The Winnipeg Jets were behind a goal to the Chicago Blackhawks before all the fans had settled into their seats. They remained behind the eight ball for most of the night in another frustrating game for the Jets where they did not start well and did not end well. When they did start playing well, Robin Lehner was up to the task. At least Tucker Poolman scored a goal.
Three Thoughts
I need to be frustrated about this: The Winnipeg Jets cannot start hockey games. So many first periods they have looked ill-prepared for a team and sometimes it comes back to bite them like it did tonight. That is on coaching and no one brings it up because they win. But they are no longer winning as much and it remains a problem. How come the Jets rarely look ready at puck drop and what is being done to change that?
The Jets are now losing to much weaker teams than they are. It seems as though they are starting to show some holes in their play especially defensively. Connor Hellebuyck is no longer stopping everything and it is showing up on the score sheet. The Jets really need to sort themselves out defensively and start playing entire games and not skipping the first period.
Maybe this is what the injuries have done to the Jets. Maybe they cannot do anything else because they are too beat up to play better. However, there are a lot of defencemen out there and some of them like Jake Gardiner could be good in a trade. Unless the price is high, it would make sense to try and shore of the defence soon via trade if it makes sense longer-term for the team.
