The Winnipeg Jets returned to action post-holidays with a matchup vs the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Jets delivered their fans a win in relatively tidy fashion
Ten Thoughts:
1. The Jets entered action without Mark Scheifele for the first time this season. The injury will be hard for the team to handle and it resulted in some massive line juggling.
2. The new lines: Drew Stafford skated with Bryan Little and Blake Wheeler.
Adam Lowry returned to centre Andrew Ladd and Alex Burmistrov.
Mathieu Perreault flipped back to center and skated with Chris Thorburn and Nikolaj Ehlers.
Andrew Copp centred Joel Armia and Matt Halischuck.
3. The Jets aren’t the only team that has to battle through injuries. The Penguins were without Kris Letang in this one. Marc-Andre Fleury didn’t touch the ice in this one either.
4. The Jets started strong. They definitely generated the majority of the scoring chances in the first, but they weren't able to convert at 5 on 5.
5. They were however able to convert on a penalty shot. Bryan Little scored the first ever home breakaway goal in Winnipeg Jets history – ever as in WHA or NHL.
6. The second period was almost all Pittsburgh. The Jets were lucky to enter the third up one.
7. You could say they were Helle lucky. Connor Hellebuyck was great in the third. He made a number of difficult stops and he made them look easy. He finished the game with 30 saves en route to a shutout.
8. Jeff Zatkoff was equally up to the task. He made a number of quality stops including a flat out robbery of Drew Stafford. He would not be beat beyond the Bryan Little penalty shot.
9. Not to be outdone by the goalies Tyler Myers made a pair of huge saves in the final minute of the game.
10. Best Jets IMO were Little, Wheeler, Stafford, Byfuglien, Hellebuyck and Enstrom. Worst Jet was Mark Stuart with an ugly -12 on the Corsi table.
