After a prolonged break, the Winnipeg Jets were back in action on Friday night as they hosted the San Jose Sharks at the Canada Life Centre. So with an expected bottom 5 NHL franchise on tap that also happened to play the previous evening going up against a well-rested undefeated Jets’ squad….what would the end result be???
With 3 straight victories, it is unsurprising that Coach Scott Arniel kept the same deployment for the Jets versus the Sharks (courtesy of PuckPedia):
RECAP
Winnipeg exploded out of the gates and this game quickly got out of hand as the Jets pinned San Jose in their own end for large chunks of the game. With the 2nd line of Nikolaj Ehlers, Vladislav Namestnikov, & Cole Perfetti finally coming alive, the speedy Dane was in particular a formidable force in the 1st period, as he used his speed to create a bunch of looks on the Sharks’ goalie that led to his first 2 goals of the year. That helped the home team to jump out to a 4-1 lead in the opening period thanks to a couple even strength & powerplay markers.
Kyle Connor added his 3rd goal of the season to stretch the lead in the 2nd before Winnipeg chipped in 3 more in the final frame. Perfetti showed off his shot with a couple PP goals, while Namestnikov lit the lamp for the Jets’ 8th of the contest in the final minute of play.
FINAL SCORE: Winnipeg 8 San Jose 3
FINAL STATS
Shots: 36-22 WPG / Hits: 24-20 SJ / Face-Offs: 51.9% WPG / Expected Goals: 3.29 WPG to 2.18 SJ
MoneyPuck’s Deserve to Win: 67.1% WPG / High Danger Chances: 12 to 6 WPG
SCORING SUMMARY from ESPN
SHOT CHART from MoneyPuck & NaturalStatTrick
ADVANCED STATS from MoneyPuck & NaturalStatTrick
In All Situations
ADVANCED STATS for Line Combos from MoneyPuck & NaturalStatTrick
If you would like to dive deeper into the game’s stats, follow the links below to the game pages:
MoneyPuck: San Jose Sharks vs. Winnipeg Jets – Friday October 18 2024 – MoneyPuck.com
NaturalStatTrick: San Jose Sharks @ Winnipeg Jets, 2024-10-18
BOJA’s Observations:
- I mentioned that the 2nd line of Nikolaj Ehlers, Cole Perfetti, & Vladislav Namestnikov played really well against San Jose. Well, here are the stats to back that up….a combined 11 pts (5G/6A) on 11 shots and a +10 rating on the night. At even strength, the trio dominated the Sharks with 100% Corsi, Fenwick, & expected goals (xG) ratings while allowing their opponents NO shot attempts at all (according to NaturalStatTrick, as MoneyPuck’s grahic above has it slightly different).
- Unfortunately, Connor Hellebuyck wasn’t in top form as Winnipeg celebrated his Vezina & William Jennings’ Trophy wins. I guess if Bucky was going to have an off night (.864 save% & a -0.81 Goals Saved Above Expected rating), last night was a good time for it.
- The 4th line of Rasmus Kupari, Morgan Barron, & Alex Iafallo wasn’t as noticeable to my eye test against the Sharks, but once again they dominated the advanced stats with another 60%+ Corsi game.
- Is the new powerplay for real??? The Jets were firing at a 50% rate coming into the contest and increased that by going 4 for 7 on their man-advantages against San Jose.
- On the defensive side of things, Dylan DeMelo was the leading blocker (3) while Neal Pionk was the top scorer from the backend (goal, 3 assists).
- For once, it was Winnipeg’s bottom six that got scored on at during 5 on 5 play with 3rd & 4th lines allowing the Sharks to score against them.
- Unfortunately, it seemed that Winnipeg took up most of the goals available to the organization on Friday, as the Manitoba Moose couldn’t find even one marker as they dropped a 1-0 game to the Grand Rapid Griffins and the Norfolk Admirals desperately tried to win a one goal contest in their season opener only to give up two late 3rd period goals.
- Ran across the graphic below at The Five Hohl website and thought is was interesting to see how the Winnipeg Jets’ coaching staff deployed their forwards & defense last night:
I am not sure if this is a season-long trend, but against San Jose the Jets’ top line was most often matched up with the pairing of Dylan DeMelo & Josh Morrissey, the Adam Lowry checking line was on the ice with the Neal Pionk & Dylan Samberg duo, while the hot 2nd line was paired with the Haydn Fleury & Colin Miller duo for over 60% of their shifts.
Even though I knew the Winnipeg Jets had an easy start to the season (only 2 playoff teams in 1st 10 games), I will admit that I am surprised the True North franchise remains undefeated through 4 games. Will they be able to keep it going when they face stiffer competition when the Penguins come to town for Bryan Little’s retirement celebration.
UP NEXT: Pittsburgh Penguins (3-3-0) @ Winnipeg Jets (4-0-0) – Sunday, October 20th @ 2 pm CST
