The Winnipeg Jets stumbled through their first regular season game, ending their three game winning streak from the pre-season and their seven game win streak from last season. They got annihilated by the Toronto Maple Leafs everywhere but the shot clock and penalty differential. So, yeah, it was one of those nights.
10 Thoughts:
- The Jets started the game strongly and simply could not score on Frederick Andersson. Their powerplay looked good, but was possibly missing a certain component from an offensively talented player who is currently being scratched.
- The Jets are boasting a very strong top four defence, but it is still missing something it seems. Tyler Myers and Dmitry Kulikov are both coming off of long layoffs because of injury and they both seem out of sync. Maybe having both of them on the same pairing is a bad idea. If both keep struggling, it might be time to get Tucker Poolman in the lineup at some point.
- The Jets struggled to score goals and prevent them. While Nic Petan will not solve anything close to all the Jets problems, he would be a welcomed addition to the lineup as he has the ability to help on the powerplay and contribute more than Brandon Tanev and Matt Hendricks at even strength.
- The Jets do not have a goaltending issue yet, but it is an ominous start to say the least. Steve Mason seems to have been struck by Ondrej Pavelec-itis to say the least, but it is hopefully only a temporary condition.
- The Jets did solve their penalty issues, but that only goes so far when you still cannot kill the penalties that you do take.
- Patrik Laine is very good at hockey. Mark Scheifele is very good at hockey. Together they make beautiful hockey things happen, even in the middle of a blow out. There is always some light at the end of the tunnel with these two.
- The Jets have the same issues every year and they have not changed. Either they have a collection of players who cannot learn anything new or their coaching staff is not zeroing in on the issues and correcting them. It is great to learn what penalties are, but how about working on the penalty kill, which has been an issue for years?
- The Jets had a very pretty looking powerplay that simply could not buy a goal, which is better than most games.
- Mathieu Perreault did not get hurt!
- Regular season hockey is back; let the angst begin!
