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Instant Recap: Nashville Predators defeat Winnipeg Jets in Conference III battle

School obligations kept me from watching this game so I crowd sourced some thoughts. First of all the Jets out chanced the Preds in the third at a 3-0 rate which is very good. They got out chanced 10-9 overall. All scoring chances are curtesy of Travis from JetsNation. There was much consternation about Pavelec and I was surprised that he was starting after Montoya's game against Chicago, don't cry over spilt milk. Scheifele played a solid game as did Wheeler. LLF was terrific on the fancy stat table for being matched against (I assume) top line competition.

10 Thoughts

1. Today was #BellLetsTalk Day and no matter how you feel about a corporately sponsored day, it gets people talking. The Winnipeg Jets used today to honour Rick Rypien who suffered from depression while he played for the Manitoba Moose and Vancouver Canucks. He was going to play here in the inaugural 2011/2012 season but his demons got the best of him. He was going to wear number 11 for the Jets, so tonight they warmed up in number 11. You can bid on the jerseys here.

2. The Air-Scheifele-Wheeler line was a wrecking ball when Air wasn't trying to wreck them. With Kane out until after the Olympics, Paul Maurice needs to find a better solution to the first/second line left wing. I recommend trying Eric O'Dell there.

3. Mark Stuart left Trouba out to dry on the second goal. I don’t know if there is a great option to break Trouba into the NHL with. I know that Stuart is a great influence in the room but I am not certain if Trouba having to cover for Stuart is good for his development. All I know for sure is that I really like Trouba the Tuba player and hope that he will turn into a great defenseman for the Jets.

4. The third line isn't working with Byfuglien and the defence is lacking some serious depth. This is a problem when the Jets play better teams like they get worked over. This is a chronic problems due to a lack of depth and is something that needs to be solved. Depth is killing this team against good teams.

5. The defense is also missing Byfuglien but I am not sire that the Jets have the skill up front to move Byfuglien back. They may need to waive a fourth liner and eat the price of a one-way contract in St. John's to and call up a skilled player to play in the top nine along with O'Dell until Kane is back.

6. The Winnipeg Jets need Evander Kane healthy. They need him consistently in the lineup. His infection is the result of a stupid, needless fight. Someone needs to let him know that they need him more on the ice than anywhere else. Please Evander, you are a key player on this team, please keep yourself on the ice.

7. Pavelec. He is consistently inconsistent and I don't want to pile on him too much but I think that Maurice is simply allowing Chevy to evaluate him. It will lead to losses but that is the way she goes in a season where the playoffs aren't attainable.

8. Before Shea Weber left the game in the third with an upper body injury the Jets out Corsi'd the Preds by 14 attempts which is really good. On another Weber note, what are the repercussions for the injury Olympic wise, though Sara Orlesky says that the Preds do not believe it is a serious injury. (Does anyone else type Perds instead of Preds all the time?)

9. I understand that Seth Jones had a good game today and scored a nice goal. Have no fear as Trouba both out Fenwick’d and out Corsi’d him because Trouba is awesome and the real American hero that will save Winnipeg from this deep freeze. Both young defensemen played just over 24 minutes tonight.

10. The fourth line and third pair both played very little. This is a good thing because neither feature very good players though I would like O'Dell to play more so he can be evaluated at the NHL level. Small complaint, but recognizing that they will sink you and not playing them in the final 5 minutes of a game while trailing by one is progress.

Bonus Thought!

11. I really like Michael Frolik as a player and hope that his agent doesn’t price him out of here because he is a really nifty player to have available to use in your lineup. Versatile and strong defensively Taters is a keeper.

Final Note:

Rick Rypien lost his battle with depression in the summer of 2011. Since then the Jets have started Project 11 to help promote the discussion of Mental Health issues by youth. If you would like to support Project 11, Arctic Ice Hockey is selling #WhatDidChevyDoToday t-shirts for $19.99. $1 from each t-shirt goes to Project 11 and there is no profit made from them. You can view and order a t-shirt here.

Looking for an easy way to support Arctic Ice Hockey?
Use our Affiliate Link when shopping hockey merch this holiday season!

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