In a game that the Winnipeg Jets looked to be firmly in control, the penalties got away from them and the Minnesota Wild won a wild third period to win the game.
First Period:
The Jets looked mostly fine for the whole of the first. Naturally, there was an ill-advised from Ben Chiarot, but that’s to be expected. The Jets pulled ahead when Patrik Laine decided to continue to show people that he is good and scored another even-strength goal. The real secret to unlocking Laine’s luck was for him to be written about in the Winnipeg Free Press a couple weekends ago.
Anyways, the Jets also had a power play and their second unit was interesting. There was one play that stood out to me: Josh Morrissey and Mathieu Perreault had the puck and were playing catch as the announcers say. However, there was no movement of the defence and the outcome was an easily blocked shot. One of the reasons the first unit works well is they make the defence move a lot.
Second Period:
So. Many. Penalties. When the penalties were not happening, the Jets looked good, but there were so many of them. The downside of all the penalties is players like Laine and Kyle Connor play less. However, the Jets persevere and ended up on the power play at the end of the first and of course Laine’s best friend, Nikolaj Ehlers capped off the power play with a goal. How’s that for our Fortnite-loving hooligans.
As for Connor Hellebuyck, he has looked very good with his strong play. After a bad game against the Calgary Flames, it is good to see Hellebuyck back to his usually shenanigans in net.
Third Period:
The Jets started the period off well, but their good play quickly got floundered by penalties of their own taking. While some calls were missed and others were chintzy, the Jets do not get the benefit of the doubt with officials. One of the problems (not the only one), is they have multiple defenders who chase the play. Tyler Myers, Joe Morrow, and Ben Chiarot all get beaten because of their skating.
The other issue is, and I missed this until Harrison pointed it out, is for the first game of a back to back, the Jets played Nic Petan and Jack Roslovic under five minutes this game. Mathieu Perreault played more, but how much of that was because of the power play? Anyways, the Jets have a good fourth line now and they need to use them.
Cheers:
- Patrik Laine appears to be re-growing his beard from last year. Here comes the goat.
- Nikolaj Ehlers has been coming around scoring wise. Him, Laine, and Kyle Connor all scoring more is a good thing for the Jets.
- I someone conjured up the Ghosts of Hockey Past when remembering that Eric Fehr existed. Sorry.
Jeers:
- The refs. I’m still bad at identifying what a penalty is, but they sure called a lot.
- Game time. I get wanting games on Black Friday, but why have Canadian teams play during the day when there are so many American teams available?
