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Recap: The Winnipeg Jets continue to nosedive, drop 3-2 decision to the Boston Bruins

The Winnipeg Jets continue to struggle mightily at the areas that are killing them, as missed shots and a lack of a penalty kill were front and center in tonight’s 3-2 loss to the Boston Bruins. Despite taking two leads in the game, they were unable to hold either of them and the Bruins took full advantage of a team that is obviously mentally fragile.

After a scoreless first period, the Jets took the lead early in the second as Alexander Burmistrov deposited a rebound past Tuukka Rask following a rebound off of a Zach Bogosian point shot. That lead would hold until about the halfway point before Tyler Seguin tipped a high Zdeno Chara point shot off of Ron Hainsey and past Ondrej Pavelec.

The Jets looked to take the lead into the third period as Evander Kane broke his eight-game scoreless streak by putting one past Rask with 27 seconds left in the 2nd. However, that lead lasted all of 25 seconds, as Daniel Paille redirected a Johnny Boychuk shot past Pavelec with two seconds left in the period. Those goals always hurt.

Still, the Jets were tied 2-2 and were at home, so you figured they’d come out strong to start the third. Right? Well, if you thought so you’d have been wrong. Ron Hainsey took a penalty 9 seconds in, and it took all of 27 seconds before Brad Marchand put a soft one past Pavelec that was a stop that he just had to make. Sadly, that goal turned out to be the game-winner as despite some great chances the Jets couldn’t find the equalizer.

The Jets have now lost 4 straight games at home, and play 9 of their next 11 on the road as they embark on a 5-game road trip starting in Buffalo on Tuesday.

10 Thoughts:

  • Ondrej Pavelec faced one shot while shorthanded, and it went in. He now has allowed 13 PP goals while facing 47 shots, resulting in a 0.723 save percentage while the Jets are a man short. It’s comically low.
  • Still with Ondrej, while the first two goals may or not have been on him, the fact remains that he finished another game with a sub-0.900 save percentage (0.885 tonight). Apparently $3.9 million doesn’t buy you as much as it used to.
  • While the Jets did put 24 shots on Rask, they also had 20 shots blocked and missed the net on another 26 opportunities. That means that only 34.2% of their shots made it on net (24 of 70) . That’s unacceptable. Did they not realize that Burmistrov’s opening goal came off of a Bogosian rebound?
  • Chris Thorburn played 6 shifts for 4:39. Jim Slater played 7 shifts for 5:22. And James Wright had 7 shifts for 5:34. They didn’t trail the game until the 3rd period. These numbers seem low to me.
  • ZACH ATTACK!!! Zach Redmond and Zach Bogosian both assisted on Burmistrov’s goal, which may be the first time ever that a goal had two Zach’s in the same goal summary. They both finished +1 on the night, too.
  • Dustin Byfuglien led all Jets skaters with 24:19 of ice-time, followed by Bogosian at 23:37 and Evander Kane at 21:35. That’s impressive that a forward made the top-3. Paul Postma was fourth at 20:20.
  • Speaking of Kane, he scored the goal, finished +1 and had 6 shots on net in 24 shifts. Coach must like what he sees out of him as he obviously led all forwards in ice-time.
  • There’s the Alex Burmistrov we want to see more often! A goal, an assist and a +1 rating. The kid had it going.
  • MISSING: Olli Jokinen. If found, please have him report to the MTS Centre. The big free-agent acquisition again put zeroes up across the board and is still stuck on 4 points on the season.
  • Andrew Ladd, Bryan Little and Blake Wheeler had numerous chances and looked pretty good, but the unfortunate end result is that they all finished with zero points and a -1 rating each.

The Jets now sit at 5-8-1 for 11 points, which is tied for last in the Eastern Conference with the Washington Capitals. This 5-game road trip could make-or-break the season, and it might just be a matter of time before pending UFA’s like Nik Antropov, Kyle Wellwood or Ron Hainsey start getting shipped out. Time to start ‘Sinnin’ for MacKinnon’? Is it almost ‘Sudden Death for Seth’? Let us know in the comments section.

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