Back to back shutouts, that was the story for the Winnipeg Jets tonight. Despite being out shot and heavily out-possessed the Winnipeg Jets closed out their four game road trip with a second straight shutout victory. They picked up 7 of a possible 8 points on the road trip.
Ten Thoughts:
- Let's start things off by mentioning the Jets first two shift. They were dynamite early, with the line of Andrew Ladd, Bryan Little and Michael Frolik potting a goal just 20 seconds into the game. The Jets followed that up with a strong shift by their second line with Evander Kane, Mark Scheifele and Blake Wheeler creating a chance. Nice start.
- Speaking of Frolik, it was nice to see him finally sore a goal. He has had a number of chances, but his patience on this one was pretty.
- On the other end of that spectrum, Scheifele needs a flipping goal. The kid was a little sloppy tonight and got too cute in the offensive zone a few times. Gotta wonder if the drought has him over thinking things.
- Similar to Scheif, Matthieu Perreault can't buy a goal at this point. Will the Hockey Gods shine some light on this duo?
- On to happier things, Michael Hutchinson was rock solid tonight. Chicago did hit two posts, but there wasn't much else to shoot at in either instance. Hutch likely redeemed himself after a rocky first effort that saw way too many people calling for his reassignment to the AHL. Good on the kid. This was not an easy match up.
- Michael Hutchinson wasn't the only Jet stopping pucks – Jets' skaters blocked another 30. The Blackhawks held a territorial advantage for much of the game, while the Jets were much more often one and done.
- The Jets D also did an excellent job of clearing pucks from the slot. As mentioned, the Hawks poured a ton of rubber towards the Jets net and while the Jets blocked a load of them, many of the blocked pucks hunch around in the slot. The Jets as a team did a great job tying up sticks and clearing out pucks.
- The forwards were key in this effort. It wasn't left to the D. The Jets forwards played deep in the D zone and did a solid job supporting the defenders in this battle zone.
- It was interesting to hear Chris Thorburn during the second intermission. He said the Jets didn't need to score again to win the game and that isn't something we've heard in the past. His fourth line might be horrible (they were especially bad tonight), but he is doing some real leadering if he is helping spread that word. The Jets have historically lost their structure far too easily.
- Paul Maurice chews a lot of gum. Not sure if it is Juicy Fruit or Double Mint, but he is unwapping foil sticks on the regular.
