I’m not much for alarmist overreactions, but I think the Winnipeg Jets might be in a spot of trouble. The last few weeks have been turbulent for the Jets, and the team seems like it’s chugging miserably into the All-Star break. Old habits that the Jets never truly evicted from the premises have crept back in, and the team looks like it’s fighting an uphill battle to score. Couple that with egregious turnovers, and you’ve got the makings of a bad stretch of games. I was hoping a match against the weaker Philadelphia Flyers would help stem the tide. Instead, the Jets dropped a stinker en route to a 4-0 loss. Oh dear.
Watching the game, you wouldn’t think Winnipeg would be on the losing end of a shutout. From the first period on, the Jets were fast and aggressive, harassing Philadelphia’s skaters routinely. This Jets team looked eager to put the Buffalo loss behind it, but fortune did not smile upon Winnipeg this day. After a solid stretch of scoring chance creation, the Jets conceded a greasy goal at the end of a penalty kill. Noah Cates squeezed one through Hellebuyck to give the Flyers a lead. Come on, man…
Things didn’t get much better in the second period. Carter Hart had the measure of Winnipeg’s shooters while the Flyers continually accepted turnovers from the Jets skaters. Hellebuyck had to make a number of critical stops early, bailing out the scatterbrained play from his teammates. Eventually, Hellebuyck ran out of magic and fell victim to Kieffer Bellows. It was Kieffer’s first goal of the season, so of course it’d be against the Jets.
The final frame saw the Flyers add 2 more goals while the Jets fans showered the home team with a chorus of boos. The Jets haven’t faced an angsty crowd all that frequently this year, but there have been a lot more boo-worthy performances lately. This felt like it should have been a great rebound victory for the Jets, but it ended in a bit of a quagmire. Bones looked to be out of ideas and concocted some strange lines, but to no avail. Sometimes you just suck.
Five Takeaways
- I’m not sure the Jets can afford to wait until the trade deadline to make some moves. This team legitimately needs help.
- Lucius continues his hot start in the WHL. Lambert, meanwhile, continues to be a scratch. I’m hoping it’s just Visa issues, because a healthy scratch run is not great!
- Stanley and Pionk….oh man, what do you do with ‘em? They pour their heart out on the ice, but get absolutely smoked in the defensive zone.
- The Dubois line got completely obliterated. It’s rare that this unit looks useless, but this was one of those nights!
- The Jets bottom-6 is looking fairly ragged these days. Winnipeg should probably get them some help while shopping for a top-6 scorer.
