A sell out crowd at the Canada Life Centre was there to support their franchise in the hopes of seeing their team end a 5 game losing streak, so let’s see if Winnipeg could deliver.
The opening period saw Ottawa come out with a quicker pace than the hometown Jets, but neither squad could really create any quality offensive looks in one of the most boring periods of hockey that I have witnessed. When you look at the lack of action on MoneyPuck’s shot chart in the 1st, you would probably be surprised to know that the Senators had three PP opportunities and the Jets had one.
First Period MoneyPuck Stats: Score: 0 to 0 tie, shots 6 to 5 for the Senators, 50.5% Deserve To Win for the Senators, Expected Goals – all situations (0.29-0.22 OTT), & 5 on 5 (0.25-0.07 OTT)
Ottawa had a great chance to open the scoring in the early 2nd, but Hellebuyck made a top-notch save on a 1 timer from Stutzle. After Winnipeg killed off the remainder of the Sens’ 3rd powerplay, the Monahan line went on the attack and hit pay dirt when the center took a nice low shot from the right face-off dot. A big rebound popped out into the low slot and Ehlers was there to bang it home to give Winnipeg a 1-0 lead. Less than 2 minutes later, Morrissey tries to stand up at the offensive blueline but doesn’t have adequate coverage from his forwards, resulting in a 3 on 1 for Ottawa. A nice pass caught Bucky out of position and the Sens’ Katchouk put the puck into a wide open net. Both squads had opportunities to break the tie (Hellebuyck bails Pionk out after a neutral zone turnover gives Ottawa a 2 on 1, Pinto cutting to the net for a chance but is run over by DeMelo, Katchouk breakaway, Scheifele sets up Vilardi from Gretzky’s office), but it was a bad bounce that ended the deadlock. Winnipeg had the chance to take back puck possession in the defensive end with a triangle of Jets surrounding a loose puck. Unfortunately, it bounced off Scheifele’s skate towards the Jets’ goal, exited the defensive triangle and found Grieg all alone in front of Bucky. He outwaited the sprawling tender and tucked the puck into the far end of the net to give Ottawa a 2-1 lead with 7 minutes to play. After killing off the Senators’ fourth powerplay of the game, this is how MoneyPuck saw the advanced stats & shot chart.
After Two Periods MoneyPuck Stats: Score: 2 to 1 for the Senators, shots 16 to 15 for the Senators, 59.6% Deserve to Win for the Jets, Expected Goals – all situations (1.52-1.10 WPG) & 5 on 5 (1.37-1.02 WPG)
In a game where the officials often got overly involved, they gave Winnipeg their 2nd powerplay of the game when Niederreiter went down fairly easily in the neutral zone. The Jets’ top PP unit did nothing with their minute of time, but the 2nd group created a couple looks (Toffoli shot blocked & Ehlers 1 timer). After some back & forth hockey, Winnipeg got a 3rd PP opportunity when Morrissey was hooked on a rush. A Connor shot attempt from the left was initially blocked, but the puck bounced right back to him and he spotted Morrissey with space at the point. The defenseman stepped in before firing a shot towards Korpisalo, but Scheifele deflected it high in the slot and the goaltender couldn’t react in time to stop the puck from entering his net. Winnipeg had some chances in the remaining 10 minutes to take the lead (another Fly rush saw him dish off to Scheifele, who then undressed a pair of Sens before getting stoned in the slot & Dillon missing the net on a rebound shot attempt). The Jets continued to get scoring looks, including a quality slot chance for Vilardi and Korpisalo diving back into the net to stop a Scheifele shot. Another questionable penalty was called late in the frame when Dillon hit a Senator in front of his net with his gloves in the upper body-neck region. A head snap drew the attention of the far official and they gave Ottawa their 5th PP chance of the contest. In typical Winnipeg fashion, the Sens’ pitiful man-advantage unit finally scored a goal when a cross-ice 1 timer from Tkachuk found space between Bucky’s legs (actually was going to miss net, but hit the inside of his leg and through the 5 hole). With Hellebuyck on the bench, Winnipeg controlled the puck with the extra skater and the Sens took a pair of penalties in the final minute. This allowed the Jets the opportune chance to send the game to overtime and they really should have, as Monahan somehow missed a wide open net from less than 6 feet away in what perhaps is a perfect example of this team’s scoring woes. The final stats/shot chart below show a fairly even game which would be fine if Winnipeg was playing the Canucks or Stars, but when a team needs to end a losing streak against one of the NHL’s bottom-feeders….the effort was woefully lacking.
After Three Periods MoneyPuck Stats: 56% Deserve to Win for the Senators, Expected Goals – all situations (3.05-2.56 WPG) & 5 on 5 (1.93-1.74 OTT)
FINAL SCORE: OTTAWA SENATORS 3 WINNIPEG JETS 2
SHOTS: WINNIPEG JETS 30 OTTAWA SENATORS 27
Game Observations:
- The only Winnipeg forward unit that fully earned its paycheck was the Nikolaj Ehlers, Sean Monahan, & Tyler Toffoli trio. They controlled play for the entire game (94% xG) as Ehlers was flying all over the ice and almost seemed dead-set on bringing an end to the losing streak by himself.
- Connor Hellebuyck played fine in his 500th career NHL game (4 medium & 3 high danger attempts against), but I still think the staff need to use the talents of Laurent Brossoit more often to keep their starter fresh. Too late now.
- Nikolaj Ehlers was clearly Winnipeg’s best player last night and at times seemed pretty displeased by the lack of effort from some of his teammates. Fly was tied for the team lead in shots (5) with linemate Tyler Toffoli and the entire 2nd line led the Jets in expected goals (Toffoli – 0.802, Ehlers – 0.66, & Monahan – 0.595).
Well, at least the Nashville Predators were outscored by the Colorado Avalanche last night, so Winnipeg maintains their small lead going into their next game.
NEXT GAME: Los Angeles Kings @ Winnipeg Jets – Monday, April 1st @ 8:00 pm Central
Something needs to be done with Winnipeg’s top line…..I can’t remember the last time it has won the expected goals battle and Kyle Connor’s lack of defensive effort seems to have Mark Scheifele questioning the need for him to keep playing a 2-way game. Time to break up that duo, in fact it’s over due.
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