Bob Cole, Bob Cole, Bob Cole! I love listening to him. Also my grandpa is the same age as Cole and I am watching the game with him tonight.
The Winnipeg Jets went into New York on the first half of a back to back, and beat the New York Rangers in a shootout thanks to Ondrej Pavelec’s grand larceny throughout the game. The Jets took too many penalties and looked bad defensively much of the night. Pavelec did the opposite and played much better than the rest of his team, earning the win.
Dustin Byfuglien missed about a million shots 2 on 1. Bryan Little/Andrew Ladd/Michael Frolik seem out of synch still. But the Jets are really losing it with their bottom six and their second pairing D. Jacob Trouba and Mark Stuart work as well together as oil and vinegar.
10 Thoughts:
1. My dad and my grandpa shooting the breeze about Mark Scheifele and how he is looking really good this year. Grandpa mentions that Scheifele is getting hit a lot. He then says Evander Kane should help Scheifele because Kane is a bit of a policeman on the line. Fair enough. Kane does help Scheifele a lot.
2. The Rangers power play is looking really good. The Jets playing Mark Stuart and Jim Slater at the same time is a bad idea. Just an idle thought.
3. Evander Kane hurt Ryan McDonagh on a clean hit. The Rangers are not happy, but Kane did nothing wrong. Bad luck, hope McDonagh is not hurt too badly. Yes, I know he has a separated shoulder, but hopefully it is not badly separated.
4. “They’re not clearing the puck.”- my dad accurately identifying the Jets problem this game. One thing nice I will say is Ondrej Pavelec is playing well, if not looking amazed when the puck hits him, but it is hitting him. And now CBC thinks that Pavelec could breakout any year now, because Corey Crawford did at 29. That is career save percentage .914 goalie Corey Crawford.
5. The Winnipeg Jets have been really good at killing penalties this game. They have also been good at taking penalties too. Gotta be good at the former if you are good at the latter.
6. The Jets iced the puck on the powerplay. One of those games. The Jets are having one of those games and Pavelec did not get the memo. All hail Pavelec.
7. Blake Wheeler is really fun to watch on the penalty kill. His speed is really good on the forecheck. His speed makes him noticeable and effective, even when he is having off games.
8. The Jets dump the puck in a lot. This means they are less likely to retain the puck in the offensive zone. This is one little change that could help the Jets against teams that are down
9. "He's a tough player."- My dad on Stuart. My mom agrees. They never said he was good, so I agree with their assessment. Stuart is tough. The rest he has to work on.
10. The Winnipeg Jets have only gotten 22 shots before overtime against a team that has four defencemen playing and one of them is Mike Kostka. Another one is Matt Hunwick and he played 26:00 minutes before overtime.
Overtime Thought
“I’m Bob Cole in New York…”. Yes, this game is glorious because Bob Cole is calling it. We even got a sincere “great save Pavelec” from Cole. Furthermore, I believe this game is now dual shutouts for Henrik Lundqvist and Pavelec.
Shootout Thought
My mom thinks the Jets will win the shootout. I want this noted. Because she is right because Evander Kane scored the winner in the shootout. And that is a win that Pavelec earned and the Jets will take happily.
Bob Cole makes everything sound great.
Three Stars
1. Ondrej Pavelec
2. Bob Cole
3. The posts
