It all started with so much promise when Bryan Little in his second game back scored 35 seconds into the game. Mark Letestu tied it up two minutes later but the Finisher, Patrik Laine scored on the power play to make it 2-1 and the Jets took that lead into the first intermission.

After that is when the wheels fell off.

Trouba took a holding the stick penalty at the start of the second period and the game was tied up quickly. Then the Oilers took over with two more goals for a 4-2 lead and the Jets were showing less signs of live than a cadaver.

What went wrong? Goaltending- check. Penalty Kill- check. Defence- check. Anything else?

While the Jets are now the second most penalized team in the NHL with 117 the Oilers had just as many as the Jets last night. The Jets also scored two PP goals but gave up 3. That's the problem, if you are going to take a lot of penalties you better have a decent PK unit- the Jets are the 6th worst in the league.

The power play is no screaming joy either with a 15.4% success rate at 19th in the league.

Connor Hellebuyck was a shadow of himself from the Nashville and New Jersey games earlier this week. He now sits with a very Pavelec-like save % of .908 on the season. While still developing the wild swings in Hellebuyck's game can no longer go unnoticed. This kid needs a soothsayer, a goalie whisperer or something to help him get his head straight. But perhaps that's needed more than just him.

The Jets play one of the most passive forms of hockey I've seen. Is it a fear of injuries, or something else? The opportunities to get back in the game were there last night as Talbot is far from reliable or consistent. When the pucks were loose the Jets could get nowhere near the crease as they were consistently boxed out and removed from the puck, over and over and over again. Where was the jam? Where was the truculence? Where was the push?

They tried Byfuglien in front and while he had an impact he could not make much happen either. It's funny, Little's goal came from that low slot, high-danger area and after that the Jets never got a sniff of anything there again. Kudos to the Oilers.

Was the speed of McDavid and the rest of the Oilers too much for the Jets to handle? Yes and no. Yes in that no one handles McDavid well but when your breakout consists of skating to neutral zone and stopping to wait for the pass that is stolen by the opposition coming back at you- that's not a speed problem. That's a tactical problem.

Many mention the line combos and deployment of Patrick Laine on the PP as he's not on the top unit. It didn't seem to hurt him last night with two PP goals but there are questions based on usage decisions.

If I had to guess there's systems problem that is confounding some players and resulting in problems with execution of said system. Morrissey and Byfuglien seemed to have their wheels crossed. Trouba was probably the only real stable player out there and perhaps it's time to put him with Morrissey as the top pair.

While Morrissey has played well i'm not sold that he's the best fit for Byfuglien. In fact I would suggest that putting the tandem of Enstrom Byfuglien back together makes sense and try the Trouba Morrissey combo. If Kyle Connor's usage can be guessed at like pulling a card from a deck could Maurice try to help a woefully inconsistent defence by shaking up the pairings? Yes and he should.

Frankly the trickle down could be that when Myers returns we see him and Chiarot as the third pairing and why would that be such a bad thing?

The challenge that fans are facing is understanding the combinations and moves. Do the Jets need a 60 minute 200 foot game? Yes but it's not happening as the roster is aligned now and that has to be troubling for Maurice because it looks like he's guessing a bit too with his usage and that's never a good sign.

Again, this is a middling team and will be for some time. Don't lose sight of what the Jets are even if they win a few games. They can be better, certainly, but like most things the past five years this is a developing roster and it seems a certain part of the vets has trouble adapting to the developing youth. That's an entirely different topic though but one that should be discussed.

For now it's wait and see as the Jets hit the depths of the Central division with back-to-back games against Chicago and St. Louis on the road.

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