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Despite an out of town scoreboard that was far from favorable to the Winnipeg Jets the home team did what it could to improve their chances of having post-season play. Simply put they pounded the Sabres.
Forget the hulking mass of a pylon that is John Scott, a guy who seems to have no trouble looking to cause trouble for those far outside his weight class, the Jets matched what little physical play the wayward prairie cows could mount.
The Jets threw 39 hits compared to Buffalo’s 22 and matched any physical intensity the Sabres tried to create. The physical play may have been the catalyst for the rest of the Jets play as once again it was another strong game for the home team highlighted by a dynamic second period.
Yesterday I had presented the case for the Jets to get Evander Kane the puck as when he has it good things tend to happen for the team. It’s no coincidence that Kane helped open the scoring when he tried a failed shot at Miller which careened off a Buffalo skate and right into the slot for a waiting Kyle Wellwood.
#teamwelly opened the scoring and the Jets never looked back.
Just over five minutes later Ice Caps call up and 4th line grinder Aaron Gagnon got his first NHL goal. It was a fourth line shift with Gagnon, Wright, and Tangradi backed by Clitsome and Byfuglien where Buff stepped up to grab an errant puck in the Buffalo end. The wily defender moved up and looked over to find Gagnon in the slot and put a perfect pass for the forward who one-timed it past Miller. 4th line scoring has been about as common as Bigfoot sightings for the Jets and the crowd showed their appreciation after the goal and towards Gagnon when he was featured on the screen over the ice.
The Jets were not finished though and before they scored again it was Ondrej Pavelec’s time to shine with some dynamic play. The goalie showed flashes of brilliance with a quick glove hand, strong positioning and frantic scrambling to keep the puck out on the few quality scoring chances Buffalo could produce.
Before the end of the period the top line for the Jets found themselves catching the Sabres on a poor turnover by Vanek. Bryan Little led Wheeler and Ladd across the blue line and played the odd-rush perfectly as Ehrhoff was caught as the lone defender in position to offer some resistance.
Little pushed past him and then flipped the puck over the out-stretched stick to Ladd on the right side. Miller clearly thought Ladd would shoot but with Ehrhoff having taken himself out of the play with his low stretch Ladd swung the puck back around and slid it past a confused Miller on the far side. It was a filthy good play and the MTS Centre roared in approval.
The Sabres mounted a slight charge in play for the third but other than a fluke goal off of Wheeler’s knee which almost went top-corner from the slot, the Sabres could not get anything going. Even with two power plays there was no real action and Pavelec stood tall when called upon.
The dagger was inserted into the Sabres when Little, Wheeler and Ladd all combined for a pretty empty net goal with Ladd ensuring line mate Wheeler got the puck to get a goal and a point. Buffalo pounded.
Game Notes
Noel once again spread around the minutes with only two players under 10 for the game, Thorburn and Tangradi. Even then they were well above average.
Enstrom suffered an injury in the first period and did not return. Noel called it ‘muscle tension’ post-game and said Enstrom is day-to-day.
So much for all that ‘free energy’ Steve Ott said teams get in the MTS Centre, it did very little for anyone on Buffalo.
The Jets looked like they might have a functional third line with Burmistrov, Wright and Santorelli. The trio looked dangerous and effective all night.
If the Jets needed something to cheer them up about their special teams Buffalo was the answer- the Sabres PP makes the brutal Jets PP look deadly. Sabres had 5 shots in 6 minutes of PP time.
The Jets dominated in the dot going 56% for the game.
Pavelec rocked a .967 save percentage for his second straight strong game.
Winnipeg Jets Blogger •Winnipeg Jets Writer • 
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