The Winnipeg Jets received some good news when head coach Rick Bowness returned behind the bench for a match against the Florida Panthers. Let’s find out if his team could give him a win….
The Jets had the early opportunity of the game when Appleton flew down the right wing, firing a pass towards the Panthers goal. Niederreiter was driving hard to the net and was able to deflect the puck out of mid-air, but Bobrovsky was there to make the save. Florida pushed back with an offensive zone shift of their own and while they controlled the puck, it only resulted in a couple low quality shots on Hellebuyck. Winnipeg’s 4th line broke out on a dangerous looking rush, but Jonsson-Fjallby’s shot was deflected wide by a Cats’ defender. A very late hit on Samberg didn’t cause the American defenseman much problems because he saw it coming, but it did send the Jets to their 1st powerplay of the evening. The top PP unit did control the puck initially, but an un-called slash on Scheifele’s stick allowed the PKers to break out for their own chance. A good effort on the back-check by Morrissey broke up the scoring chance and the 2nd PP group came over the boards. They didn’t have much time to work with, but Ehlers managed to set up Niederreiter for a look from the low slot and Schmidt had a solid 1 timer off a face-off win. Back at even strength, the 1st line was in their own end when Connor made a good defensive play, allowing the Jets to break out for their own opportunity. Scheifele was able to get the puck back to the American winger for a snapshot that tested the Cats’ tender. At the mid-point of the period, the shots were 4 to 2 in favour of Winnipeg and Florida responded with some quality shifts. Hellebuyck had to deny a couple higher danger shots and Dillon might have saved a goal by clearing a rebound from the crease. The Panthers had some more O-zone time when Connor turned the puck over at his own blueline, but once again Bucky was there to keep the game scoreless. Gustafsson displayed some fight as he held off a defender and drove to the Florida net with the puck, but he couldn’t find space between Bobrovsky’s pads. The Namestnikov line followed up with a cycle shift that ended with a point shot through the bodies in front. A big rebound was there for the taking, but Ehlers couldn’t get free from his defender to pop it in. Winnipeg did get an offensive zone face-off out of it and Lowry tied up the opposing centerman as Appleton was able to poke the puck back to the point. Samberg quickly released a shot that bounced off the goaltender’s pad right to Niederreiter at the side of the net. The Swiss forward pocketed his 6th of the season to give the Jets a 1-0 lead with 2 minutes to play. Winnipeg had a great opportunity to add to their lead when Bobrovsky tripped Lowry as he was skating by the crease. The PP created some confusion early when a Morrissey 1-timer caused a dangerous rebound and the trio of Scheifele, Perfetti, & Connor almost hooked up on a rapid tic-tac-toe passing sequence. A bad pass by Morrissey in the neutral zone led to a clear SH breakaway on Hellebuyck, but the Panthers’ shot sailed wide. The 2nd PP unit managed a long shot before the powerplay and period ended, with Winnipeg holding onto a one goal lead.
First Period Stats: Score: 1 to 0 for the Jets, shots 10 to 6 for the Jets, 58.9% Deserve To Win for the Jets, Expected Goals – all situations (1.10-0.60 WPG), & 5 on 5 (1.09-0.41 WPG)
Winnipeg tried to add another goal when the 2nd line flew up the ice and Perfetti sent the puck to Ehlers in the high slot. The Danish forward spotted Namestnikov driving to the net and hit him with a pass, but the Russian couldn’t get the biscuit over the goalie’s pads. The Jets followed up with some quality shifts by the 4th and 1st lines before the Panthers were back pressing for an equalizer. Hellebuyck denied another shot off a Florida rush and Winnipeg had a bit of a push-back with defenders Morrissey and Samberg jumping into the offense. A defensive miscue allowed Rodrigues to step right in front of the Jets’ goal, but Hellebuyck made a fantastic save with no rebound allowed. A questionable tripping call on DeMelo gave Florida their 1st PP of the game and while they were able to control the puck for most of the advantage, the Cats only managed two lower-quality looks on Winnipeg’s net. The Jets’ top unit responded after when Connor led a rush up the ice, before finding Pionk with a pass in the high slot. The defender used elite vision to spot Iafallo at the side of the net, but a great slide across the net & stretch allowed Bobrovsky to make a pad save. Florida returned to their cheap-shotting ways when Scheifele was on the receiving end of a upper body/head shot in the neutral zone, causing a small melee between the two teams. With the teams down to 4 on 4, the squads traded looks and Niederreiter’s back-check broke up an odd-man rush against. Connor had a 1 on 1 rush the other way, but couldn’t find a gap between the goalie’s pads as he attempted a 5 hole shot. Back at even strength, Gustafsson stole a puck in the D-zone and sent Dillon on a rush the other way. The burly defender couldn’t find a way to beat Bobrovsky from in tight. The Panthers really woke up in the final 2 minutes, testing Hellebuyck on multiple occasions and key blocks from Iafallo & Schmidt kept the Cats off the board. Another scrum late in the period saw the weasel Tkachuk spear a Jet player and the 2nd ended with a short span of 4 on 4 play.
After Two Periods Stats Score: 1 to 0 for the Jets, shots 19 to 18 for the Jets, 62.1% Deserve to Win for the Jets, Expected Goals – all situations (1.78-1.23 WPG) & 5 on 5 (1.69-0.89 WPG)
The teams opened the 3rd by trading opportunities at 4 on 4 before the game returned to even strength. The refs continued to miss calls, this time when Scheifele was clearly interfered with to mess with what should have been a clear-cut breakaway. The Gustafsson line continued to do well with limited ice-time, spending another shift in the Panthers’ end. A Lowry turnover gave Florida a prime chance to get back into the game, but a great shot block by Samberg kept the puck away from Hellebuyck. The Scheifele line responded with a couple higher danger looks, the best of them being when Dillon couldn’t finish a 2 on 1 opportunity with Scheifele. Florida started to really push to tie the game, but Winnipeg’s players did a great job of keeping most of the shots from the perimeter. Hellebuyck once again came up big when he not only stopped a Bennett shot, but denied Reinhart on the rebound too. Namestnikov got the puck in the Jets’ end, banging the puck off the boards to Perfetti near the blueline. With a Panther defenseman pressing him, the young winger poked the puck into the middle of the ice and Ehlers made a fancy behind-the-back pickup as he flew up the ice. The Dane used his speed to force a 1 on 1 with a defenseman, dangled the puck around one side of the d-man as he hopped by on the other side, sending him all alone as the Panther player looked for his jockstrap. One final display of offensive abilities saw Ehlers draw back the puck before rifling a shot to the top shelf, giving Winnipeg a 2-0 lead with less than 9 minutes to play. Florida replied with a chance of their own, but when Reinhart got too close to Bucky he was shown the error of his ways by Dillon & his fists. That led to some more 4 on 4 hockey and while the Cats pretty much controlled the puck the entire time, they couldn’t break through the Jets’ defensive systems. Florida pulled their goalie with a ton of time left in the game and then were helped when Winnipeg got called for a penalty, making it a 6 on 4 advantage. Hellebuyck only had to make one save though, as Appleton was able to get the puck and send Lowry on his way up the ice. The captain made no mistake and sealed the game with an empty netter, allowing Winnipeg to sweep the Florida Panthers this season.
FINAL SCORE: WINNIPEG JETS 3 FLORIDA PANTHERS 0
SHOTS: WINNIPEG JETS 32 FLORIDA PANTHERS 32
Game Observations:
- A very solid game for Connor Hellebuyck on route to his 1st shutout of the season. The tender turned away 32 shots and has now upped his save percentage to .908. Not only is it Bucky’s first shutout of the year, it is also the Winnipeg Jets’ first time keeping their opponents off the board.
- Vladislav Namestnikov is making it hard for the coaching staff to send him down to the 4th line when Gabe Vilardi returns. The Russian had another great game, has points in 6 straight games and the 2nd line had 67.7% of expected goals.
- Yet another impressive outing for the Adam Lowry, Nino Niederreiter, and Mason Appleton trio. The line combined for 7 shots, 4 points, and a whopping 84.9% expected goals percentage. Apples picked up a pair of “apples”, continuing what appears to be a career season.
- Besides going 2 for 2 on this road trip, the Winnipeg Jets are now 6-0-2 versus the NHL’s Eastern Conference this season, bucking a recent trend of performing poorly against those franchises.
- I thought Dylan Samberg had another great game. He plays more physically than a lot of other Winnipeg defensemen and has been a blocking machine this year. The American picked up a pair of helpers and was the only defenseman to get a point in the game. His partner Nate Schmidt also had one of his better games, as the duo finished with more than 60% of the expected goals and finished with more ice-time than the second pairing once again.
- The Jets are on a 5 game winning streak, which is the longest they’ve had in 5 seasons. They will face another hot team when they finish the road trip in Nashville.
- Very nice to see this team find a way to win a game when their top 3 scorers (Kyle Connor, Mark Scheifele, & Josh Morrissey) couldn’t find a way to get on the scoresheet.
- MoneyPuck Stats: 58.4% Deserve to Win for the Jets, 2.41 to 2.11 in expected goals (all situations) for the Jets, and 2.12 to 1.62 in expected goals (5 on 5) for the Jets.
The Winnipeg Jets continue to play entertaining hockey and lately have become adept at closing out games. Running out of things to say and really should get this published….so I’ll just say that I am enjoying the season so far. Hope it continues.
NEXT GAME: Winnipeg Jets @ Nashville Predators – Sunday, November 26th @ 7 pm Central
A battle between two of the hottest teams in the NHL on Sunday…and they said the Central Division was supposed to be weak. With the way things played out last night, the Winnipeg Jets find themselves tied with the Dallas Stars & Colorado Avalanche for the division lead. What a great November it has been for the franchise, let’s see if they can close out the month and keep it going into December.
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