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Winnipeg Jets at Minnesota Wild: Instant Recap

Recap:

The Winnipeg Jets helped the winless Minnesota Wild earn their first win of this young NHL season. This was an ugly game for the Jets and Jets fans alike. I feel bad for those that drove the seven and a half hours to watch the game live.

The Jets really couldn't get anything going at 5 on 5. They were once again destroyed on both the shot clock and in the faceoff circle. Once again the Jets couldn't figure out  how to beat the trap. Most of the team looked dazed and confused throughout the game.

On the bright side, the Jets aren't as bad as they have been in their last two outings – they can't be – if they are…we are looking at a historically bad squad and Sam Reinhart in next year's draft. As a reward for tonight's efforts (or lack thereof) the Jets fly home to face a rested Dallas team on Friday night.

Ten thoughts:

  • Michael Frolik, Eric Tangradi and Matt Halischuk played pretty well. I am not sure you can say the same about much of anybody else.
  • The other big exception was Ondrej Pavelec. Pavi has continues his strong statistical start despite a four game run of atrocious defense by the Jets.

Aside 1: The Jets D has been visibly bad and the shot totals have been high – funny how those things can correlate. Aside 2: Pav's numbers have been better despite the D playing worse – funny how it hasn't impacted his numbers.

  • Blake Wheeler was demoted to the 3rd line part way through the game and I can’t argue that he deserves better. Time to start earning your raise Blake!
  • Wheels isn’t the only player that has failed early to live up to his new deal. On the back end, Zach Bogosian and Grant Clitsome have been horrid to start the year. They were the Jets de facto second defensive pairing coming into the season and they haven’t lived up to that billing.
  • Jacob Trouba has been pretty okay in and amongst this s*** show – he was rewarded the for his play by a move up to the second pair. This kid remains a bright shining star, but it doesn’t speak highly of what everybody else is doing.
  • On that note, It is really hard to succeed as a team when your best players aren’t playing like your best players. It is even harder to win when your three best players on the night (Tangradi, Wright and Halischuk) were 4th liners last year.
  • Happy stat: Dustin Byfuglien and Tobias Enstrom continue to score. Byfuglien has struggled with consistency, but that hasn’t stopped him from producing. The duo has combined for 10 points through 5 games.
  • What the hell is going on with Bryan Little and Jim Slater in the faceoff dot? These guys are supposed to be the Jets studs in the circle and neither guy can win a draw. I know these numbers won’t sustain themselves, but come on guys.
  • The Winnipeg Jets are two plus seasons into the Claude Noel era and it doesn’t seem that the players have full grasp of what Claude wants them to do in either the offensive or defensive zone. Defensive coverage remains a struggle and the team still can’t seem to figure out how to figure out how to beat the trap. Blame the coach, blame the players – something ain’t working.
  • Jim Slater thought the Jets were in the game all night? There might be wrong with my TV.

What’s next for the Jets?

The Jets play again tomorrow night, at home, versus Dallas.

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