Acting head coach Scott Arniel opted to scratch forward David Gustafsson for defenseman Logan Stanley, as the Winnipeg Jets went with a 11 F and 7 D ratio for Tuesday’s match versus the New Jersey Devils. Let’s see how that decision played out.
The hometown Jets started out with pace and created a couple early looks from Morrissey and Namestnikov, but it was New Jersey who ended up with the first PP of the evening when an Ehlers’ slash sent the NHL’s best powerplay onto the ice. Winnipeg did well to contain those powerful units on their first try, not even allowing a shot on Hellebuyck. Things opened up a bit as both teams had opportunities to score, but the two goaltenders were able to keep the game scoreless despite glorious chances by Perfetti and NJ’s Bastian. The Jets appeared to lose forward Kupari to injury when he missed a bodycheck and crashed into the boards. Winnipeg’s tender made a couple big saves when he was able to get his body in front of a point shot through traffic, then slid across the crease to deny another prime look. The Jets also had some quality high-danger plays, including a 2 on 1 that Ehlers failed to get the pass across to his teammate and then a powerplay opportunity on a point shot with bodies in front of the Devils’ Schmid. New Jersey was pumped from killing the man-advantage and finished the period with a flurry of action around Hellebuyck, but the Jets’ goalie was able to keep the game scoreless.
First Period Stats: Score: 0 to 0 tie , shots 9 to 5 for the Jets, 51.8% Deserve To Win for the Devils, Expected Goals – all situations (0.66-0.59 NJ), & 5 on 5 (0.64-0.45 NJ)
The Devils came out flying in the 2nd and Hellebuyck had to be strong again in net. Winnipeg started to pick up their pace as Lowry’s & Scheifele’s lines spent some time in the NJ zone. A bit later, Iafallo led a rush up the ice before dropping it off to Scheifele in the high slot. #55 stepped in a rifled a shot off the crossbar, but a Jet was able to track down the rebound. They continued to work the puck around the zone eventually setting up Morrissey for a slapshot that created a large rebound. Winnipeg’s sniper Connor was Johnny-on-the-spot, as he fired home his 12th goal of the year to open up the scoring. New Jersey responded well, forcing Hellebuyck to turn aside a shot from the slot and then another dangerous chance from in tight. Winnipeg replied with a rush by Lowry, as he dished off to Appleton for a blast that rang some iron behind Schmid. NJ’s Toffoli took a dumb penalty in the neutral zone and the Jets’ PP units hopped over the boards. Winnipeg won the draw, allowing them to get set up early and this led to Connor finding Perfetti in the low slot. The youngster didn’t get all of the shot, but the puck fluttered between the goalie’s arm & body to trickle across the goalline to give the Jets a 2-0 lead with 6 minutes to play. Things didn’t settle down though, as the Devils were able to solve Hellebuyck when a shot was deflected by Samberg’s stick in front of the goal, popping the puck up and over the Jets’ goalie to bring NJ back to within one just a minute after Winnipeg’s 2nd goal. Things continued to go poorly for the home team when a Luke Hughes shot from the point resulted in a big rebound. Bucky was able to deny the first rebound attempt, but couldn’t stop the follow up by Meier, as the Devils were able to take advantage of a DeMelo penalty with their high-scoring powerplay. Just two minutes after taking a 2-0 lead, the game was back to being tied up, but the Namestnikov line responded for the home squad. This time, it was the young Perfetti using his great vision to find Ehlers on a cross-ice pass to find the Dane for an easy tap in goal at the side of the net to regain a lead for Winnipeg. After starting the game with 28 minutes of shutout hockey, the two teams combined for 5 goals in 10 minutes in the second frame.
After Two Periods Stats Score: 3 to 2 for the Jets, shots 19 to 17 for the Jets, 65.5% Deserve to Win for the Devils, Expected Goals – all situations (2.11-1.23 NJ) & 5 on 5 (1.64-1.00 NJ)
New Jersey seemed determined to get back into the game and came out pushing for offense, testing Hellebuyck on multiple times, including a stellar save on a cross-ice 1 timer. Winnipeg then had to deal with a penalty to Dillon, but did a quality job of limiting shots on net. Newly inserted Stanley made a nice play with his stick to break up a prime chance on the PK and the big guy played well in his first action in a while. The Devils continued to pour it on and Bucky denied a couple more chances from McLeod and then flashed the glove on a Toffoli shot from the slot. Things got a bit nasty when Namestnikov was clearly hit in the numbers and it appeared the guys in stripes weren’t going to call anything. Ehlers wasn’t having it and dropped the gloves with the much bigger Brendan Smith. While Fly didn’t do poorly in the scuffle, you have to think the coaching staff would prefer the oft-injured forward would keep his gloves on. The refs decided to give Smith a penalty for the hit after the fact, but also gave the Jets the extra penalty in the scrum, evening things up. However, Connor forced the refs to make a call when he was pulled down on a rush, sending the Jets back to the powerplay. Winnipeg had a bunch of chances with the man-advantage, as Connor rang an amazing backhand off the goaltender’s mask and a Pionk point shot caused a big rebound that the Jets couldn’t capitalize on. The team wasn’t frustrated though and kept the pressure on, getting rewarded when Scheifele sent a cross-ice backhand pass to find Connor wide open. Winnipeg’s leading scorer didn’t make a mistake as he pocketed his 13th goal of the year to tie him for the league lead with Toronto’s Auston Matthews. Less than 2 minutes later, Barron found twine when Namestnikov set him up for a 1 timer, putting the hometown boys up 5 to 2. New Jersey showed signs of life when their deadly PP was able to solve Hellebuyck again. This time a point shot rang off the post directly to a NJ player. The Jets’ tender seemed to lose track of the puck off the post, but not sure he had a chance to get across the net to stop the eventual shot regardless. Winnipeg was able to settle things down when they got another man-advantage, but despite good possession and some looks, they weren’t able to add to their lead. New Jersey attempted to get more offense by pulling their goalie with 2 minutes to play, but almost immediately turned over the puck, allowing Ehlers to pocket his second goal of the game into an empty net.
FINAL SCORE: WINNIPEG JETS 6 NEW JERSEY DEVILS 3
SHOTS: NEW JERSEY DEVILS 34 WINNIPEG JETS 31
Game Observations:
- A very solid outing for the Vladislav Namestnikov line tonight. Nik Ehlers picked up a pair of goals on two shots, while Cole Perfetti added a goal & an assist. It’s early in the season, but young Cole is on pace for a 70 point season as he appears to be coming into his own as an NHL player.
- Josh Morrissey was back to his “Norrissey” mode from last year, as the talented defenseman picked up 4 assists against the Devils in 24 minutes of ice-time (over 5 minutes more than every other d-man).
- Yet another strong game by the Jets’ top line, with Kyle Connor continuing to find the net with regularity. Tied for the lead in goals, the American sniper could be challenging for a Rocket trophy if he keeps it up. Connor had 3 of the lines 5 points in the game, but Mark Scheifele continues to impress with his effort & physical play and Alex Iafallo is the spark plug that gets the trio going in the offensive zone with a tenacious forecheck.
- Connor Hellebuyck didn’t have great stats, though he did finish the game with a .912 save percentage. Didn’t give him much chance on any of the goals against and the tender made some timely saves when the game was tied or close to keep the Jets in it.
- Can’t say I noticed Logan Stanley a huge amount in his first game in a while, though he did make a couple good defensive plays and used his large frame to play with physicality. Seems to me that there is no need to go with 7 defenders when Nate Schmidt could benefit from occasional press-box duties.
- MoneyPuck Stats: 67.9% Deserve to Win for the Devils, 3.72 to 2.42 in expected goals (all situations) for the Devils, and 2.67 to 1.75 in expected goals (5 on 5) for the Devils.
Well, the Winnipeg Jets did what they were supposed to and took advantage of a team missing a pair of talented centers, while improving their home record to 4-3-1. Was an entertaining game and I am happily watching the team play this year. Keep it up boys!!
NEXT GAME: Buffalo Sabres @ Winnipeg Jets – Friday, November 17th @ 7 pm Central
Up next is yet another team that felt it didn’t need quality goaltending in the off-season, so it will be interesting to see if Winnipeg once again goes with Hellebuyck to show them what they are missing. Let me hear how you saw things play out last night in the comment section. Which hot Winnipeg Jet are you most excited about? Connor, Scheifele, Perfetti, etc?
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