Jamie Nye: One malicious hit, one monumental shift in North final

The Winnipeg Jets-Montreal Canadiens series may have turned on an ugly predatory hit by Mark Scheifele in Game 1.

First, Scheifele was running around all game and playing a bit out of character and over the edge. It culminated in sending Montreal’s Jake Evans off the ice on a stretcher.

The play involved Evans coming around an empty net to stuff in the insurance goal, when Scheifele came barrelling in, not playing the puck and launching Evans off his feet, leading to his head bouncing off the ice.

It was reckless and intentional and now Winnipeg is facing life without one of its best offensive players and already down 1-0 in the series to Montreal.

Now it’s another test for George Parros of the NHL Department of Player Safety, who has already given repeat offender Nazem Kadri an eight-game suspension in these playoffs.

With Kadri’s precedent, we assume Scheifele will get fewer than eight games but even a two- or three-game suspension is devastating for the Jets. The series took a dramatic shift on one boneheaded play by one of Winnipeg’s key veterans.