The Winnipeg Jets beat the Vancouver Canucks in a wild and fun matinee game that had everything from back and forth play, lot’s of goals, and oodles of skill. They just forgot the goaltending at home that morning. Sometimes you need a game that isn’t good, but fun and that is what the Jets had yesterday. I doubt they will try to replicate most of it, but they did come out with a win.
The Jets played about 40 minutes of good hockey and turned off their brains for the second halves of both the first and second periods. Thankfully they kept them on for the whole third when they needed to walk away with a win. It was not always the prettiest game, but a win is a win and two points are two points. The Jets will take it without question and then head out on a road trip out east.
Ten Thoughts
- Oh how I have missed watching Nikolaj Ehlers play hockey. He just brings an element of skills to the Jets that they miss when he is out. From his zone exits to his entries, he has a speed and a slickness that is fun to watch.
- Remember when Kyle Connor had no goals? Me neither. Connor might not be known for his defensive play, but he provides a specific skill that the Jets need at all times: goals. If Connor is known for one thing, it is the fact that he scores goals and scores them A LOT.
- Pierre-Luc Dubois is the perfect mix of size, skill, and strength. Hard to remember how he was when he was first traded here. This was the player the Columbus Blue Jackets drafted fourth overall. Just incredible.
- The Canucks pulled their goalie in the second period while the Jets did not. This was probably because while it might have made sense to do so, giving Connor Hellebuyck a scheduled rest day is more important than ensuring those two points (which they won with David Rittich yesterday). Sometimes you enter a game with the plan for the goalie starting to play the whole game no matter how it goes (barring injury) and it felt like that was the Jets yesterday.
- The Canucks are a whole pile of “I don’t know”. They just seem to be a mess of what they could be and should be because management refuses to fully commit to a rebuild.
- The Jets are a hard team to get a full read on and that is because they are not playing their optimal defensive lineup. It sounds like Neal Pionk might be playing hurt and if he is, he should be scratched and a healthy player (Ville Heinola) should be playing instead. Do not hamper a team by playing injured players when there is someone healthy right there.
- Like I said, it is hard to figure out the Jets, but know this: their top line is fun and their goalie is great. They have a lot of good pieces and adding the right pieces to their current pieces could bring out another run line in the 2017/2018 season at some point.
- I would love for someone who does a lot of system analysis to write about the re-emergence of Josh Morrissey. He fell off a cliff in such a weird way when he was younger, his re-emergence almost makes sense. Good players don’t just forget how to play hockey and Morrissey was good.
- Stenlund sounds like Stanley on the broadcast. I kept on thinking Logan Stanley was playing yesterday. He was not.
- I don’t have a tenth thought unless I just say the Canucks are bad and need to do things to address that.
