The Winnipeg Jets came out flying and handled the Washington Capitals everywhere but on the scoreboard.
A scoreless first period was followed up by a 6 goal second in what ended up being a crazy and wildly entertaining hockey game. Rushes were end to end, chances were a plenty and the scoreboard went back and forth like a seasaw – all in it was a fun 60 minutes of hockey.
Unfortunately the end result was a loss and the Jets hit the road with a 4-5-1
Ten thoughts:
- A number of Jets showed up with perhaps their best efforts of the season. The Jets will need more strong play from their best players if they want to get on a real role.
- Grant Clitsome played like Grant Clitmore, hopefully we see more of this guy. He was zoned in and played well in both ends of the rink.
- Paul Postma and Adam Pardy played well. Pardy kept things simple and Posty made a number or really nifty plays. This kind of play from the 3rd pair will do wonders for the team long term. Let’s hope they keep it up and Stu gets stuck in the press box.
- Unfortunately Zach Bogosian has not yet found a cure for what ails him. Bogosian had a couple of very apparent blunders, but also a few that largely went unnoticed. To my eye Bogo seems to be losing people in the defensive zone with semi regularity. I really hope this doesn’t have anything to do with him losing Ron Hainsey as a partner. The numbers showed that Bogo was better when they were better together than when they were apart. Hainsey was also very vocal in the D zone. He frequently yelled, directed and pointed out where Bogosian was supposed to be. Regardless of the why, the Jets will need more out of Bogosian down the road.
- Ladd, Little and Wheeler weren’t playing together, but they looked like the players that carried last year’s team. Possession, points and goals. Possession, points and goals.
- Evander Kane is a flipping animal!! Evander played 28:41 minutes of ice time – this comes one week after he suffered a knee injury in practice that put his playing status in doubt. On top of that, the Jets dominated play with Evander on the ice. The Jets Corsi For percentage was a team high 64.3% with Evander on the ice. That is incredible, especially when you consider how much ice he saw.
- Jets win on the shot clock 47-32. Jets out chance 25-14. Jets lose 5-4.
- Despite allowing 4 goals Brayden Holtby had an incredible showing. That game could or perhaps should have been out of hand early. Ondrej Pavelec’s showing was not so strong.
- Does anybody else kind of miss the Eastern Conference? Those games are more fun than a lot of what we’ve seen early out west.
- More of this please. If everybody that got rolling stays rolling the Jets will wrack up a few wins and continue to climb the FecClose charts (for the statistically inclined).
- Bonus thought: Much is being made of the Jets upcoming schedule – Pred, Stars, Avs, Blues – but all four teams are beatable and they are teams that the Jets will need to beat regularly IF they hope to make the playoffs. These next four games aren’t scary, this is where the team has to put in work.
