The Winnipeg Jets efence was ba in this game. See that sentence? No D, just like the Jets tonight.
The Columbus Blue Jackets came into town sporting a 4-1-0 record to start the year, showing the team with the fourth best record in the league in 2016-2017 was ready to start the season. After a nail biter of a first period that saw the Winnipeg Jets hemmed into their own end for much of the first 10 minutes, the Jackets cracked Steve Mason twice, via Cam Atkinson and Nick Foligno, after a pair of giveaways. Kyle Connor responded with a goal in his first NHL game of the year. A defensive calamity lead to Jack Johnson making it 3-1 1:24 after Connor scored. Lukas Sedlak made it 4-1 on a goal Mason really needs to save, after Pierre-Luc Dubois forced a Tobias Enstrom turnover. A defensive blitz by Zach Werenski resulted in a shot over the shoulder of Mason to make it 5-1. Joel Armia scored a nice effort of a short handed goal late to make it 5-2 and that was all she wrote. Not an impressive effort by the Jets, who were outshot 39 to 26 and I don’t need to look at the analytics to know they’re bad too.
Scoring Summary
1st Period – Nyet
2nd Period –
0:36 EV CBJ 13 Cam Atkinson (3) unassisted
10:50 EV CBJ 71 Nick Foligno (1) unassisted
12:30 EV WPG 81 Kyle Connor (1) Assists: 55 Mark Scheifele (3) 26 Blake Wheeler (6)
13:54 EV CBJ 7 Jack Johnson (1) Assists: 17 Brandon Dubinsky (1) Assist: 77 Josh Anderson (1)
18:11 EV CBJ 45 Lukas Sedlak (2) unassisted
3rd Period –
12:15 EV CBJ 8 Zach Werenski(3) Assists: 3 Seth Jones (4) 11 Matt Calvert(2)
18:23 SH WPG 40 Joel Armia (1) Assist: 33 Dustin Byfuglien (3)
Goalies –
WPG 35 Steve Mason 34/39 .872 60:00
CBJ 70 Joonas Korpisalo 24/26 .923 60:00
10 Thoughts:
- Turnovers are a delicious pastry, and a deadly habit in the game of hockey. Nikolaj Ehlers and Blake Wheeler both saw errors become Columbus goals in the second period. Enstrom too, but Mason needs to make that save on the fourth goal.
- Tyler Myers was marking air on goal number three. Didn’t take away the shot angle, and didn’t pick up Jack Johnson who one timed it in. Not a good game from Myers, which is becoming a trend.
- The fourth goal was one that needed to be saved, but Steve Mason will not be buying anybody drinks after this one, as turnovers and a complete inability to play defence
- Kyle Connor was fast and had good vision, particularly as the game got into the second period. He earned every penny of his goal…that doesn’t make any sense, but it’s totally what happened.
- Nick Foligno’s goal was sick, wicked and nasty, as he undressed pretty much everybody in attendance before depositing the puck into the net.
- What exactly does Shawn Matthias contribute to this team? Asking for a friend.
- The Jets killed all three penalties they took. Of course, the second one lasted six seconds before being negated by a Columbus penalty, but still! 3 for 3! That moves them to 75% efficiency, which is still bad. The Jets were on the power play for six seconds. They didn’t score. They are now two for 20 for 10%. That’s also bad.
- Joel Armia had four short handed goals last year, and notched his first of the season tonight. The guy has a talent for scoring while a man down, I’ll give him that.
- Steve Mason has a record of 0-3-0 after three appearances, with a save percentage of .853. While it’s difficult to pin most of what happened tonight on him, giving up that fourth goal effectively put this game away for Columbus. The Jets’ off-season acquisition needs to turn it around.
- The Jets fall to 3-3-0 on the season, while the Blue Jackets improve to 5-1-0. Jets next play on Friday, as they host the Minnesota Wild before getting six days to prepare for the Pittsburgh Penguins’ visit on Thursday, October 26.
