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Instant Recap: Winnipeg Jets Crushed by Dallas Stars in Return Home

Recap:

The Winnipeg Jets extended their losing streak to 3 games on Friday night with a tough loss at the MTS Centre. The Jets came flying out of the gate early in the first period and had appeared to take a giant step towards correcting their issues in the face-off circle as well as their tendency to start slow, but the momentum was short lived. The Dallas Stars scored 3 times in the first period and Tyler Seguin had a hand (1G, 2A) in all three.

The Jets started the second period right where they ended the first. They were outworked, out chanced and out played by the Stars. Tyler Seguin extended the Stars lead on an unfortunate power play with his second of the day . The tide began to turn though as the period went on. Kari Lehtonen (lower body) left the game with an apparent injury halfway through the period and Dan Ellis came in to relieve him. The Jets showed a little more pushback and were able to start to swing the momentum but were not rewarded for their efforts.

The Jets continued with their strong play throughout the third period, but short of a PP goal by Wheeler, they were not rewarded for their efforts.  The questions about this team and their leadership group continue to mount with a 4-1 loss tonight.  There are major holes in this teams play that need to be patched but the questions remain whether the right pieces and the right coach is in place for these issues to be fixed.

Ten Thoughts:

  • Pavelec played like old Pavelec today. He can’t be blamed for a couple of the goals, but he allowed a couple of goals that I am sure he wants back. The goalies job is to give his team a chance to win, Pav left something to be desired today.
  • Something is off with Jim Slater. I know that he isn’t great to begin with but he is having some major mental lapses. He looks lost and is just plain getting outworked. A fourth line centre should never get outworked.
  • Jacob Trouba is well on his way to replacing Toby Enstrom as the quarterback on defence. Toby is playing well this year but the offensive awareness as well as the zone exits by Trouba are just plain impressive. It’s a good problem to have.
  • Grant Clitsome is killing me. He isn’t fast enough or smart enough to take some of the gambles he takes on offense. He is good for giving the team a power play and a handful of scoring chances every night. Bogo can take these chances because Bogo is skilled enough to recover, however Clitty…nope.
  • Somebody needs to let the Jets know that the power play is not the time to take penalties. The had 3 power plays eliminated by penalties. That won’t work.
  • There are players on this team that just plain disappear for entire games. That makes me question coaching and leadership. Ladd, Scheifele, Jokinen, and Setoguchi were non-existent for most of the game.
  • Blake Wheeler somewhat redeemed himself with a goal in the third but he needs to step it up. He is getting played like a top line player, he needs to play like it.
  • Bryan Little is impressing me. He is showing fight, he is showing the ability to grind and after a game where he was more than willing to criticize himself he also showed a willingess to do something about it.
  • Maybe faceoffs weren’t the reason for the troubles the Jets were having. After one of the more embarrassing faceoff performances ever the Jets showed a marked improvement. They ended the night winning 62.5% of their draws which is very good.
  • Tyler Seguin is good. He showed the effort, the drive, and the skill that this city yearns for from their top young players. Short of a couple good early games from Kane they haven’t seen it yet

EXTRA:  Line juggling – the line situation is fluid right now.  There seems to be no consistency from Noel but the players are giving him no reason to show confidence in any one line.  What combos could work?  What combos shouldn’t be touched?  Do any line-up changes need to happen?

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