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The game opened with early sluggishness for the Jets again and the first minutes were not the start either coach wanted. Soon local boy Colton Orr and Chris Thorburn looked to liven it up by staging or perhaps legitimately wanting to fight . Claude Noel said after the game “I thought we had a lot of emotion in the game. I thought the Thorburn situation really set the tone.” Thorburn was in the line up for the first time in 4 games and clearly wanted to show the coach he was ready to keep his position.
Orr clearly did not have his tie-downs on his jersey and nearly had it shedded by the end of the fight. I can recall a time when there used to be an extra penalty for that.
The first PP of the game was given to the Jets as Fraser took an interference penalty. The much maligned Jets PP finally scored when Wellwood received a pass for a shot, and as this writer groaned out loud “aw Wellwood what are you doing?” he passed it back to the point to Byfuglien who blasted it into the crease where Antropov got some action on it for his second of the year.
The Leafs would not take to this lightly and the truculence typical with a Carlyle team had the Leafs doing all the greasy things you would expect. Subsequently in what may be a first for the ages (informed on Twitter-apparently not) the two captains drop the gloves. Ladd and Phaneuf had an awkward tilt with the visiting captain getting an extra 2 for interference. (You can hear Ladd's thoughts on it below)
The first Leafs PP came with 4:45 left in the first period as Meech takes a rather soft tripping call that the fans in the MTS Centre did not like. It’s a vocal crowd at the quietest of times and on this call they let the zebras know that they thought it was pure bunk- at least in their view.
The book on Pavelec’s glove has been well reviewed and tonight it was challenged more than a few times- no issue when Grabovski tried to rip one high on it during the Leafs first PP and the Czech answered the bell. Another theme that would continue all night: aiming for the glove.
The 2nd period opened up with two quick goals an unassisted one from Kessel to tie the game in the first minute. Kessel broke his stick on the play, sliding it between Pavelec’s legs just 30 seconds into the game. It was a greasy five-hole goal and the twitter gang started on Pavelec fast. With the game now tied in under a minute to start the second the Leafs fans at the MTS Centre let the hometown crowd know they were back in the game. However, vocal reminders would be the last laugh for the home fans eventually.
The tie would not last long though as Wheeler answered back fast when he took the Little pass and buried it past Reimer. It was a Leafs clown car of activity in front of their own net, with no one seemingly able to make a decision and cover anyone in the chaos.
The juncture point in the game many noted was at the juncture where once again the Jets took two careless penalties to give the Leafs a 5 on 3 for nearly 2 minutes. Jets captain Andrew Ladd said post game, “we needed a big penalty kill and had a great effort from our goaltender and the three guys on the ice to get that done,” about the 5-on-3 challenge.
During that period Jim Slater went to change on a puck clear and as he skated towards the Jets bench he gets hit in the back of the head with a fist. There was no call but it’s the kind of truculence that is just as stupid as it is gritty and it was about all the Leafs could show in this game.
In that stretch Bogosian ad Slater must have blocked 3 shots each, but more importantly the Leafs couldn’t connect on a pass if they were handing the puck to each other. Regression, as I mentioned in the pre-game piece is clearly catching up again with the team.
Pavelec’s glove was outstanding as the Leafs continued to test it on the few quality shot attempts they were getting. The book is out on Pavelec and his glove hand but he has appeared to address it- at least for the short term.
Wellwood, the on-again, off-again fan favourite gaves the Jets a 2 goal lead at 11 minutes of the second period. The play was a great set up from the corner as Byfuglien came in almost untouched before a feeble effort from Franson and slid the puck across to the diminutive forward. Wellwood took the pass from the far side of Reimer and stopped it with his left skate before kicking it to his stick and sliding it past a confused Leafs keeper. Yes those defense systems of the Leafs were wildly effective in shutting down the attack tonight.
The third period started off with the type of effort designed to frustrate the Leafs; make them work for the puck and challenge them to try to bring it up the ice. It was a solid effort until the Leafs began to open the play up and that where the Jets found the holes.
The first was when Evander Kane took a pass, a slick one from Antropov, and split the defense to go in alone on Reimer. The guy with arguably the hardest wrist shot in the league put one so hard past Reimer that @bcmikejetsfan tweeted “What’s that ringing in Reimer’s ears? It’s the money phone! #teammoney” Kadri put about as much effort in holding his stick as he did to catching or checking Kane. The only thing Kadri was going to catch in Winnipeg was a cold as the Leafs youthful star was held off the score sheet and a -1.
The crowd let Reimer have it then after the fourth goal and sure enough, with 8 minutes left the local boy from Manitoba was pulled and in came Scrivens. The hope for any reversal of fortune was finished when Wheeler came down the wing, blowing by Kostka and then ripped a wrist shot while being totally unimpeded by anyone. It was the first shot on Scrivens and icing on the cake for Jets fans as Wheeler had his second goal on the night.
The chants rained down now with the MTS faithful firing out anything they could think of including mocking the Leafs' fans own cheer by bellowing “Let’s go Blue Jays!” Despite the goal that no one seemed to notice, the second for Kessel, due to the noise- the Jets were on autopilot now. Even when Carlyle threw out Orr and Kelvin grad McLaren with any other muscle he could find he may as well have not bothered giving them them sticks as they clearly had no intent to use them, nor were they much good with them anyway.
All in all the game was a feast for the home-win starved fans at the MTS Centre and an even bigger two points with the Rangers loss tonight. More importantly it’s setting up a big Saturday night game when these two team meet again in Toronto.
Observations
It may have been the most complete effort from the entire team but one name stood out to many and that was Nick Antropov. Winnipeg business writer Geoff Kirbyson even said, “Antropov is omnipresent,” in his many times exclaiming his name. In fact this may be Antropov’s best game this season and it has showed on the score sheet with 3 points and a big hit!
As the coach said post game, passion and energy were key to the victory and the players all echoed it too as you will see below from the media scrums post game in the locker room.
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