The city of Winnipeg hosted a clash between their hometown Jets and the visiting Buffalo Sabres on Friday evening that brought some familiar faces back to town. Returning to the Peg is former Jets’ backup goaltender and all-around nice guy Eric Comrie, along with a Winnipeg Ice alumni in forward Zach Benson. Will their return to Manitoba spark the Sabres’ to a victory or can the Jets get the win to become the 10th team in the NHL to reach the 20 pt mark??? Read on to find out…
The Winnipeg Jets’ captain Adam Lowry came to play and threw some good bodychecks on his opening shift, but it was the Sabres that had the early quality looks when Hellebuyck denied a couple of shots from the mid-slot. To be honest, not a whole lot occurred in the first 8 minutes with the teams combining for only 3 shots and plays like DeMelo’s poke check to break up a Buffalo rush much more common. Lowry’s physical play ran afoul of the refs when they nabbed him for a questionable roughing penalty to send the visiting team to their 1st powerplay. The Sabres did have some offensive zone time, but the Jets did an admirable job of killing off the short-handed situation without giving away too much. Shortly after the PK, Winnipeg broke out on a 4 on 3, but too much passing nullified any shooting opportunity. Morrissey stayed on the puck and was hauled down, giving the Jets a shot with the extra man. The first PP unit started out with possession, but very little movement limited chances to score. The second unit did better with Pionk getting a prime look from the low slot and then setting up Niederreiter for a deflection chance. Winnipeg kept pushing after the penalty expired and an odd bounce off the boards allowed Scheifele to set up Iafallo for a long 1 timer that Comrie was able to handle. The Sabres pushed for a goal as the period neared an end and only a good defensive stick stopped a Buffalo player from popping the puck into a yawning cage behind Hellebuyck. Winnipeg responded with a glorious opportunity of their own when Connor was sprung on a breakaway. A nice move to the backhand was denied by Comrie’s pad and the Jets’ sniper narrowly missed batting the rebound in.
First Period Stats: Score: 0 to 0 tie, shots 7 to 6 for the Jets, 52.4% Deserve To Win for the Jets, Expected Goals – all situations (0.91-0.70 WPG), & 5 on 5 (0.69-0.46 BUF)
The Lowry line had a great shift early in the 2nd, spending it almost entirely in the Sabres’ zone. When Buffalo was able to clear the puck, the Jets just charged right back with Pionk sending Namestnikov on a rush. The Russian center deftly knocked the pass out of the air and entered the offensive zone before dropping a pass for Perfetti to pick up. The young winger skated right into the slot and then released a laser-like wrister that easily beat Comrie high blocker side. Winnipeg took a 1-0 lead on Perfetti’s 6th goal of the season, allowing him to extend his points streak to 8 games. The Jets kept coming and the top line had a solid look when Connor set up Scheifele for a 1 timer…unfortunately an exploding stick killed the chance. The Lowry line hopped over the boards to keep up the pressure and they were rewarded when Niederreiter sent a long cross-ice pass from the side-boards to find a streaking Appleton for a tap in goal at the side of the net. Winnipeg found itself with a two goal lead 4:20 into the middle frame, but the visiting Sabres weren’t going away that easily. It took Buffalo only 34 seconds to get back to within 1 goal when Tuch was able to bat a rebound by a sprawling Hellebuyck. The Namestnikov trio responded for the Jets and spent their next shift pushing in the Sabres’ end, eventually getting the refs to blow the whistle on a Buffalo infraction. The 2nd PP for the home team was better and created opportunities for Connor, Perfetti, Iafallo, and Pionk, but they weren’t able to add to their slight lead. A bit later, the Sabres attempted to clear their zone by firing the puck along the boards, but Ehlers was there at the point to use his body to keep the puck in. With a player charging at him, the Danish winger opted to let a blooping shot go towards the net and somehow the puck found its way through a bunch of bodies to beat a screened Comrie to put Winnipeg up 3 to 1. The goal extended Ehlers’ point streak to three games, as the Namestnikov line is starting to heat up. The final 8 minutes of the 2nd period were mainly controlled by Buffalo, other than an unimpressive 3rd Jets’ powerplay. Hellebuyck shined on multiple occasions to keep the score the same, including a denial on a breakaway, and Winnipeg took a two goal lead into the dressing room.
After Two Periods Stats Score: 3 to 1 for the Jets, shots 16 to 11 for the Sabres, 50.4% Deserve to Win for the Sabres, Expected Goals – all situations (1.81-1.75 WPG) & 5 on 5 (1.73-1.03 BUF)
The Sabres were determined to end their two game losing streak and came out strong in the final frame. They were able to create a high-danger chance when Dahlin sprung Peterka on a breakaway with a long stretch pass. Hellebuyck was able to get a pad on the shot attempt, but the young Sabre was able to knock his own rebound into the net to make the game 3 to 2 just a minute into the 3rd. Unfortunately for the fans at Canada Life Centre, it was the visitors who controlled a lot of the play and the Jets’ goalie had to come up big on multiple chances. The talented Buffalo defender Dahlin forced his way to a mini-breakaway on Hellebucyk and while the Jets were able to keep the puck out of their net, they did take another penalty. Winnipeg did well to limit chances while short-handed, only giving up one shot and clearing their end on multiple occasions to help kill off time. The Jets did respond in the middle of the frame with great chances by Lowry and a solid solo effort by Gustafsson (intercepted puck in neutral zone, then went on rush with a defender draped over him). The upper New Yorkers went back on the attack, with Hellebucyk making a stellar save on a Mittelstadt attempt and then Gustafsson sacrificing the body with a block of a Dahlin blast. Winnipeg almost sealed the game up when Ehlers set up Namestnikov for a wonderful chance from a high-danger zone, but Comrie kept his team in the game. The final few minutes of the 3rd saw Buffalo spend a lot of time in the Winnipeg’s zone, but the Jets did a fine job of clogging passing & shooting lanes. A highstick to Morrissey’s head during a scrum gave the home team a reprieve, allowing them to finish the game with a 5 on 4 man-advantage. The Jets had one prime opportunity when Scheifele displayed some skill with a beautiful drag & shoot attempt that Comrie was able to turn away. With 37 seconds remaining, Buffalo was finally able to pull their goalie and the game was back to 5 on 5 skaters. Despite the even numbers, the Sabres pinned the Jets in their end, with Hellebucyk doing his best impersonation of a brick wall and Niederreiter using his body to deny a very dangerous shot attempt the only reasons Winnipeg was able to hold on for the narrow victory.
FINAL SCORE: WINNIPEG JETS 3 BUFFALO SABRES 2
SHOTS: BUFFALO SABRES 28 WINNIPEG JETS 18
Game Observations:
- The Winnipeg Jets franchise had a good goaltending night, with Connor Hellebuyck shining in the win over the Buffalo Sabres, turning aside 26 of 28 shots for a .929 save percentage. Oddly, those were the exact same numbers for goalie prospect Thomas Milic, who got his first ever AHL victory in a 3 to 2 win over the Belleville Senators. Also, MoneyPuck had the expected goals against Hellebuyck at 3.782, so the stats are confirming that the Jets’ goalie was the main reason for the 2 pts tonight.
- Another very strong offensive outing by the Cole Perfetti, Nik Ehlers, & Vladislav Namestnikov line with two of the three extending multi-game point streaks. They also showed some sniping abilities, scoring 2 goals on 4 shots.
- The advanced stats weren’t really kind to any of the Jets tonight, though the Adam Lowry, Mason Appleton, & Nino Niederreiter and Morgan Barron, David Gustafsson, & Axel Jonsson-Fjallby lines were the closest to breaking even in expected goals. The 4th line led the team with 50.1% of expected goals when they were on the ice, with the Lowry line next at 41.3%. The other two lines had less than 20% of expected goals at 5 on 5.
- Was looking at the number of shifts each Winnipeg Jet had and noticed that 8 of 12 forwards had between 19 and 21 shifts (Perfetti only top 9 player with less – 14). While those numbers are fairly even, shift lengths vary drastically with Mark Scheifele & Kyle Connor in the 19-20 minute range on 21 shifts, while players like Ehlers and Lowry had in the 15-16 minute range (Ehlers had 20 shifts, Lowry 21).
- Dylan Samberg is among the leaders in blocked shots this season and he continued the trend last night, even taking a puck off the upper back/neck while battling in front of Winnipeg’s goal.
- MoneyPuck Stats: 68.3% Deserve to Win for the Sabres, 3.25 to 1.98 in expected goals (all situations) for the Sabres, and 3.17 to 1.02 in expected goals (5 on 5) for Buffalo.
It was definitely one of those games where the goalie had to steal the game. On a positive note, while none of the lines were perfect last night, at least every single line created some offense against the Sabres. Getting contributions from all lines will be key for Winnipeg if they want to continue to fight the Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche for the division title.
NEXT GAME: Arizona Coyotes @ Winnipeg Jets – Saturday, November 18th @ 6 pm Central
Moose goalie Thomas Milic was so close to his first AHL shut-out, but a very late 5 on 3 PP for Belleville eventually led to 2 goals against while short-handed. A solid win regardless, as Manitoba ends a losing skid as they prepare to take on the Toronto Marlies on Saturday & Sunday.
The Winnipeg Jets are also on a back-to-back situation as they will face off against the Arizona Coyotes today. With Friday’s victory, the Jets are now tied with the Colorado Avalanche for 2nd place with 20 pts. But the possibly emerging Coyotes are only 2 pts behind, so today’s clash is yet another game for the coveted 3rd spot in the NHL’s Central Division.
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