Sorry about the delay on the recap. Sometimes family comes before blogging. Hopefully yall had a great New Years celebration and are enjoying the day off.
The Winnipeg Jets struggled last night as they were beat handily by a strong New York Islanders team.
Thoughts:
Save the worst for last. The Winnipeg Jets were killed by the Corsis last night. They finished with an Even Strength Corsi percentage of 39.7. That is bad and the Jets have generally been strong by this measure. The last time they posted a sub 40 Corsi percentage was November 2nd vs Chicago.
Kane’t do it. A big reason for the struggles appears to be the loss of Evander Kane. Kane’s absence turns a decent third line into a bad 4th line. Adam Lowry’s line got killed last night, finishing minus two and last in Matt Halischuk and at the bottom of the Corsi chart.
Why did they finish at the bottom of the Corsi? Perhaps it could have something to do with a 21 year old rookie being asked to carry two of the worst possession players in the entire NHL. Take a look back at our Pilots Logbook for Matt Halishuck to see where he and Chris Thorburn rank over the last load of years (it is in the bonus section at the bottom).
The Jets were a bit of a mess defensively in this game with the Paul Postma, Adam Pardy pairing getting dominated once again. The top pair also finished minus two. Not good.
Perhaps bigger than the defensive woes was the lack of offense. The Jets only generated 23 shots on goal. That won't cut it moving forward.
Of course, the defensive struggles and lack of offense are tied together. The Jets had one heck of a time getting the puck out of the defensive zone and through the neutral zone. Again, they miss Kane. Toby Enstrom and Jacob Trouba are huge assets in this regard as well.
In goal, Ondrej Pavelec was hung out to dry a couple times. He hurt himself some too. Sure, it would have been nice for him to steal the game, but the Jets were handily outplayed in this one. This wasn’t the tender’s fault.
Also in the no blame game, Chris Thorburn was horrible and cost the Jets at least one goal directly. The coach noticed and replaced him with T.J. Galiardi for a bit. Will this last?
What stood out to you last night?
