Welcome to another round of Jets lose. I’ll be your host and guide on this crazy endeavor. Please keep your arms and legs inside the cart at all times, lest Pekka Rinne think they’re flying pucks and cause you injury while keeping them away from his net. Ready? Here we go!
So, to start, I need to mention that tonight the Winnipeg Jets played their home opener against the Nashville Predators and things didn’t exactly go according to their plans. The evening started off with a big fancy introduction to the players, coaches and staff of the Winnipeg Jets organization. Everything was flashy and blue and smokey and quite pretty actually. After the players circled around centre ice and raised their sticks to the air, the Predators arrived on the ice and the game began.
In the first period the Jets got off to a fast start and managed to maintain a quick pace throughout the 20 minutes. Mark Scheifele had a few good chances, but wasn’t able to capitalize on any of them due to skilled goaltending by the Predators’ Pekka Rinne. It looked as if the first period was going to end with a score of 0-0, but Mike Ribeiro (troublemaker, what?) tipped in a Seth Jones shot and the Predators pulled ahead of the Jets.
The second period was a little lackluster, to be honest. There were some shots, some penalties and some excellent goaltending on both ends of the ice, but nothing terribly exciting happened. The third was where things got really interesting. And by really interesting, I mean not really at all. It was a bunch of potential chances and a lot of the same old, same old from Chris Thorburn. The Jets weren't able to get anything positive going and finished the game by giving Mr. Rinne a nice 2-0 shutout.
Ten Thoughts
1) Well, hello Mr. Scheifele! I'm so sorry that you just couldn't seem to get a goal tonight. It wasn't for a lack of trying, trust me, we all saw your effort and all the attempts and shots. We saw you try so hard to get something going for the Jets. This loss is not your fault, kid. Shake it off.
2) I often complain about Ondrej Pavelec, but if he can keep up this level of play I don’t mind giving him credit when it’s due. Tonight, Pavelec was pretty incredible out there and finished as the game’s third star. He had some huge saves and looked to be dialed in to the game. I honestly hope he has heard the things said about him in the offseason and is functioning in “I’ll prove those jerks wrong this season, rabble! Rabble rabble!” mode. Prove me wrong, Pavs. Please prove me wrong.
3) Hyvää iltaa Olli Jokinen! Nice flow, bud. That kid on your team, you know, that Forsberg one? He’s pretty damn good out there.
4) Why is Thorburn still a thing? Why was he extended? Why? WHY? It's painful and bad, just like his hairdo this evening. Yeah, them's fightin' words alright. I just don't get what Cheveldayoff et al see in him and I fear I never will.
5) Dear Evander Kane, I miss your face. Come back soon. Please. We need you. Kisses, Me.
6) Dustin Byfuglien on defence sighting! THIS IS NOT A DRILL. Towards the end of the game, Maurice seemed to throw players on the ice and see what came of it and one of the more interesting moves he made was playing Byfuglien on defence. For a brief moment it felt like it was Christmas and I was being given an original Nintendo in box with all hookups, controllers and the Super Mario Brothers/Duck Hunt cartridge. It was that good people. Let’s do that more often, okay?
7) On the other end of the ice Pekka Rinne was incredible. Didn't he have a major hip injury last season and subsequent infection and ended up missing a bunch of games? It's honestly nice to see him come back from that and play as well as he did tonight. Rinne is best tonight.
8) We’re still missing Jacob Trouba, people. Look under your seats, check in bushes and trees and call your local police office and hospital to see if he’s turned up anywhere and is listed as a John Doe. He’s clearly going through some things right now and we don’t know when he’ll be back.
9) Matt Halischuk should be on the ice in the next game. Fact.
10) Jim Slater won 6/10 faceoffs this evening. That is also a fact. He won 60% of his faceoffs. I am not a huge Slater fan, but it never entered my mind once tonight that he was the problem on the ice and it was a nice change.
Up next the Jets face off against the Calgary Flames at home on Sunday, October 19.
What did you think of tonight's game? Share your thoughts below!
