After having their offense go off in Michigan, would the Winnipeg Jets find similar success against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday night???? Lets dig in and find out….
Here is how coach Scott Arniel deployed his players last night, via PuckPedia:

The starting goaltenders for tonight’s clash were Winnipeg’s Eric Comrie and Columbus’ Elvis Merzlikins.
GAME RECAP
Once the puck was dropped, it was the Jets who took control of the flow of play and immediately had the hometown Blue Jackets on the defensive. Winnipeg had steady scoring chances right from their opening shift, but it took Nikolaj Ehlers flying through the neutral zone and unleashing a huge slapshot for the visitors’ to get the contest’s first goal. Despite being out-played, Columbus got a fortunate break when a puck took an unlucky bounce behind the Jets’ net, resulting in a quick pass out front for a 1 timer and a tie game. Dylan Samberg made a nice play by standing up at the offensive blueline to keep the puck in the zone, eventually leading to a beautiful wrister from Ehlers for his 2nd goal of the period. WPG 2-1 after the 1st.
Things got worse for Columbus in the 2nd frame, when some nice passing by the 3rd line led to Winnipeg’s next goal. This time, Adam Lowry left a drop pass for Neal Pionk along the right offensive boards, allowing the American defender to find Mason Appleton for a 1 timer in the slot. The Jets failed to capitalize on their first powerplay of the game, but shortly after the Blue Jackets weren’t as kind when Sean Monahan tipped home a point shot to make it 3-2 Winnipeg. Yet another quality shift by the 2nd line saw them spend more time in the offensive zone, leading to a net front scramble that saw Ehlers get his hattrick on a back-hand by the sprawled goalie. WPG 4-2 after the 1st.
The Winnipeg Jets didn’t ease up in the final frame, outshooting the Jackets 13 to 6 and adding a couple more insurance markers. The first came on the team’s 2nd man-advantage of the game when Ehlers started the play from behind Columbus’ net. The Dane fired a pass over to Mark Scheifele on the left offensive boards and the Jets’ top center moved the puck onto Josh Morrissey at the point for a wicked 1 timer. The final goal was an absolute gem, as Morrissey gave Kyle Connor a pass high in the Jackets’ zone while he was well covered. Connor wasn’t about to let that stop him, as he reached behind him to tap the puck forward while he danced around his defender, then raced towards the net. He outwaited a sliding defenseman before sliding a pass out front for an uncovered Gabriel Vilardi for Winnipeg’s final red light of the night.
FINAL SCORE: Winnipeg 6 Columbus 2
FINAL STATS
Shots: 43-22 WPG / Hits: 20-16 WPG / Face-Offs: 51.7% CLM / x Goals: 4.47 WPG – 1.29 CLM /
MoneyPuck’s Deserve to Win: 91% WPG / High Danger Scoring Chances: 17 to 5 WPG
SCORING SUMMARY from ESPN

SHOT CHARTS from MoneyPuck & Natural Stat Trick


ADVANCED STATS from MoneyPuck & NaturalStatTrick





ADVANCED STATS for Line Combos/Goalie from MoneyPuck & NaturalStatTrick



If you would like to dive deeper into the game’s stats, follow the links below to the game pages:
MoneyPuck: Winnipeg Jets vs. Columbus Blue Jackets – Friday November 1 2024 – MoneyPuck.com
NaturalStatTrick: Winnipeg Jets @ Columbus Blue Jackets, 2024-11-01
BOJA’s Observations:
- What a night for Nikolaj Ehlers!! The pending UFA was everywhere last night against Columbus, scoring a goal with a slapshot, a wrist shot, and a back hander. The Great Dane now has 15 points in 11 contests this season and is probably starting to get NHL GMs’ drooling a bit at the thought of signing him this summer. Probably a good time for Kevin Cheveldayoff and True North to bring out their cheque book to start working on getting Nik to re-up in the Peg.
- Kyle Connor came close to not getting a point for the first time this season, but the Michigan-born sniper refused to be shut out. That pass reception/move by defender combo was up their with the most impressive hockey plays I have ever witnessed. Seems KFC really wants to be on the USA squad for the upcoming 4 Nations Face-Off.
- I won’t really dig into the stats because they all are fairly impressive, though Eric Comrie did end up with a -0.71 Goals Saved Above Expected and 4th liners Alex Iafallo & Rasmus Kupari were the only Winnipeg skaters to finish with less than 50% of expected goals.
Well, I don’t think there is any question that was the Winnipeg Jets most effective game of the season. They dominated puck possession and that helped them to amass tons of shots & scoring chances. I’m not sure they played great defensively, but the Columbus Blue Jackets didn’t really have the puck enough to cause our squad much difficulty.
The Manitoba Moose dropped a 4-2 game to the Milwaukee Admirals (Nashville) last night and powerplays were the difference: MB – 0 of 4 & MIL 3 for 4. On a positive note, Chaz Lucius picked up his 2nd assist in 3 games and Nikita Chibrikov scored his 3rd goal of the year and leads the Moose with 7 pts in 6 contests. Manitoba will be back at it at 6 pm today, with Dominic DiVincentiis looking to extend the incredible start to his pro career by helping the Moose get back to .500.
The real test begins for the Winnipeg Jets with their upcoming home stand…..quality opponents are lining up to knock our squad off it’s pedestal.
UP NEXT: Tampa Bay Lightning (7-4-0) @ Winnipeg Jets (10-1-0) – Sunday, November 3rd @ 2:00 pm CST