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Last night the Jets almost found a way to dig themselves out of a 2 goal hole that had been a hallmark of the previous two games. For a period of a few minutes they did actually do just that for the third game in a row when Olli Jokinen took an Evander Kane pass and fired a wrist a shot Carey Price should have saved. It was 3-2 Jets but not for long.
It was a chippy physical game where the Habs, the lightest team in the league, took to the body farm more aggressively than the Jets who are the heaviest team in the league. It’s all about attitude and the Habs brought the right one onto the ice of the Bell Centre last night.
Speaking of attitudes –what about Brandon Prust? The guy must be great in the locker room with all the theatrics he brings on the ice. The arrogance to complain about his “unsportsman like” penalty was sheer foolishness. His hands in the air, shot in the back flail after getting a bit of stick up in the face from Tobias Enstrom was the icing on the cake. Brandon Prusti, Italian soccer player.
However, neither of those events determined the fate of the game. The Jets did that all on their own by taking five penalties and one that was the direct cause of the game winning goal for the Canadiens.
Chris Thorburn had an easy chance to chip the puck out along the left boards and chose to try and beat the Montreal player closing the gap. The puck turned over, Enstrom had to scramble to cover and took a dubious tripping penalty in the process. Boom goes the dynamite and it’s 4-3 for the home team.
The refs had a factor in this game only because they were calling all sorts of stupid but the Jets caused their own demise regardless of the zebras. Claude Noel was none too happy about the start, this is what he had to say about the start. “You can’t keep giving up goals early in the first period and expect you’re going to come back, it’s just not the right way to play.”
Look at the PK that was 5 for 7 last night and a PP that went 1 for 8 and it’s easy to see the role the penalties and special teams played for the Jets.
Evander Kane kept his modest point streak alive last night but was held off by some aggressive and hard hitting play from Emelin who had 8 hits according to the NHL game sheet, many of which Kane felt.
While it’s easy to be a homer the right team won by playing better hockey and the Jets could consider themselves to be lucky to lose by just a goal.
However, homerism was alive and well with the Montreal media as they gave their man-crush rookie the second star. No hits, no shots and two assists, Jokinen had a goal, an assist, five shots and 1 hit and was a plus 1. However, that homerism for the three stars seems to be rampant in the NHL these days so the Canadiens are just following procedure.
Full credit to Bergeron and his group- the Habs are a far better team than last year and it showed last night even though the Canadiens beat on the Jets then too.
Winnipeg Jets Blogger •Winnipeg Jets Writer • 
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