The Winnipeg Jets were riding high coming into their match up against the Nashville Predators on Thursday, yet history tells us fans to worry about the team’s play in back-to-back situations. So, what would win out? The 11 game winning streak or the bad habit of losing the second game of back-to-back’s? Lets find out…..
GAME RECAP
Today’s recap will be fairly brief for a couple reasons….the first is that my back was bothering me so I ended up watching the contest from my bed without a notebook and the second is that not a whole lot happened on the ice.
Word is that the Winnipeg Jets got into Nashville very late due to travel issues and it appeared to have an impact as the Predators were the more motivated team in the 1st (shots 14-6). That extra jump paid off 5 minutes into the game when a Filip Forsberg blast from the top of the left face-off circle blew by Eric Comrie to give the home team the early lead. NSH 1-0. One of the Jets’ better forward lines in the contest was the 4th consisting of Alex Iafallo, David Gustafsson, & Rasmus Kupari and they got Winnipeg on the board with a good shift in the middle of the frame. A tenacious forecheck allowed them to get the puck deep in the Pred’s zone before sending it back to the point for Neal Pionk. The defenseman sent a shot to the net with a maze of bodies in front screening Juuse Saros and the puck deflected by the tender to knot the game. TIE 1-1. About 5 minutes later, the Jets were short-handed for the first time of the match and while they were within 30 seconds of killing it off, a brutal turnover at the side of the net allowed Nashville to slide the puck to a wide open Tommy Novak for the PP marker. NSH 2-1.
The 2nd period saw Winnipeg pick up their pace of play, out-shooting Nashville 14-6 in the middle frame and getting quite a few good looks on the Predators’ net. Unfortunately, Saros was on his game on Thursday and made some outstanding saves to retain the lead for his squad. The Jets’ backup was also solid in net, denying any chance the Preds got as Winnipeg pushed to get back into the game. Despite having yet another long 5 on 3 powerplay, the Jets man-advantage units remained ice cold as they failed to take advantage of that or another late PP in the 2nd.
Okay, the 3rd period began and the True Northers were down a goal…so they would come out flying to try and continue their winning streak…right? Well, that didn’t happen as Nashville went into a defensive mode to stifle the Jets’ offense and actually out-played Winnipeg (shots 10-4 for NSH). Once again, both goaltenders continued to make some big saves and in the end, even coach Scott Arniel pulling Comrie for the extra attacker couldn’t result in the Jets finding the tying goal. They did have a couple looks to do so, with a Nikolaj Ehlers’ chance late in the 3rd likely being the most dangerous.
FINAL SCORE: NASHVILLE 2 WINNIPEG 1
FINAL STATS
Shots: 30-24 NSH / Hits: 26-24 NSH / Face-Offs: 52.2% NSH / x Goals: 3.67 NSH – 2.81 WPG /
MoneyPuck’s Deserve to Win: 62.1% WPG / High-Medium Danger Scoring Chances: 10 to 8 WPG
SCORING SUMMARY from ESPN
SHOT CHART from MoneyPuck
ADVANCED SKATER STATS from MoneyPuck
GOALIE STATS from ESPN & MoneyPuck
If you would like to dive deeper into the game’s stats, follow the links below to the game pages:
MoneyPuck: Winnipeg Jets vs. Nashville Predators – Thursday February 27 2025 – MoneyPuck.com
NaturalStatTrick: Winnipeg Jets @ Nashville Predators, 2025-02-27
BOJA’s Observations:
- A disappointing effort to watch for us fans….but I guess all good things must come to an end. A 11 game winning streak is nothing to sneeze at and our Winnipeg Jets can just try to start another long run on Saturday.
- Eric Comrie continues his Rodney Dangerfield-esque season, where he doesn’t get the “respect” of good goal support from his teammates. He stopped 28 of 30 shots faced last night, including at least 5 that might fall into the “robbery” category.
- Another bad outing by the 3rd defensive pairing. This time it was Logan Stanley & Haydn Fleury finishing with a team-worst 20.1% of the expected goals.
Well, limited time to write this article and a less than exciting game by the Jets to discuss has left me with only a few observations. Maybe you all can help out by making any of your own observations in the Comment section. Winnipeg now gets to return home for one of those questionable one-game home stands before they head out on a 4 game East Coast swing.
UP NEXT: Philadelphia Flyers @ Winnipeg Jets – Saturday, March 1st @ 6:00 pm CST
