The fifth sell out crowd of the season at the Canada Life Centre got to witness a battle between the 7th and 30th placed teams in the National Hockey League on Friday evening. Let’s find out whether the Winnipeg Jets could come out with a win over the Anaheim Ducks.
The hometown Jets started off with a jump in their steps, allowing Winnipeg to control the puck and spend many shifts cycling around the perimeter of Anaheim’s zone. They had quality looks early on with low slot shots by Iafallo, Morrissey, and Namestnikov, but the Ducks’ Gibson was playing solidly in between the pipes. It was the visiting squad that ended up with the game’s first PP though, as Pionk headed to the box for interfering with an Anaheim forward vying for a rebound. The Ducks did spend the majority of the man-advantage in Winnipeg’s end, but for the most part they were kept to the outside and their deadliest chance came when Vatrano rang a shot from the top of the face-off circle off a post. Back at even strength, the Jets had some more opportunities to take the lead, but it wasn’t until a DeMelo point shot was deflected by Connor that Winnipeg opened the scoring. The latter part of the 1st period saw the teams play a bit of 4 on 4 hockey before the refs sent DeMelo to the box (trip), giving Anaheim another look on the powerplay. Once again, the Ducks spent their time in the offensive zone, but the Jets kept them mainly to the perimeter (Vatrano did test Brossoit with another shot, but the backup caught enough of it with his shoulder to deflect it off-target). MoneyPuck’s info below displays Winnipeg’s dominance in the opening frame, but Anaheim did get a handful of quality looks.
First Period MoneyPuck Stats: Score: 1 to 0 for the Jets, shots 11 to 6 for the Jets, 58% Deserve To Win for the Jets, Expected Goals – all situations (1.15-0.78 WPG), & 5 on 5 (1.15-0.41 WPG)
The Ducks did pick up their games in the middle frame, evening out the scoring chances and making Brossoit earn his paycheck. Winnipeg didn’t roll over to allow Anaheim back in the game and continued to regularly cycle the puck around the offensive zone. The Jets best early chances included DeMelo narrowly missing a net-front deflection and Namestnikov being denied on a mini-breakaway. The visiting Ducks’ top line spent time in Winnipeg’s zone and tested the goalie with a quick wrap-around attempt. Bross-Wall was there to deny the attempt and the Jets’ started a break out of their own, however Iafallo was held up and the refs sent the Jets to their 1st PP of the game. The top unit couldn’t get much done, but the 2nd group had better success when a Schmidt shot attempt ping-ponged off two Anaheim defenders before evading Gibson’s attempt to stop the puck. The Jets’ PP goal spurred the Ducks to push for a goal of their own and they got some help from the officials when they bit on an Anaheim player’s embellished handshake to call Pionk for a slash. Winnipeg once again did a solid job on the PK, but this time Brossoit had to make huge saves off deflection & rebound chances before the teams were back at even strength. The Jets picked things up for the rest of the period, getting quality looks for Toffoli, Scheifele, and Monahan. The advanced stats & shot chart indicate that the game had evened out a bit in the middle frame, but Winnipeg was still leading the quantity of chances category.
After Two Periods MoneyPuck Stats: Score: 2 to 0 for the Jets, shots 21 to 17 for the Jets, 56% Deserve to Win for the Ducks, Expected Goals – all situations (2.22-2.06 ANA) & 5 on 5 (1.77-1.07 WPG)
The 3rd period got interesting early on when the officials sent a player from each team to the box, opening up the ice with some 4 on 4 play. Despite having more room to work with, neither squad could really do much until a late Winnipeg rush from Ehlers allowed him to pick out DeMelo in the high slot. The defender stepped in a blasted a slapshot through Gibson’s 5-hole to give the Jets a 3-0 lead and allowed the floodgates to blast open. Three minutes later, Monahan cleanly won a face-off to Toffoli along the side boards. The winger briefly stepped towards the middle of the ice, before snapping a shot through a bunch of bodies to make it 4-0. After Barron was held up during another Jets cycle, Winnipeg’s PP struck again when another Monahan face-off win allowed Scheifele to find Toffoli for a net-side deflection. The Jets were given one last powerplay late in the game when the refs called a questionable slash on Ehlers, so Bowness sent out the 2nd unit to finish off the game. To the ire of the Ducks’ head coach, the PP kept firing shots at Gibson and when Lowry made a beautiful spinning no-look pass to Appleton, Winnipeg added another PP goal with 6 seconds to play. MoneyPuck’s information below definitely shows that the Jets had most of the scoring opportunities in the final frame.
After Three Periods MoneyPuck Stats: 66.6% Deserve to Win for the Jets, Expected Goals – all situations (3.83-2.65 WPG) & 5 on 5 (3.19-1.51 WPG)
FINAL SCORE: WINNIPEG JETS 6 ANAHEIM DUCKS 0
SHOTS: WINNIPEG JETS 38 ANAHEIM DUCKS 22
Game Observations:
- A very good performance by Laurent Brossoit, stopping 21 of 21 shots, including 6 medium danger and 5 high danger attempts. A 2.65 Goals Saved Above Average was the cherry on top of the Bross-Wall’s shut out performance.
- Holy special teams Batman!! Winnipeg’s penalty killers denied all three opportunities against them, while the Jets’ powerplay went an unbelievable 3 for 3!!
- Tyler Toffoli picked a good time to score his first 2 goals as a Jet, as the sell-out crowd enthusiastically rewarded the winger with a cacophony of cheers to reward his efforts.
- I got to say how impressed I am by Mark Scheifele this season. Winnipeg’s star center has been head-and-shoulders above his teammates this year and last night was no different. While Scheif only ended up with 1 assist on the night, his speed and hard work at both ends of the ice spark his squad to greater heights.
- Playing against a franchise in the running for the top pick in the upcoming draft had it’s benefits for the expected goals race. All of Winnipeg’s forward lines ended with at least 65.4% (1st line) of the expected goals, while the other three lines were in the 80’s (2nd – 84.8%, 3rd – 83%, & 4th – 87.7%).
- Can’t believe I almost forgot to mention that last night’s regulation win by the Jets vaulted them into the top spot in the Central Division. Officially they are tied with the Dallas Stars & Colorado Avalanche with 89 pts, but they currently hold the first tie-breaker. Good work boys!!
While it is enjoyable to watch our team fill the net every now and then, all Winnipeg can really take away from this game is a slight boost in confidence since the quality of opponent was lacking. They will have much harder matches on the road to the post-season, but that won’t start right away as they get another non-playoff team next on the schedule
NEXT GAME: Winnipeg Jets @ Columbus Blue Jackets – Sunday, March 17th @ 7:00 pm Central
The Manitoba Moose continue their charge to secure an AHL playoff spot with a shootout victory last night. They have been hot, winning 7 of their past 8 games, and now sit in the coveted 5th spot in the Central Division. They will be back at it tonight in a rematch versus the 6th place Chicago Wolves.
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