The Winnipeg Jets were in Ohio to take on the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday evening, let’s see how things played out.
Despite being on the backend of back-to-back games, the Jackets came out flying in the opening frame and pretty much dominated the visiting Jets. However, Winnipeg managed to make one good play in the 1st when Scheifele sent a dish from Gretzky’s office to find Connor uncovered in the low slot. With a 1-0 lead for the Jets just 1:26 into the game, Columbus raced around the ice to greatly out-chance their opponents. Hellebuyck was at top form as he denied multiple medium danger looks throughout the period, including 2 quick saves on a Jackets’ powerplay. Winnipeg had a man-advantage of their own later in the period, allowing them to finally spend a bit of time in the offensive zone. The Jets did pick up their pace a bit after this, but Bucky still was required to make a couple more big saves before the horn sounded. The stats & shot chart below don’t require much analysis to determine the hometown Blue Jackets were the better squad.
First Period MoneyPuck Stats: Score: 1 to 0 for the Jets, shots 10 to 7 for the Blue Jackets, 66% Deserve To Win for the Blue Jackets, Expected Goals – all situations (1.02-0.37 CBJ), & 5 on 5 (0.61-0.34 CBJ)
Columbus started off the 2nd with a quality rush against the Jets’ defense, but when that was denied it gave them a chance for a counter-attack. While Ehlers rush & shot was initially denied, the 2nd line continued the cycle with the puck working its way to Toffoli along the backboards. The winger made a nifty no-look between the legs pass out front to find Ehlers in the low slot, allowing the Dane to snap a shot while Monahan perfectly screened Merzlikins to give Winnipeg an undeserved 2-0 lead. The Jackets didn’t cave and came back with a couple opportunities of their own (odd man rush & long cycle shift) before the game evolved into a neutral zone traffic jam. Then all of a sudden, the Jets’ offense exploded to put the game away. It started when Toffoli made a zone exit pass to Monahan, allowing him to skate the puck through the neutral zone. He passed off to Ehlers along the side boards as he entered the Jackets’ end, which enabled the winger to hit Toffoli with a pass as he cut into the slot. Winnipeg’s newest forward displayed his sniping abilities by cleanly beating the goalie to make it 3-0 with just over half the game remaining. A couple minutes later, Columbus tried to wrap the puck around the boards to avoid a Jets’ forecheck, but Stanley was there to block it at the blueline. Big Stan quickly released a howitzer that blew by Merzlikins without giving the goaltender a chance to move and all of a sudden it was 4-0. The Blue Jackets did get some more scoring chances, including ringing one off the crossbar on a 3 on 1 rush, but Winnipeg added another goal when a Pionk point shot bounced off the backboards to Namestnikov, allowing the Russian to pocket his 9th of the season to finish the period with a 5-0 Winnipeg lead. MoneyPuck’s info below tells us that the Jets worked their way back into the game in the middle frame (the actual score certainly didn’t represent the flow of play through 2 periods).
After Two Periods MoneyPuck Stats: Score: 5 to 0 for the Jets, shots 21 to 19 for the Blue Jackets, 51% Deserve to Win for the Jets, Expected Goals – all situations (1.45-1.43 WPG) & 5 on 5 (1.42-1.03 WPG)
Winnipeg pretty much sat back and defended in the 3rd period, though it didn’t start out well when Columbus scored in the opening minute by throwing the puck towards Hellebuyck and crashing for a rebound. The Jets almost added a 6th goal when Barron deftly deflected a Dillon point shot, but a video review ruled the contact occurred above the height of the crossbar. The Blue Jackets ended up getting another PP opportunity, but once again Bucky came up big to deny their best scoring chance with a 4 on 3 player advantage. Winnipeg wasn’t done creating offense, as Monahan set up Scheifele for a glorious net-side look and Toffoli intercepted an east-west pass in the neutral zone for a clear breakaway. While #55 couldn’t capitalize on his chance, Toffoli made no mistakes when he was 1 on 1 with Merzlikins and added his 2nd goal of the game to make it 6-1. Not much else happened in the last 2:30, so check out how MoneyPuck saw the game in the stats/picture below.
After Three Periods MoneyPuck Stats: 51% Deserve to Win for the Jets, Expected Goals – all situations (2.40-2.38 WPG) & 5 on 5 (2.36-1.62 WPG)
FINAL SCORE: WINNIPEG JETS 6 COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS 1
SHOTS: COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS 31 WINNIPEG JETS 27
Game Observations:
- After a couple less than Bucky-like games, Connor Hellebuyck was back to form last night, stopping 30 of 31 shots with a .968 save percentage as the Jackets had 11 medium danger looks to give him 1.4 Goals Saved Above Average in the outing.
- What an awful start to the game by the Winnipeg Jets, as they allowed Columbus to skate all around them in the 1st period, but the team played much better in the 2nd to take a huge lead.
- After being really noticeable versus Anaheim, the Jets’ top line wasn’t nearly as good against the Blue Jackets (44.1% xG). The cream of the forward units was the Nikolaj Ehlers, Sean Monahan, and Tyler Toffoli combo, who ended the game with 60.5% xG. The bottom six were effective as well, with the 3rd (57.1% xG) and 4th (55% xG) doing enough to win the expected goals battle.
- A couple players hit milestones against Columbus, as Nikolaj Ehlers picked up his 20th goal on the season. The speedy Dane has hit that mark in every season of his NHL career except his rookie campaign (15 goals in 72 games) and the Covid-bubble season (12 goals in 45 games). Tyler Toffoli also hit a memorable number, as he pocketed 2 goals to reach the 30 goal mark for the third time in his NHL career. Sniper Kyle Connor netted his 29th goal versus the Jackets and is one marker away from hitting the 30 goal mark in 6 of his 7 NHL seasons (scored 26 in 56 games during the bubble year).
- The 4th line of David Gustafsson, Vladislav Namestnikov, and Morgan Barron were the only trio that actually played well in all THREE periods. Gus was also the only center to win more than half of his face-offs (54.5%).
Well, I hope Winnipeg has had their fill of easy games…..cause the schedule starts getting much tougher from this point on. The final stretch begins with a four game east coast road trip that starts off in the Big Apple to visit with former teammates Jacob Trouba & Jack Roslovic.
NEXT GAME: Winnipeg Jets @ New York Rangers – Tuesday, March 19th @ 6:00 pm Central
Starting on Tuesday, the Jets face the prospect of four games in 6 days on top of traveling from city to city. Those games include a clash versus a top 5 franchise (Rangers) and three Eastern Conference teams fighting for playoff spots (Devils, Islanders, & Capitals).
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