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Jets hold off Devils with Laine winner

November 29, 2016, 11:25 PM ET [12 Comments]
Peter Tessier
Winnipeg Jets Blogger •Winnipeg Jets Writer • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The first period was a fast paced affair as Bryan Little returned to action for the Jets tonight at the MTS Centre. Little had been off since the first period of the first game of the season recovering from an undisclosed injury, one suspected to be near the groin.

Little's impact was felt as the Jets had their first positive results for a period on the face off dot. The team did manage to go 55% for the game which is a marked improvement over where it has been.

The team came alive in the second period though with 16 shots and many during a nearly 2 minute long 5-on-3 PP. While they did not score, a warning shot(s) was fired by Patrik Laine who took a one-time slap shot and rattled if off the cross bar with such force that it stunned people with it's sound.

The goals finally came and they came from the dirty areas of the ice, or the high danger zone. Scheifele potted the first one when Ehlers took a shot from the high slot and Byfuglien tried to backhand jam it in before it deflected out and Scheifele had a simple wrist shot to beat Schneider. Nearly the same series of events happened with Copp and Trouba before Wheeler swooped in added his 8th of the season for a 2-0 lead.

The Devils came back but not before Miles Wood received a penalty that may have been the most inept effort seen in some time. He was not to be denied as he pounced on an dumped in puck getting behind Kyle Connor who was clearly confused as to how he was the low guy instead of Trouba and Chiarot. Wood took a shot with a very low chance of success and found the smallest of holes on Hellebuyck to make it a one goal game.

The excitement did not end though as Jets rookie Patrik Laine made up for hitting the post when he launched this laser beam above the blocker and shoulder of Schneider.



In the post game scrum Laine mentioned that he was told to shoot over the blocker and try that instead of what he had been doing. Not only does the kid have a huge shot, he listens well too.

The Devils got the game within one goal before the Jets managed to close it out despite a late period Mark Stuart penalty for doing some stupid.

Two in a row never felt so good for a team than it does for the Jets right now.

Some questions remain though. Why have Stuart out there in a one goal game when the Devils were pressing? He simply does not have the mobility anymore to deal with the speed coming at him.

Then there is Kyle Connor who had another game of less than 5 minutes of ice time. What is the point of having him in the lineup to play him 5 minutes, actually 4:39? Even Chris Thorburn had slightly more minutes. If Connor is not ready, let him learn with ice time and put him down with the Moose. It's something that needs to be asked of the coach.

While Nic Petan is retroactively on IR now and after taking a high stick tonight Marko Dano is day-to-day one has to wonder what happens to Connor when Perreault gets healthy. Think of it this way, Burmistrov might be sitting in the press box but he was getting more ice time before than Connor is now.

The task gets much tougher on Thursday when the Oiler and Connor McDavid come to town but based on what is happening in Edmonton tonight who knows what team shows up.

The interesting thing will be to see which goalie starts on Thursday, Hellebuyck or Hutchinson? Don't look now but Hellebuyck has a .1000 game and now a .920 would, Maurice risk disrupting a solid run to play Hutch? With back to back games on the weekend it might make sense to play Hellebuyck on Thursday and then go to Hutch on Saturday in St. Louis. However, with the Jets playing in Chicago on Sunday maybe the two starts are switched considering Hutchinson's history in the windy city.

There's a lot more playing to be done with positive results before fans start feeling optimistic about the Jets based on recent history. That's okay though as the team has things it needs to improve upon before it should be feeling confident too but right now they should enjoy the win against an equally matched team.
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