The Winnipeg Jets have gone 4-1-1 on Saturdays so far this season and were hoping to add another victory against the Chicago Blackhawks. Let’s see if our team could end their three game losing streak….
The first period started off pretty wide open as Winnipeg rushed down for an early chance, then Chicago responded with Bedard setting up a 1 timer from the slot. The Jets’ 4th line had the next great look when they won a face-off to set up Barron for a blast, then kept up the pressure to see Gustafsson set up Jonsson-Fjallby for a 1 timer attempt. The Blackhawks dumped the puck into Winnipeg’s end and Samberg skated back to play the puck. As he skated behind his own net, the defender tried to force a pass up the middle of the ice, but Bedard was there to intercept the puck. The rookie quickly passed off to a teammate before finding some open ice to receive the puck back, allowing him to show off his great shot by beating Hellebuyck to give Chicago the early lead. The Hawks were looking to add to their lead and a slot shot rang off the Jets’ goalies’ helmet, but Winnipeg was able to push back with offensive zone shifts from the 4th and 1st lines. By this point, the Jets were really starting to press the Blackhawks into their end, seeing Scheifele get into another prime scoring area and Appleton almost deflecting a point shot by the Hawks’ Soderblom. The home team continued to try for the equalizer, seeing the top trio create another look that saw a Connor shot just trickle wide of the net and Morrissey ring a post with a blast. While the Jets didn’t score, they did get their first powerplay of the game and Vilardi hopped over the boards with the 1st PP unit. After a face-off loss and a failed attempt to gain the Hawks’ zone, Vilardi skated the puck up the ice to try again. The winger made a nice move at the blueline to squeeze by a defender before he hit Scheifele with a pass in prime slot territory. The Jets’ top center released the puck as soon as he got it, sending the biscuit flying into the top corner by an out-matched Soderblom. The two franchises traded cycle shifts in the offensive end, but neither squad could really test the opposing goaltenders. Winnipeg’s second line, coined the VIP line by Dan Robertson, caused some problems for Chicago’s defense when Vilardi, Iafallo, and Perfetti pressed for the go-ahead goal. A Pionk holding penalty ended the Jets’ dominance, as the Blackhawks’ powerplay got their first chance. The Hawks won the face-off and controlled the puck around the perimeter for a minute before a Samberg block allowed Winnipeg to clear their end. Gustafsson disrupted the next zone entry attempt and the Hawks could only get a long point shot with the remaining advantage. The penalty killers got stuck in their end after Pionk was out of the box, but eventually DeMelo made a nice play to ease the pressure. The period ended with another good shift by the VIP trio, which included Chisholm making a nice deke at the blueline to beat a Hawk defender.
First Period Stats: Score: 1 to 1 tie, shots 6 to 5 for the Jets, 52.1% Deserve To Win for the Jets, Expected Goals – all situations (0.51-0.41 WPG), & 5 on 5 (0.49-0.41 WPG)
The first 4 minutes of the second was uneventful, with only 2 combined shots and neither tender being significantly tested. Shortly after, Connor made a rush up the ice to gain the Hawks’ zone before cutting into the mid-slot to release a shot on Soderblom. A slash limited the effectiveness of KFC’s attempt, but he did send Winnipeg to their 2nd powerplay of the game. The Jets lost the face-off, but were able to keep the puck in at the blueline to eventually see Perfetti almost connect with Vilardi for a high danger look, but the rest of the man-advantage was uninspiring. A bit later in the game, Chicago was rushing up the ice when DeMelo made a play to deny them as they entered the Jets’ end. The blueliner quickly moved the puck up to Ehlers around center ice and the Dane spotted Barron flying up the left wing. Hit with the pass at full speed, Barron was able to skate right to the face-off dot before releasing a shot that found day-light in Soderblom’s 5-hole to give the Jets the lead. With around 13 minutes to play, Winnipeg really picked up their pace, spending many minutes in Chicago’s zone. The flurry saw the Jets fail to connect on a couple of 2 on 1 passes, a long 3rd line cycle shift that included an Appleton 1-timer, and Ehlers skating into prime scoring territory to test Soderblom. The Blackhawks’ countered with a 2 on 1, but a hard backcheck by Gustafsson played a part in Bedard whiffing on the pass. Chicago continue the press for a shift, testing Hellebuyck a couple times before Niederreiter had a partial break with a Hawk hanging all over him. The Swiss winger was still able to get off a decent back-hander, that Soderblom blockered away from danger. The Lowry line kept up the pressure and a nice give & go saw Niederreiter step right into the crease with the puck, before he lost control due to a Chicago penalty. The Jets’ 3rd PP came onto the ice, but was immediately nullified by a penalty of their own when a careless stick on the forecheck led to a Scheifele trip. During 4 on 4 time, Lowry, Appleton, & Morrissey caused havoc during the opening minute and the defender was denied from directly in front of the Hawks’ tender. Still with only 8 skaters on the ice, Winnipeg had a finally chance when Pionk made a nice pass to Connor, who was sitting in Leon Draisaitl’s spot. The Jets’ sniper let go a near perfect copy of that “famous” shot, but the puck solidly hit iron instead of twine. The final minutes of the second saw Ehlers lay a bodycheck on Bedard that seemed to cause the rookie some pain and another failed pass by Winnipeg on a 2 on 1 rush.
After Two Periods Stats Score: 2 to 1 for the Jets, shots 17 to 11 for the Jets, 67% Deserve to Win for the Jets, Expected Goals – all situations (1.79-1.02 WPG) & 5 on 5 (1.37-0.98 WPG)
After cycling the puck in Chicago’s end for the first 2 shifts, but not really testing the goalie, it was the Hawks that had the best early chances. A 2 on 2 rush forced Hellebuyck to make a save and then a missed pass on a 2 on 1 wasted another Chicago opportunity. A strong 4th line shift ended the Hawks’ small period of dominance, but then an unlucky bounce almost gave the visitors the tying goal. Winnipeg woke up a bit and a Niederreiter shot trickled through the goalie and Appleton was so close to popping it in. Vilardi showed off his passing abilities when he got the puck in Gretzky’s office, before sending a pass through the crease to an uncovered Perfetti. Unfortunately, the young winger couldn’t get a stick on the puck and Winnipeg followed it up with another uninspired powerplay. The Jets did better when the game was back at 5 on 5, with Connor & Perfetti getting shots on the Hawks’ net. An offensive face-off win by Vilardi saw the puck go back to the blueline, with Samberg & Chisholm passing back & forth. With Iafallo getting in the way of the forward who was supposed to be covering Samberg, the defender wristed a shot through the traffic in front of Soderblom. As Perfetti cut through the slot, he reached out his stick and deftly deflected the puck by the goaltender to put Winnipeg up 3 to 1 with 10 minutes to play. Not much happened in the next 5 minutes, but things got a bit more interesting when Chisholm over-skated a puck behind his own net, leading to a period of pressure by the Hawks. The Jets’ top line had a rush with some nice passing between Scheifele & Ehlers, but Connor bobbled the puck and couldn’t finish the nice sequence. Chicago was able to pull their tender with 1:34 to play and Winnipeg did a good job of limiting opportunities, even though they couldn’t add an empty netter.
FINAL SCORE: WINNIPEG JETS 3 CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS 1
SHOTS: WINNIPEG JETS 28 CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS 21
Game Observations:
- Winnipeg’s powerplay went 1 for 4, which is better than their yearly average. Though, Chicago out-shot them 4 to 1 when the Jets’ had an extra player. So not very impressive after all.
- Rough night for Dylan Samberg, who gifted Connor Bedard his 11th goal of the season.
- Really liked what I saw from Gabe Vilardi yesterday. Better passing abilities than I expected and even at less than 100%, the guy is making an impact.
- Another player with a great performance against the Hawks was Nino Niederreiter. He wasn’t able to score, but got into some really great areas for chances.
- Morgan Barron scores a goal on his birthday…good for him. His 4th marker of the year is seeing the 4th liner off to a good start.
- Adam Lowry (61.5%) and Mark Scheifele (60%) were great in the face-off dot versus Chicago. #55 has been pretty good all season at the dot.
- And finally, Nik Ehlers was great yesterday afternoon. Probably a year-high of 19:57 in ice-time, the Dane was all over the ice – shooting, passing, zone entries, etc – the speedy winger helped create high-danger situations all game.
- MoneyPuck Stats: 56% Deserve to Win for the Jets, 2.75 to 2.10 in expected goals (all situations) for the Jets, and 1.94 to 1.85 in expected goals (5 on 5) for Winnipeg.
Another slow start for Winnipeg and a less than full effort in the 3rd period leaves a bit of a bad taste in the mouth, but the Jets did end their losing streak and found a way to score at least three goals. So let’s be happy with that and hope they can contain their next opponents, who have a similar record to our squad.
NEXT GAME: Carolina Hurricanes @ Winnipeg Jets – Monday, December 4th @ 6:30 pm Central
The Manitoba Moose are coming off a win over the Rockford IceHogs on Friday and will be at it again this afternoon. Nikita Chibrikov continues to shine, with 18 pts in 17 games (1.06 pts/game), while Brad Lambert & Chaz Lucius are right behind (0.82 pts/game).
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