Hellebuyck would have been. Unless the Flames find a way to choke this away or Hellebuyck activates God mode, they should win the series easy, and that has to be a terrible feeling if you're a Jets fan. Honestly I feel a bit bummed about it, feels unfair and dumb to have something like this happen even before we could get a good taste of which team is actually better. I get the Jets fans having trouble keeping their heads clear.

All that said: accidents happen, and the reason this is so devastating is because the Jets lack depth especially at that position. Lack of depth was likely to hurt them some way at some point, and that's not on the Flames or Tkachuk. If we lost Monahan or any other forward to an accident, it would suck but it wouldn't be nearly as bad.

IMHO it sucks for the series in general, I would rather have the Flames beat a more competitive team, but it's not like there's a way to make it unhappen.

As for how the Flames played, they were IMO fine, which was enough. Other than the PK and some individuals I mostly wasn't impressed, but the Flames didn't need to do anything special. Solid overall play was enough to carry the day, and will likely be enough to take the series.