The Afterburners: "Du hockey comme dans le temps"

Boy, that felt good, didn't it? The Winnipeg Jets staved off five bajillion Montreal Canadiens powerplays en route to a thrilling 4-0 victory, on the strength of a sharp (27 saves) Ondrej Pavelec and Bubba Blake Wheeler (2 tallies and a helper). It was another up-and-down game from a fan perspective, as the Jets once again jumped out to a lead only to lose some momentum via minor penalties and seemingly put the game on ice for the 3rd. Thankfully, Wheeler and Steam Punk (Tim Stapleton) decided to get us out of our seats for the final few minutes with a nifty little play for the fourth goal of the game.

The info, then a few salient points, after the jump.

1st Period: 3:18 Winnipeg PP Goal, Blake Wheeler (4) (Dustin Byfuglien [18], Tobias Enstrom [7]); 13:13 Winnipeg ES Goal, Tanner Glass (4) (Nik Antropov [14], Kyle Wellwood [14])

2nd Period: 0:39 Winnipeg ES Goal, Blake Wheeler (5) (Ron Hainsey [3], Ondrej Pavelec [2])

3rd Period: 17:36 Winnipeg ES Goal, Tim Stapleton (4) (Blake Wheeler [19], Zach Bogosian [13])

Shots: Winnipeg 34, Montreal 27

Thoughts

• Pavs looks pretty solid in net, thought he had a few scares - especially at the end, when he mishandled a puck perhaps looking for assist number two on the night. And he doesn't even have the Jets logo on his pads!
• I totally appreciate Blake Wheeler and his ability to produce, but does he have to make things look so awkward? Even that really nice play to Steam Punk looked like Gheorghe Muresan trying to ballroom dance.
• Apparently the hit was out on Alexei Emelin, perhaps for not being P.K. Subban.
• Joking aside, when Bubba Blake uses his size, he can really make things happen. Between that reach and the all-too-rare bull rushes, I can see why he was tabbed in the 1st round.
• AC (Jim Slater) just could not buy a goal; he had two very, very good chances. The guy gets saddled with some rough minutes, throw him a frickin' bone here.
• Ron Hainsey was a bit of a bungler out there. Dude's still rusty.
• Once again, Alexander Burmistrov looks like he could set the league on fire someday. Some serious dangle on that kid.
• Yes, Mike Johnson, that was a savvy veteran play by Kyle Wellwood when he passed the puck to the front of his net in his own zone. Or it was potentially disastrous. It basically looked like when Meat (Antti Miettinen) whipped around and tried to make a smart, no-look pass in the offensive zone, only less doofy because Wellwood actually passed it to somebody and far more dangerous.
• Still calling him Meat I don't care.
• Yup, 5 penalty kills in the 2nd period. That'll take the wind out of your sails. I don't think a single one of them was necessary, either.

I complain too much. We won. And we continue to roll up the standings. Great job, fellas, go Jets go.