The Winnipeg Jets completely dominated the New York Rangers tonight. The Jets out-possessed and out-chanced one of the NHL's top teams. Unfortunately they came out on the wrong side of the score sheet, 3-2 after a late goal against.
Ten thoughts:
The play rode a few waves, but the Jets held a decided edge through the first 40 minutes of play. The Jets held a 44 to 23 edge in Corsi at that point, but the score was knotted up at 2-2.
Bryan Little returned to action after an 11 game absence. He started the game with a great chance on his first shift and was strong throughout. Re-inserting a number one centre back into the lineup is kind of a big deal.
Second line centre, Mark Scheifele gave Jets' nation a scare after blocking a hard shot with his wrist and leaving the game. Thankfully he was able to return.
On that note, how exciting was it to see a full compliment of forwards in the lineup. The Jets top 10 forwards are really, really good. We've been waiting weeks to see it and if finally happened.
The Jets were rewarded for their new-found depth. Their first two goals came from the bottom six, with each Jim Slater, Chris Thorburn, Jiri Tlusty, Lee Stempniak, Mathieu Perreault and Adam Lowry picking up points. If the Jets can get anything close to consistent offense out of their depth players from here forward, it'll help their playoff chances.
The third line absolutely CRUSHED it tonight. Adam Lowry finished the game with a Corsi differential of +20. This is a result of the Jets attempting 24 shots with Lowry on the ice and only allowing 4 attempts against. That is kind of nutty.
Think that is impressive, the defensive pair of Jacob Trouba and Mark Stuart pumped out even better numbers. With Jacob Trouba on the ice, the Jets attemped 28 shots and only saw THREE!!! directed at Ondrej Pavelec. That is crazy.
Henrik Lundqvist remains very, very good. Watching him endlessly stop pucks can be annoying.
Ondrej Pavelec wasn't bad and he made some tough saves, but he was nowhere near the King tonight. His numbers have fallen off over the last couple games. It was inevitable, but the timing is horrible.
The effort was there, the process was largely solid, but the result came out as a minus. It sucks losing a game that you dominated, but that is where the Jets find themselves. This was true previously and it has been amplified. The final five games will be of the utmost importance.
