The Winnipeg Jets planned on icing a roster filled with NHL veterans when they took on a rather unexperienced Edmonton Oilers squad last night. So with a lot more talent to work with, how did things play out for our Jets???
To get you ready for the recap, here is the lineup for the Jets:
Connor-Scheifele-Vilardi
Namestnikov-Lambert-Ehlers
Niederreiter-Lowry-JAD
Gustafsson-Kupari-Ford
Morrissey-DeMelo
Samberg-Pionk
Lundmark-Miller
Kahkonen
DiVincentiis
When the puck dropped at Canada Life Centre, the Winnipeg Jets opened up with a couple offensive zone shifts before a tripping call sent the home team to the penalty kill. Edmonton’s powerplay did get a couple looks from the bumper spot with the extra open ice, but Kaapo Kahkonen had great positioning and the shot attempts bounced off his equipment. The Jets went back on the attack once the penalty was over, getting a bunch of chances on Stuart Skinner (Gabriel Vilardi sets up Kyle Connor & Brad Lambert for slot attempts, Josh Morrissey set up David Gustafsson for a 1 timer that hit the crossbar, then Adam Lowry connects with Jaret Anderson-Dolan in the low slot with a pass). Not much later, Nikolaj Ehlers skated the puck up the middle of the ice in the neutral zone before dishing off to Vladislav Namestnikov on the left wing. After Ehlers drove to the slot, the Russian forward threaded a pass through the legs of the defenders to find Fly for a 1 timer on a yawning cage to give Winnipeg the lead. 1-0 WPG. The two squads traded some scoring opportunities for the remainder of the period, but neither could make the scoreboard operator put more goals on the board.
After 1st: 1-0 WPG / 12 -8 shots WPG / 52.9% face-offs WPG
After Kahkonen had to make another solid save off an Edmonton rush, Winnipeg went back on the attack as Lambert started to appear more comfortable with his new linemates. The speedy center made a nice deflection on a point shot, then made a beautiful stretch pass to spring Ehlers on a rush. The Oilers’ defensemen lost their coverage when Scheifele was able to hit a streaking Connor with a pass at the Edmonton blueline. As a result, the Jets’ best goal scorer was in all alone on Skinner, undressing the tender with a fake move to the forehand, then calmly tucking the puck through the goalie’s pads when he opened them to stretch across the crease. 2-0 WPG. The Jets ended up getting a chance to show off their new powerplay system when Lambert drew a penalty with a tenacious forecheck. The team did get a couple quick chances on net, but then the man-advantage went back to sitting in their static positions rather than swap spots constantly to make it more difficult to defend. Winnipeg’s captain Lowry is just shockingly good at being in the right place defensively and this game was no different as the big guy made a couple interceptions by correctly predicting where the Oilers would pass next. Edmonton went back to the sin bin again and the Jets’ top unit had a nice look when a Connor shot created a juicy rebound for Vilardi. The 2nd unit got on with more than a minute remaining in the advantage and they were able to get set up in the o-zone. After working the puck around the perimeter, Neal Pionk drew in a penalty killer before sliding the puck along the blueline over to a wide open Colin Miller. The defender stepped in slightly before rocketing a wrist shot over a butterflied Skinner’s pad. 3-0 WPG. Winnipeg continued to pour on the pressure in the late 2nd and it paid off once again when Rasmus Kupari danced into the slot with puck before he slid a pass to a pinching Pionk. The American defender was able to continue to the net because Parker Ford had the Oilers’ defender tied up in front of the crease, allowing Neal to cut across and shove a backhander by the sprawling goalie. 4-0 WPG. The Winnipeg Jets penalty killers got some more work as they had to get through a 2nd Oilers’ man-advantage before the middle frame ended.
After 2nd: 4-0 WPG / 27-13 shots WPG / 57.1% face-offs WPG
Things continued to go well for Winnipeg in the 3rd period, as an early third powerplay for the Jets saw Lambert welcome former Manitoba Moose tender Collin Delia to the game by firing a wrister by him for another powerplay goal. 5-0 WPG. The home team sort of let up a bit with a big lead and the officials gave the Edmonton Oilers a chance to get back into things by giving them 3 straight powerplays. Despite the visitors testing Kahkonen a few times with the man-advantage, it was Lowry who blocked goaltender Delia’s pass attempt before wrapping around a SH goal to give Winnipeg a 6 goal lead. 6-0 WPG. Late in the period, the Jets had just killed off a long stretch of short-handed time (including some 5 on 3 action) without allowing the Oilers a goal….but with around 3:30 remaining (and 2b9 likely jinxing the team by thinking about the fact that the Jets hadn’t allowed a goal against yet) an Edmonton point shot was tipped in the slot, killing Kahkonen’s shutout hunt. 6-1 WPG. Very little happened after that before the final horn blew to end the contest.
Final Score: Winnipeg 6 Edmonton 1
Shots: 37-27 WPG / Hits: 13-11 WPG / 61.5% face-offs WPG
Goals for the Jets:
1st: Ehlers from Namestnikov
2nd: Connor from Scheifele & Pionk
3rd: Miller from Pionk & Lambert PPG
4th: Pionk from Kupari
5th: Lambert from Miller & Pionk PPG
6th: Lowry unassisted SHG
BOJA’s Observations:
- A very nice rebound game for goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen, as he looked a lot more confident as he turned aside 26 of 27 shots he faced (.963 save %). That included the Finnish goalie denying Edmonton on 7 powerplay shot attempts.
- Winnipeg’s players apparently practiced the new special team systems on Tuesday and it paid quick dividends….the Jets went an impressive 2 for 3 with the powerplay and stopped the Oilers from scoring on 5 Winnipeg penalty kills. If I had to nit-pick, I might complain that the team’s top man-advantage unit didn’t manage to light the lamp.
- Speedy Danish forward Nikolaj Ehlers was in top-form against Edmonton, helping to drive the Jets’ offense as he picked up a goal on 3 shots in the match. His linemate Brad Lambert was also impressive, as the young center picked up a goal & an assist. The Finn did have issues at the dot, winning only 20% of face-offs (a drop from his 40% in the opening pre-season game).
- The Winnipeg Jets won over 60% of draws against Edmonton, with David Gustafsson (83.3%) and Mark Scheifele (78.9%) leading the way.
- A couple of impressive performances by defensemen for the Jets last night…..Neal Pionk quietly had a huge evening as he netted a goal along with 3 helpers. The American defender joined a rush to receive a nice pass in the slot from Rasmus Kupari, then showed some patience with the puck before tucking it by the sprawling Oilers goalie. Another d-man who showed up last evening was Colin Miller, as he picked up a pair of points (G/A) on the powerplay. Miller previously showed us how impressive his slapshot was, well this time he displayed that his wrister is just as deadly when he rifled Winnipeg’s first PP goal of the game by Stuart Skinner.
- Some final thoughts…..I thought the Jets’ top unit of Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor, & Gabriel Vilardi all looked dangerous at times (combined for 9 shots on net), though KFC likely had the highlight with a beautiful fake on a clear-cut breakaway. Dylan Samberg ended up with more than 20 minutes of ice-time in the match and I thought he played very well in his own zone. Parker Ford was also noticeable on the 4th line, as he had the 2nd most shots on goal (4) and did an excellent job of tying up the defenseman while screening the goalie on the Pionk marker.
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