The Winnipeg Jets were playing their 5th game in 7 days as they faced off against the Anaheim Ducks on Friday night. Could they fight through the fatigue and pick up a full 4 points against a pair of bottom-dwelling Californian teams?
The first period opened up with an early rush up the ice by Scheifele as he fought through a defender and set up Ehlers for an early chance on Anaheim’s Gibson. The Ducks pushed back on the next shift, pinning the 3rd line in Winnipeg’s zone and eventually seeing Lowry nabbed for a trip. Fortunately, the refs also felt Vatrano dove on the play, so the teams had a period of 4 on 4 hockey that saw the Jets’ Morrissey and the Ducks’ Henrique test the goaltenders. Winnipeg controlled the flow of play for the next bit, with the coaching staff rolling the lines to spend time in Anaheim’s end. The home team tried to shift momentum by getting physical and threw a couple nice bodychecks on DeMelo & Pionk and were rewarded with a quality look by Zegras. After a 4th line cycle shift saw Jonsson-Fjallby almost deflect a point shot by Gibson, Winnipeg was flagged again by the officials to give Anaheim their 1st PP of the game. The Ducks did control the puck in the Jets’ zone for most of the man-advantage, but the Jets did well to keep things to the perimeter. Shortly after the PK, the home team broke out on a 2 on 2 that became more dangerous when McTavish beat Pionk up the ice to join the attack. When Anaheim got him the puck, the Ducks’ forward was able to skate into the low slot before beating Brossoit with a backhand shot. Winnipeg tried to equalize things before the end of the period, but good chances by Morrissey and Niederreiter failed to beat Gibson. The MoneyPuck shot chart shows that both team had some shots from quality locations in the opening frame.
First Period MoneyPuck Stats: Score: 1 to 0 for the Ducks, shots 13 to 12 for the Ducks, 52.5% Deserve To Win for the Ducks, Expected Goals – all situations (0.87-0.84 ANA), & 5 on 5 (0.76-0.42 WPG)
The middle frame opened up to some back & forth action that saw Brossoit turn aside a couple chances before a Samberg point shot was deflected by Barron. Alas, Gibson was able to make the save and then stone Toninato on the rebound opportunity as well. After allowing Anaheim defenseman Fowler to sprint up the ice and test the Jets’ tender from the face-off dot, Winnipeg’s top line broke out on a rush of their own. Scheifele skated the puck up the ice before finding Ehlers on the wing with space. The Dane let his favourite shot fly with Vilardi adeptly screening the Ducks’ goalie, sending the puck far side to beat Gibson up high to tie the game up. To give Anaheim their credit, they stepped up their play and took control of things for a while, forcing Winnipeg’s back up to make a few quality saves. The Jets woke up to end the period, pushing in the offensive zone and getting high danger shots from Lowry & Appleton. A nice attempt by Pionk saw the defender carry the puck behind the opposition’s net before trying a spin move to the front of the net. Nice defensive positioning stopped the creative move, but the visiting Jets finished the period strong. Check out MoneyPuck’s shot chart after 2 periods and you will see both squads were getting quality looks, with a slight edge to Winnipeg?
After Two Periods MoneyPuck Stats: Score: 1 to 1 tie, shots 23 to 20 for the Ducks, 55% Deserve to Win for the Jets, Expected Goals – all situations (1.65-1.22 WPG) & 5 on 5 (1.58-0.77 WPG)
So Winnipeg entered their best period this season with the game tied up…could they keep up their late game heroics? Well, it was Anaheim with the first great chance of the 3rd when they were sprung on a 2 on 1. Some top-notch tending saw Brossoit predict the cross-ice pass well and slide across to deny Killorn on the doorstep. The Jets responded with Samberg leading his team up the ice and gaining the Ducks’ zone before he dropped the puck to Schmidt. The defender did a good job joining the rush and now skated into the high slot before firing a wrist shot to beat Gibson (high right again), giving Winnipeg the 2 to 1 lead just 2 minutes into the final frame. Our squad started to show their fatigue, allowing Anaheim to control a lot of the play and test Brossoit repetitively. The Jets’ 4th line almost gave the team some breathing room when AJF deflected a Barron pass from the blue paint, only to be denied by Gibson’s pad. Vilardi got a break when he was gifted a takeaway in the offensive zone, but his quick shot went wide of the target. The top line continued the cycle and Scheifele fighting along the boards to get free of Gudas resulted in Winnipeg’s 1st PP of the match. The top PP unit won the draw and sent a couple quick shots on net, but eventually gave way to the 2nd group. After Namestnikov killed a SH rush with a hip check along the boards, the Jets broke out the other way. Some nice passing saw Niederreiter and Namestnikov set up Perfetti for a 1 time blast that Gibson couldn’t contain. The 2nd unit’s powerplay goal gave Winnipeg some breathing room and despite the officials best attempt to even things out (ignoring blatant Duck penalties and calling Barron for a questionable one), Brossoit and the Jets kept the puck out of the net (including some 6 on 4 and 6 on 5 time with Anaheim’s net empty). Here’s how MoneyPuck saw the final shots….including all of Brossoit’s 37 saves!!
FINAL SCORE: WINNIPEG JETS 3 ANAHEIM DUCKS 1
SHOTS: ANAHEIM DUCKS 38 WINNIPEG JETS 27
Game Observations:
- MoneyPuck Stats: 57% Deserve to Win for the Jets, 3.15 to 2.79 in expected goals (all situations) for the Ducks, and 2.10 to 1.88 in expected goals (5 on 5) for the Jets.
- This Winnipeg Jets team continues to find ways to win games, extending their 3 goal or less streak to 28 games and adding to their franchise-record team point streak. Oh yeah….and did I mention that the Jets are the 1st place team in the WHOLE NHL!!!!
- Got to love Nik Ehlers and his “We gotta quit playing stupid” comment during a 2nd intermission interview. Yesterday’s game saw the Dane net his 13th goal of the season and once again lead Winnipeg in shots on net (4). The Jets are 10-0-1 when Nikolaj lights the lamp this season.
- Winnipeg’s defensemen continue to clog the shooting lanes efficiently, adding another 8 blocks against Anaheim and Brenden Dillon led the way with 3. Jets’ forwards also like to get involved in limiting chances against, adding 12 blocks of their own (Alex Iafallo & Mason Appleton with 3 each).
- The team has allowed the first goal against in four straight games, but have shown resiliency by fighting their way back into all of them. I am trying hard not to drink the Kool Aid, but this version of the Winnipeg Jets just seems different. More fight in them. Hopefully they can keep it up for a full season.
- Once again Vladislav Namestnikov was one of the better Jets, picking up two more assists, a beautiful hip check, and consistently helping his line gain the offensive zone with puck possession.
- Last but certainly not least, Laurent Brossoit was fantastic versus the Ducks, making all the expected saves and adding quite a few on ones that he wasn’t supposed to get to. On a rare night where Winnipeg was heavily out-shot, the Bross-Wall stopped 37 of 38 for a fabulous .974 save percentage and 2.44 Goals Saved Above Expected.
The Winnipeg Jets haven’t been playing the most exciting games lately, but I’m happy as long as they keep picking up 2 points.
Here are some of the better insights from AIH members during last night’s contest:
“I don’t make a habit of following stats much but I noticed Demelo is tied for first with Quinn Hughes for highest plus/minus in the league at +25. Morrissey isn’t far behind with +22. I realize the stat isn’t the be all and end all but that’s still impressive.” – Jetsdawgdayz
“Nice screen by Vilardi, nice shot by Ehlers.” – ForgetTeemu
“Ehlers’ favourite shot.” – Cooleddown
“Brossoit is my second favorite goalie in the world. He’s my wife’s and all her peers first hunk on the Jets. I’m totally cool with that. Good win.” – MorroBayJets
“Woke up this morning and the Jets are STILL in first in the league. It WASN’T a fever dream.” – Padre
Here are some observations about Winnipeg Jets’ prospects at the World Juniors:
“McGroaty played a lot of that US Sweden final. He was out there protecting the lead I guess. An Adam Lowry with better hands perhaps? Has a winning personality it seems .. Nebraska is pretty much Manitoba, no? .. haha. Think he’ll be a good one. Salmonsen looks like a big right D as well..” – LesterHosoi
“(Salo) Monsson looks like he’ll be a good one. The guy skates really well. And he looks like he can play both ways.” – Jetsdawgdayz
NEXT GAME: Winnipeg Jets @ Arizona Coyotes – Sunday, January 7th @ 6:00 pm Central
The Manitoba Moose have back-to-back afternoon weekend games against the Belleville Senators. The Moose are sitting in last place in the AHL’s Central, though they would be higher if the standings were based on points percentage. Either way, the squad will likely be fighting for a wild card spot all season and will need their top players to continue their strong play. Brad Lambert leads Manitoba’s scorers with 23 pts in 25 games (.91 pt %), while Nikita Chibrikov has 23 pts in 26 games (.88 pt %) and Chaz Lucius has 13 pts in 17 games (.76 pt %).
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