With very little down time between games, the Winnipeg Jets and the Buffalo Sabres were back on the ice quickly for another match on Sunday. The two franchises were both coming in off victories and were looking to extend their winning streaks….let’s see how things went down.
The 1st period opened up with both squads getting their first shots on net early, but slowly the Jets started to take control of the flow of play. Winnipeg had plenty of looks to open up the scoring (Scheifele in on a mini-breakaway, 3rd line cycle with deflected point shot, Connor & Ehlers on a 2 on 1, and Appleton grazing a post with a shot), but the Sabres’ Luukkonen was on his game. Buffalo slowly found their legs and started to press for offense as the period went on, but Pionk made a nice block on one of their best scoring chances. The Lowry line almost connected when Appleton drove to the net for a deflection, but unfortunately he missed the puck and ended up making contact with the Sabres’ tender. Buffalo’s powerplay got set up early and some very nice passing saw a tic-tac-toe play end with the puck in the net behind Brossoit. With just over 2 minutes to play, Winnipeg went back on the attack and almost tied the game up on a juicy rebound (Nino whiffed on it), but they kept puck possession to continue a cycle. Morrissey has been piling up the assists lately and he added another one when he spotted Niederreiter for a talented net-side deflection to tie things up. MoneyPucks’ stats & shot chart tells us that the Jets had the better looks in the first period.
First Period MoneyPuck Stats: Score: 1 to 1 tie, shots 13 to 6 for the Jets, 59% Deserve To Win for the Jets, Expected Goals – all situations (0.77-0.41 WPG), & 5 on 5 (0.77-0.18 WPG)
Winnipeg exploded with chances to start the 2nd period, with Luukkonen stoning multiple opportunities (Monahan breakaway, Namestnikov being denied from near the blue paint, and a 2 on 1 rush for Ehlers & Scheifele). Buffalo got a break when a flip pass from their defensive end narrowly evaded Perfetti’s reach at center ice, allowing the Sabres a 2 on 1 chance of their own. Robinson opted to use the Jets’ defender as a screen, firing a long shot through their legs and by Brossoit to give the home team the 2-1 lead. Winnipeg ended up losing momentum at this point, as Buffalo picked up their pace with good cycle shifts in the offensive zone. Their 4th line was especially good at trapping the Jets in their own end with a tenacious forecheck. The visitors’ got their first PP opportunity of the game late in the 2nd and while they struggled to get set up early, the team did get a couple looks (Monahan missed deflecting point shot and then couldn’t get to rebound & Namestnikov misfiring on a slot shot attempt). MoneyPuck’s statistics after 2 periods tell us that the Sabres worked their way back into the game in the middle frame, taking over the lead in expected goals and the Deserve To Win meter.
After Two Periods MoneyPuck Stats: Score: 2 to 1 for the Sabres, shots 21 to 12 for the Jets, 53% Deserve to Win for the Sabres, Expected Goals – all situations (1.25-1.08 BUF) & 5 on 5 (1.06-1.02 WPG)
Because the hockey gods & goddesses are a fickle bunch, I had to once again walk away from a Jets’ game to do my part to help the team win. Via Saturday’s great win over the Hurricanes, I discovered that the Winnipeg Jets tend to have huge 3rd period comebacks if I don’t watch the team play live, so I pushed the record button on my Shaw box and took my cat Lambo for a walk around the neighborhood. Let’s see if it worked again…..
The Sabres came out looking to increase their lead with an early push, but a nice defensive block by Connor denied a good scoring chance. Getting over-aggressive on their forecheck, a home team player ended up tripping Pionk to give Winnipeg their 2nd PP of the game. The Jets did have sustained pressure with the extra attacker and Perfetti almost tied up the game on a juicy rebound. The visitors stepped up their game after this and continued to press for the equalizer. With some lineup changes late in the 2nd, the Jets’ 2nd line picked up their play (great set up by Ehlers, but Iafallo couldn’t beat UPL from the low slot & another high danger chance on a cross crease 1 timer). Buffalo had a great chance to put a dagger into any Winnipeg comeback when a trip sent them back to the powerplay. Our penalty killers did a great job in not allowing the Sabres to get set up and the only two decent looks were blocked (Samberg) or gloved (Brossoit). Almost immediately after the kill, Winnipeg rushed up the ice with Namestnikov in control of the puck. After gaining the offensive zone, Vladdy moved the biscuit to Scheifele in the high slot, but the center didn’t keep it long as he spotted Morrissey driving to the net from the left wing. The pass slipped through the defenders and on to “Norrissey’s” stick and the d-man managed to slip the puck 5-hole, despite being hacked & hooked by a Buffalo defenseman. With the game all even and a smidge less than 10 minutes to play, both squads had opportunities to break the game open. Winnipeg’s 4th line got caught in their own end again, but managed to keep the Sabres to the perimeter. Eventually, Perfetti was able to bank the puck off the glass to get by the defenseman at the blueline and a race was on. Despite being utterly gassed, Barron won the sprint for the loose puck and he was off on a 1 on 1. Deciding he didn’t have the energy to drive to the net, the East Coaster instead let a slapshot go from the top of the right face-off circle to best UPL’s glove and give Winnipeg the lead. Buffalo didn’t give up even though they were losing for the first time in the game and only an amazing save by Brossoit on a Greenway wrap-around attempt kept Winnipeg up by one. UPL was also doing his best to give his team a chance to tie things up, as he absolutely robbed Connor with a stretched pad on a 2 on 1 rush. Eventually the Sabres coaching staff got desperate and pulled their goalie, even though they couldn’t really get set up in Winnipeg’s zone. As a result, the Jets added not just one EN goal (Namestnikov), but also pocketed a 2nd (Monahan). The shot chart & advanced stats from MoneyPuck show how great Winnipeg played in the 3rd period (2.91 expected goals in the final frame to Buffalo’s 0.52).
After Three Periods MoneyPuck Stats: 62% Deserve to Win for the Jets, Expected Goals – all situations (3.99-1.77 WPG) & 5 on 5 (2.21-1.31 WPG)
FINAL SCORE: WINNIPEG JETS 5 BUFFALO SABRES 2
SHOTS: WINNIPEG JETS 34 BUFFALO SABRES 20
Game Observations:
- Wow. Another comeback victory for the Winnipeg Jets. That’s 9 goals in the past two 3rd periods. Impressive, but I am not sure needing comebacks every game is a great habit to get into.
- Josh Morrissey was fantastic on Sunday, as he has been for the past couple of weeks. With the 2nd most ice-time on the team (24:30), the defenseman had 4 shots on net, a goal & an assist, plus a couple key takeaways. His elite skating helps him join the rush and drive offense from the backend. It’s a joy to watch.
- Also love to see Vladislav Namestnikov be rewarded on the scoresheet for once (goal/assist). The feisty Russian gives the same quality effort where ever the coaching staff ends up putting him (center/wing, top six/bottom six). Vladdy was tied for the team-lead in hits against the Sabres (3, with Adam Lowry, Neal Pionk, and Nino Niederreiter).
- In the expected goal battle at 5 on 5, three of Winnipeg’s forward lines had their way last night (1st – 70.8%, 2nd – 70.5%, and 3rd – 94.3%), but the 4th line was eaten up (3%). It was nice to see the Lowry line look like they did early in the season, dominating along the offensive boards & chipping in offensively. Just imagine if Apples & Lows had softer hands…
- The Winnipeg Jets are now 9-2 over their past 11 matches and really only need 18 to 20 more points to lock up a top 6 playoff spot in the West. With 22 games left on the schedule, that shouldn’t be an issue even if the last 11 matches are mainly against strong opponents.
The Jets will be packing up their luggage and heading back to the Peg for a one game home stand, where they will start a home & home series against the team indicated below.
NEXT GAME: Seattle Kraken @ Winnipeg Jets – Tuesday, March 5th @ 7:00 pm Central
The Manitoba Moose ended up sweeping the Texas Stars on the weekend to improve their chances of grabbing onto an AHL wildcard spot. The two wins also saw Henri Nikkanen explode for 4 pts after being held without a point in his first 35 games this year, as well as continued good goaltending from prospect Thomas Milic.
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