You could almost see this one coming.
Two days after tallying 9 goals in a game of pond hockey in Philadelphia, the Winnipeg Jets fall to the Tampa Bay Lightning 1-0 in a goaltenders duel. Yes, two days after we had Ilya Bryzgalov “lost in the woods” and Ondrej Pavelec was torched for 7 goals against, we were treated to a game with lots of chances and even better saves. Dwayne Roloson was fantastic, and Pavelec was really good as well. Having said that, it’s hard to believe that we can go from 9 goals to zero so quickly. Oh well, at least the Jets averaged 4.5 goals for in these past two games!
Despite out-shooting the Lightning 11-3 in the 3rd period, and having many glorious chances to net the equalizer, the Jets just couldn’t get one past 42-year-old Roloson. In much the same way as the Rangers game ended up earlier this week, the Jets lose a one-goal game despite playing better for long stretches of the game, and fail to earn any points in the standings. Yuck.
1st Period: No scoring
2nd Period: 19:20 Tampa Bay PP Goal, Vincent Lecavalier (Steven Stamkos, Eric Brewer)
3rd Period: No scoring
Shots: Winnipeg 28 , Tampa Bay 27
- Glad to see Pavelec bounce back with a solid performance. He was awful versus Philly the other night, but I thought that he was really good this evening. It’s too bad that the only goal against looked so bad as he was caught standing up straight when Lecavalier rifled it by him.
- Dustin Byfuglien still scared me on defense at times, but not as much as he has lately. I suppose I would call that progress. Would you?
- Seriously. 9 goals two nights ago and none tonight? Hard to believe.
- The Jets again ended up with fewer powerplays then their opposition. Has anyone else noticed this trend? 0 for 2 on the powerplay, and 3 for 4 on the penalty kill.
- Byfuglien and Evander Kane tied for team high with 5 shots apiece.
- Tobias Enstrom led the team in ice-time with 25:13. Second place went to… Brian Little, with 23:45. Kenndal McArdle only saw the ice for 4:17. Makes me wonder if Chevy puts in a claim for Fabian Brunnstrom, who Detroit put on waivers today…
- BAK in the USSR was again the most dangerous line in my opinion. Kane had a glorious chance on a partial breakaway, and Nik Antropov and Alexander Burmistrov were both solid again.
- I’ve been critical of Bryan Little, but he was flying tonight. He led all forwards in ice-time, and looked dangerous. Kyle Wellwood started on the top line, but Blake Wheeler finished the game on the top line as Ladd’s Little Wheeler returned.
- I thought that all of the d-men looked good. I really liked the pairing of Zach Bogosian and Mark Stuart, as they caught my eye again (in a good way). Johnny Oduya has really settled down after his horrendous start to the year, and he was steady tonight.
- As Grapes pointed out after the game, that is now 4 one-goal losses in regulation for the Jets. These lost points are already adding up, as the boys are now 3-6-1.
- Oh well. At least we get to see our natural rivals, the Florida Panthers, on Monday. So begins the six-game set against our mortal enemies, and I can’t wait to hate them more after this game.
