The Winnipeg Jets headed south for a one game road trip to face off against the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday evening. The top man-advantage unit has helped our squad go on a little winning streak, so let’s see how the Jets did last night.
Due to some difficulties with my television’s feed, I ended up missing the opening half of the first period and this kind of threw me off my game for the whole night. As a result, I forgot to take the screen shot of the 2nd period shot chart, so I have to alter my normal format for this recap. With my excuses out of the way, let’s find out how the game played out…
From all appearances, it was Chicago who controlled the flow of play early on in the game, since they were leading the shot race around 9-4 when I first tuned in. Despite that, one of the first things I witnessed with my own eyes was a great cycle shift by the Namestnikov line that ended with the Russian ringing a shot off a post. The Blackhawks countered with an attack and Hellebuyck had to come up big on a couple of slot shots to keep the game scoreless. Shortly after, we got to witness Ehlers flying up the left wing with the puck and as the Dane got to the bottom of the face-off circle, he absolutely lasered a bad angle shot over Mrazek’s shoulder to give Winnipeg the lead late in the opening frame. After a small pushback by the Hawks, the Jets got the first powerplay of the evening and despite good puck control, our squad couldn’t add to their lead.
First Period MoneyPuck Stats: Score: 1 to 0 for the Jets, shots 11 to 8 for the Hawks, 69% Deserve To Win for the Hawks, Expected Goals – all situations (1.18-0.45 CHI), & 5 on 5 (1.18-0.41 CHI)
The Winnipeg Jets came out flying in the 2nd period, immediately pressuring Chicago with another 4th line cycle shift. As the Hawks were forced to defend, they ended up tripping up Morrissey as he tried to start another rush up the ice. The Jets controlled the puck as Ehlers circled back to his own end to allow the extra attacker to join the rush. Once everyone was on the ice, the speedy Dane blasted up the ice before beating a defender in the neutral zone with a pass off the boards to himself. Still in full flight, Fly entered the Blackhawks’ zone before cutting to the middle of the ice & slapping a rocket by a helpless Mrazek to give Winnipeg a 2 to 0 lead. The Jets had an opportunity to add to the lead with another powerplay, but they ended up giving up the best scoring chance (breakaway by Dickinson). After killing off Chicago’s first PP with ease, the Jets had a couple more looks to add to their lead (Monahan stoned from mid-slot and Iafallo failing to beat Mrazek’s glove from the low slot), but it was the Hawks who ended up notching the next goal. Stanley, who had played pretty well otherwise, made a terrible pass that was intercepted by Blackwell, springing him on a clear cut breakaway. With all that time, the Blackhawk forward came up with a nice move to beat Hellebuyck to suddenly make the game a much closer affair. Winnipeg almost gave themselves a cushion before the period ended, but somehow Monahan failed to beat a sprawling Hawks’ tender during a scramble in front of the net.
After Two Periods MoneyPuck Stats: Score: 2 to 1 for the Jets, shots 24 to 22 for the Jets, 53.5% Deserve to Win for the Hawks, Expected Goals – all situations (2.06-1.86 WPG) & 5 on 5 (1.77-1.72 WPG)
Once again, Winnipeg started a period out strong and Monahan had yet another chance to continue his hot streak (Iafallo sends him on mini-breakaway), but Mrazek kept his team in the game. As the period went on, Chicago gained more and more of the puck possession but the Jets did a pretty good job of limiting quality scoring chances. When our squad did manage to create some offensive zone time, it was often squandered by poor decisions (passing when they should be shooting or making ill-advised pass attempts). The Hawks had a great chance on a Bedard 1 timer late in the period, but Stanley threw himself to slide in front of the high danger opportunity (though he was called for a questionable trip as he continued to slide into the rookie’s legs after making the block). Chicago’s PP made our hearts thump a bit harder when they almost knocked a puck out of the air to tie the game, but otherwise the Jets’ PKers did a great job of blocking shooting lanes and making zone entries difficult. Winnipeg did have a bit more offense before the period ended, but it was mainly the Blackhawks who were on the attack. With the goalie pulled and in the final minute of play, the home team finally struck gold when Johnson was left wide open for an easy 1 timer. The final 43 seconds didn’t solve anything, so off to overtime we went.
After Three Periods MoneyPuck Stats: Score: 2 to 2 tie, shots 34 to 30 for the Hawks, 57.5% Deserve to Win for the Hawks, Expected Goals – all situations (3.00-2.23 CHI) & 5 on 5 (2.32-2.00 CHI)
The Hawks gained early possession, but after a failed rush and a Morrissey steal in the defensive corner, Winnipeg went on the attack. The Jets’ defenseman moved the puck to Connor on the right side of the rink and off he went up the ice. The American sniper was clearly looking at Pionk driving to the net for a pass, but instead opted to fire a quick shot that saw the puck deflect off a defender’s skate and into Chicago’s net to give Winnipeg the OT victory.
FINAL SCORE: WINNIPEG JETS 3 CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS 2 (OT)
SHOTS: CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS 35 WINNIPEG JETS 31
Game Observations:
- Just another day at the office for Connor Hellebuyck. A .943 save percentage on 35 shots and 2.09 Goals Saved Above Expected. The guy is worth every penny. How many teams that weren’t interested in him in the off-season are regretting that decision now (NJ, LA, BUF). Their loss is Winnipeg’s gain.
- The Alex Iafallo, Sean Monahan, Nikolaj Ehlers combo played very well in their first game. With Winnipeg’s only two 5 on 5 goals and plenty of other chances, they certainly deserved the 98.1% of expected goals in the game. Obviously, Ehlers was the best of this trio, netting his 17th and 18th markers of the season.
- This could be the first official sighting of the floating Mark Scheifele on the season. While the defensive side of his game wasn’t as bad as it has been in the past, he made quite a few puzzling decisions with the puck (failing to shoot from prime spots & forcing passes through impossible lanes). Hopefully the mind-fog is only temporary, because the Jets need our top center to be the best he can be.
- The other good forward line versus Chicago was the newly formed Cole Perfetti, Vladislav Namestnikov, and Morgan Barron unit. They ended up with 67.6% of expected goals and had quite a few long cycle shifts in the Hawks’ zone.
- On the defensive side of things, only the Josh Morrissey/Dylan DeMelo pairing won the expected goals battle (74.6%). Morrissey was involved in all three Winnipeg goals (assists), while also tying Nino Niederreiter for the most shots by a Jet (4).
Another blah game against the Chicago Blackhawks, but at least Winnipeg came out with a 3-0-1 record on the season. Next up is another struggling team, so it will be interesting to see if the Jets once again play down to their opponents.
NEXT GAME: Arizona Coyotes @ Winnipeg Jets – Sunday, February 25th @ 5:00 pm Central
The trade deadline (March 8th) is inching closer, but with so many teams still in reach of a wildcard spot, the buyer and seller categories haven’t been firmly established yet. Will be interesting to see if Chevy has any further moves planned or if our playoff hopes will rest of the roster as is. Here is how the Central Division standings look after Friday’s games (courtesy of ESPN):
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