The Afterburners: Rotten Result in Big Apple as Rangers Beat Jets 3-0
by arby_18 on Jan 24, 2012 10:46 PM EST
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The All-Star Break couldn't come at a better time for the Winnipeg Jets, as some time is needed away from the rink for both the players and their fans. In their final game before the league shuts down for the pond-hockey game in Ottawa this weekend, the Jets showed again how hard up they are for goals as they were shutout by Henrik Lundqvist and the New York Rangers 3-0. Despite working hard again and showing a tremendous amount of effort and fight, the Jets showed again just how limited they are talent-wise. Hopefully the week off can help heal the injuries that have decimated our squad.
The stats for the back-to-back games just keep getting worse. The boys are now 0-8 in the second half of the back-to-backs and have been outscored 34-6 in the process. That is UGLY. To make matters worse, the Jets have only scored 21 goals in 12 games in 2012 for a crowd pleasing 1.75 goals/game average. Their overall record drops to 22-22-6 for 50 points in 50 games, which keeps them in 10th spot in the Eastern Conference, but they are now 5 points out the 8th spot while giving up games in hand.
Numbers and observations after the jump.
1st Period: 4:05 NYR Ryan Callahan 17 (Anton Stralman, Brian Boyle)
2nd Period: 13:22 NYR John Mitchell 5 (Michael Del Zotto, Derek Stepan)
3rd Period: 16:22 NYR Brad Richards 16 (Ryan Callahan)
Shots: NYR 31 WPG 22
3 Stars: 1. Henrik Lundqvist 2. Ryan Callahan 3. John Mitchell
Thoughts from the Tarmac:
- I don't want to harp on things too much here, as we knew going into the season that the Jets would struggle to score this year, but 21 goals in 12 games so far this year? But we were so good in December!
- We didn't have Dustin Byfuglien, Evander Kane or Alexander Burmistrov tonight. That is a lot of our talent right there not on the ice.
- Adding on to the theme of not scoring, that is 4 goals in our last 3 games despite throwing 96 shots at Scott Clemmensen, Cam Ward and Henrik Lundqvist. A shooting percentage of 4.2%.
- One thing I cannot fault the Jets for is their compete level. The past three games are perfect examples of a blue-collar team that lacks talent working really hard but not seeing results. Some puck-luck would have been nice, but the end result is only 1 point in the standings from the past 3 games.
- Chris Thorburn may not have a goal yet this season, but he's certainly come close recently. He's made up for it in other areas of the game though, and tonight he was really good. He fought (and beat IMO) Mike Rupp twice and made the most of his 8:04 of icetime.
- Eric Fehr had a few chances, but also took two penalties to kill momentum. If he isn't scoring then I'm not sure what he can bring to the lineup. At least he keeps his shifts short though, as he took 17 shifts for 9:43.
- Zach Bogosian led the team again with 24:03 of ice-time, but was also on the ice for all three goals against.
- I'm puzzled by the fact that Patrice Cormier only saw the ice for 4:03 tonight, as I thought he brought energy when he was out there. Even more puzzling is that Aaron Gagnon, though looking okay, saw more then double the ice-time (8:38).
- Tanner Glass was stoned in tight. Blake Wheeler hit the inside of the post and had the puck go right through the goal mouth without banking in off of King Henrik. Andrew Ladd, Kyle Wellwood, Brian Little and Nik Antropov all tried really hard. Regardless, no goals for the 6th time this season.
- I'm going to say it right now. I don't think we're going to make the playoffs. And I'm okay with it. We are trending downward, we are now 5 points out of 8th, we have two teams to jump and these teams have games in hand. Coming out of the break we have 4 more road games where we have 7 wins in 25 attempts. With 32 games to go, we had either get healthy really quick or start reeling off road wins like crazy.
- Having said that, not making the playoffs is probably the best thing for our franchise long-term. While making the playoffs would be fantastic, we certainly could use a lottery pick (or at least top-10 pick) to try and find that elusive top-end offensive talent that we obviously lack. Thoughts?
- I am being fairly harsh on the squad right now, mainly because it's frustrating to watch this team work so hard and not produce offensively. Having said that, I love this team and can see the direction that this team is going and I really like it. The rebuild continues but I'll still cheer for them every night from now until forever. Go Jets Go!
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My thoughts:
This was another loss in a back to back, but it was not like the others. They didn’t show up in many of the others. I am glad they fought hard and they put forth a winning effort for the third straight game.
Putting forth a strong 60 minute effort was our biggest issue early in the season. Again, I am glad that hasn’t been the case for 3 games in a row.
Dumb penalties are still a problem.
IMO the lack of “scoring talent” is being extremely overstated. Yes, they lost these last three games despite strong efforts, but that hasn’t been the case all season. Before this recent slump, they come our victorious in most of their strong showings.
This team features 7 players who have scored 20 or more goals in a season. None of those 7 players are named Kane, Burmi or Wellwood. Sure, 20 goal seasons aren’t mind blowing numbers, but that is a solid list of players who have experience putting puck in net.
The team averaged 2.6 goals per game coming into the new year.
With consistent effort and everybody healthy this team has enough talent to make the playoffs, though I agree that this year is shot.
All that is not to say they need to build. An unlucky season can lead to luck on the draft board. Over the next couple seasons expect Kane and Burmi to develop into big time players. Expect our young talent to slot into the key roles held by Hainsey, Oduya and Antropov and expect the team to add some future talent through the draft.
by truck on Jan 25, 2012 12:49 AM EST via mobile reply actions
Sorry for a couple messy thoughts. I typed that out on my mobile. To be clear, I think they do need to build.
by truck on Jan 25, 2012 1:27 AM EST via mobile up reply actions
While I agree that the number of 20-goal scorers is substantial
I’d hesitate to call that a barometer of of true shooting talent (only 1 of those guys scored 30); if anything, it calls even more attention to the fact that we have plenty of 2nd liners. The reason I think the critique still stands isn’t only because of our recent bad luck, but because it was also predictable before the beginning of the season. If I remember right, I hinged our success on the ability of our two-way game (which had emerged somewhat late in 2010-11) to hold over into the next season, to offset the potential offensive shortcomings. Right now, we’re in a lull period, but I don’t think it’s an overreaction to use this as an opportunity to point out that our offence is probably league-average at best, and more likely a bit below average.
That, and I’m sure if somebody kept track they’d find we’d be way up in the league leaderboard for costly turnovers.
"You can't polish a turd." -- George Carlin
Co-Manager at Arctic Ice Hockey
by Bettman's Nightmare on Jan 25, 2012 1:46 AM EST up reply actions
Average
That is right where I think we would be with everybody healthy. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing though.
We do have a couple young players in Kane and Burmi who look like they could grow into the top liners that we are lacking.
I do know that we need more scoring, but people make it sound like the “almost” goals and bad luck misses will turn into sure goals if we add a star. The reality is a star only does that for one line.
On the bright side. Most of our core players are young. It would be really nice to add Parise as a UFA and expedite the build, but if we have to build through the draft, time is on our side.
by truck on Jan 25, 2012 2:09 AM EST via mobile up reply actions
I get what you are saying
about the 20-goal scorers. However, without looking too deeply into the stats this morning I’d question how many of them played on 2nd or 3rd lines on deep teams and saw 3rd defensive pairings? When Ladd played on the 3rd line in Chicago he was a beast, but it certainly helped that he had Kane, Toews and company out in front of him.
However, as Ben alluded to, a bunch of 20 goal scorers equals a bunch of 2nd liners. Despite putting up 9 goals in a game we are only averaging 2.48 goals per game this season (124 in 50) and have been shutout 6 times (2nd in the league behind the Islanders with 8). Offensively gifted, we are not.
Arctic Ice Hockey Contributor and Season Ticket Holder for the Winnipeg Jets! Stay tuned for local coverage of the NHL in the River City. Follow me on Twitter!
Yeah, I wasn't trying to suggest that we have an offencive juggernaut.
Ladd should be a second line player, Mittens belongs on a third line. Antropov is a shadow of what he was and has no business centring a second line IMO.
Meanwhile Fehr and Wheeler put up 20 as third line players, but Wheeler is the only one who I think has room to grow and I have no idea what we have in Little.
The talent pool is flawed and that Kane and Burmi are the only guys. on the team (or in the system) that project as first line players.
We do need to add scoring. I just think some of the talk (not here specifically) has gotten silly. People make it sound like the none of our guys can hit an open net ever.
by truck on Jan 25, 2012 9:31 AM EST via mobile up reply actions
PDO took a nosedive starting at the beginning of January
http://behindthenet.ca/WPG_2011.html
These charts are great.
A few #'s
Jets
15th in shots/game
22nd in goals/game
22nd in points %
by Alex Hemsky on Jan 25, 2012 10:16 AM EST up reply actions
In particular, I think our shooting percentage is dragging us down
It might very well be that our goaltending is playing close to its true talent (both Pavelec and Mason are at the point in their careers where their career SV% could be accurate to their ability).
"You can't polish a turd." -- George Carlin
Co-Manager at Arctic Ice Hockey
by Bettman's Nightmare on Jan 25, 2012 11:41 AM EST up reply actions
I'd say you're right
Pavelec is pretty much at his career save % right now. (BTW, he’s .902 in January).
Team is shooting @ 5.6% or .943% opposing SV% in January.
BTW
Cam Charron wrote a great article covering this same topic:
http://jetsnation.ca/2012/1/24/when-will-the-jets-production-catch-up-to-their-performance
They have some good writers there...
Scott Taylor makes me hesitate to check for updates regularly.
by truck on Jan 25, 2012 5:28 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
You just need to enjoy his articles for their comedic (not journalistic) value
It’s all in the perspective
Don't look now
but we are only 5 points up on 15th in the East and only Carolina doesn’t have games in hand…
Time to “Fail for Nail”? We only need to get into the lottery to have a chance…
Arctic Ice Hockey Contributor and Season Ticket Holder for the Winnipeg Jets! Stay tuned for local coverage of the NHL in the River City. Follow me on Twitter!
That could spell the end of Wellwood, Slater and Oduya.
Obviously Hainsey, Glass and Antropov are available too. They obviously have a little less appeal though.
I can see Oduya and Wellwood moving for sure
but if I’m Chevy I re-sign Slater and Glass. The GST line has been the only line that has exceeded expectations all year. I like building our bottom-6 around those 3 and Patrice Cormier.
Arctic Ice Hockey Contributor and Season Ticket Holder for the Winnipeg Jets! Stay tuned for local coverage of the NHL in the River City. Follow me on Twitter!
I love GST but we have enough solid 2 way players that we don't need two lines of grinders.
GST should be a 4th line and most of our prospects are 4th line grinders too.
I am not saying I want a GST member gone, but Cormier should be replacing one of them, not taking a roster spot that could be held by someone with offensive ability.
I nominate Thorburn
What’s the market like for forwards who don’t score?
In Canada our balls are bigger
Writer for Arctic Ice Hockey
by canadian texan on Jan 25, 2012 3:49 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
I'd say a bag of pucks, but truthfully that's for guys that score once a month
so…puck.
"You can't polish a turd." -- George Carlin
Co-Manager at Arctic Ice Hockey
by Bettman's Nightmare on Jan 25, 2012 6:07 PM EST up reply actions
Maybe they'll throw in some skating cones too.
Used, of course.
You have been banned from Stampede Blue.
You apparently aren't interested in commenting on the Colts, but instead just want to take shots at editors for how we manage our blog. Thus, you're now no longer welcome.
by WinnipegTitanFan13 on Jan 25, 2012 6:11 PM EST up reply actions
Ya, I love the GST line, but let's face it, we have about a zillion other prospects that can be good 3rd and 4th liners.
You have been banned from Stampede Blue.
You apparently aren't interested in commenting on the Colts, but instead just want to take shots at editors for how we manage our blog. Thus, you're now no longer welcome.
by WinnipegTitanFan13 on Jan 25, 2012 4:48 PM EST up reply actions
The idea of intentionally "failing" in a lottery system is very faulty
Not that I wouldn’t mind getting him…
In Canada our balls are bigger
Writer for Arctic Ice Hockey
by canadian texan on Jan 25, 2012 3:48 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
I don't think we will intentional fail.
But at the rate we are going, the result may in fact be the same.
Arctic Ice Hockey Contributor and Season Ticket Holder for the Winnipeg Jets! Stay tuned for local coverage of the NHL in the River City. Follow me on Twitter!
the difference between a mediocre team and a great team
it’s the dog days of winter – when road games have lost their allure, and the injuries begin to mount. Even those playing healthy are suffering through a variety of bruises and bumps.
It’s this time of year that separates the contenders from the pretenders and the weaknesses on the Jets 2.0 squad have become more evident after a brief mirage in December.
a) the forward lines are very thin. We really don’t have a whole lot of scoring ability. it’s hard to look at the Jets roster and find someone you’d consider to be a natural born sniper. Granted those are rare but every good team should have one. Unfortunately the goals the Jets score will be off of rebounds, deflections, and more than half will be reviewed to see if the puck actually crossed the line legally.
b) the defense looks better on paper than it does on the ice. Oduya, Hainsey, and Jones look to be top 4 defensemen in the AHL. They definitely don’t deserve big minutes in the NHL. They’re caught out of position too often and make too many odd decisions that defy logic. With Jones I wonder whether or not he has his eyes closed when he’s handling the puck.
c) Noel is a great interview but I sometimes wonder about his coaching. He talks a great game but I haven’t seen it consistently translated to the ice. If the team starts slow, who’s fault is that? If the team takes too many penalties who’s fault is that? Those two issues usually are about coaching and I think the jury is still out as to whether or not Coach Claude has what it takes to be an NHL head coach.
Hell
they look pretty bad on paper, too.
To your point “c”, I don’t really hold a slow start against the coach, but the penalties yes.
"You can't polish a turd." -- George Carlin
Co-Manager at Arctic Ice Hockey
by Bettman's Nightmare on Jan 25, 2012 6:13 PM EST up reply actions
Further evidence that we need to build around Buff, Toby and Bogo
The rest of our top 6 easily be replaced by the likes of Kulda, Postma, Redmond, Festerling etc. Stuart should be a 5 – 6 and he has logged big minutes this year.
by truck on Jan 25, 2012 6:34 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
I posted my scoring chances for the game, for those interested.
Blueshirt Banter - Where Rangers' Fans Matter
Tracking the Rangers - Numbers don't lie. They just don't agree with you.
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George's data from the Jets perspective
EV toi EV + EV - PP TOI PP + PP - SH TOI SH + SH -
4 Z. Bogosian 20:08 4 7 3:33 0 0 0:22 0 1
5 M. Stuart 11:46 4 0 0:00 0 0 4:47 0 1
6 R. Hainsey 18:13 3 4 0:27 1 0 4:47 0 1
12 R. Jones 10:24 4 0 0:00 0 0 2:51 0 3
13 K. Wellwood 12:32 1 6 3:09 1 0 0:00 0 0
15 T. Glass 13:01 5 2 0:10 0 0 3:08 0 1
16 A. Ladd 17:04 4 1 2:44 0 0 2:47 0 1
17 E. Fehr 9:43 2 1 0:00 0 0 0:00 0 0
18 B. Little 17:58 4 1 2:19 1 0 2:23 0 0
19 J. Slater 12:53 5 1 0:14 0 0 2:26 0 1
20 A. Miettinen 10:57 2 4 0:00 0 0 2:31 0 2
21 A. Gagnon 8:23 2 3 0:00 0 0 0:15 0 1
22 C. Thorburn 7:23 3 0 0:41 0 0 0:00 0 0
26 B. Wheeler 19:12 4 5 2:33 1 0 0:29 0 1
28 P. Cormier 4:03 1 0 0:00 0 0 0:00 0 0
29 J. Oduya 15:29 3 3 0:16 1 0 2:51 0 3
39 T. Enstrom 19:29 3 6 3:44 0 0 0:22 0 1
80 N. Antropov 12:17 2 6 1:41 0 0 2:01 0 3
Anyone know how to post this so the columns line up?
by Alex Hemsky on Jan 26, 2012 11:48 AM EST up reply actions
You should do a fan post
It’ll be easier – I’ll front page it.
"You can't polish a turd." -- George Carlin
Co-Manager at Arctic Ice Hockey
by Bettman's Nightmare on Jan 26, 2012 12:33 PM EST up reply actions
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