Jets Just About Ruin Bruins Scheduled Win (Jets Bruins)

Jets Bruins

Jets Just About Ruin Bruins Scheduled Win

By Wesley Peters

Jan 12, 2020 • 1:03 pm

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The Setup

Suiting up for their third game in four nights and their second of a back to back, the Jets did everything they could to stay in the fight Thursday night. I don’t know about you, but I did not expect them to put up a four spot after learning that they only made it to their hotel at 2:30 am last night. Especially when considering what went down the night before. But these Jets are a resilient bunch, and even though they didn’t get the win, we still got an entertaining hockey game.

The Bruins, on the other hand, had a day’s rest and the home ice advantage albeit, without their back-end monster Zdeno Chara. If you haven’t seen why, now’s the time.

With that out of the way, let’s get down to business. The Jets started Kulikov tonight, back from injury after missing a few, and gave Harkins the night off in favor of Gabriel Bourque. The result of Kulikov coming of the IR was Logan Shaw being exposed to waivers, which is fine. He’s an AHLer who did a good job as a placeholder, but as the Jets get healthy and their youth continue to grow, he’s gonna have to take a back seat. On to the game.

1st Period

The first period began with some “meh… chances for both teams, but as it continued the Bruins fresh legs started to dictate the pace. There was that one chance though, where Kyle Connor waltzed into the zone, most likely because Scheifele and Laine were acting as ideal decoys, beat the one defender on him with a deke to the backhand, and roofed it delectably. Yummy.

The fatigue was evident often, with every member of the first line bobbling a puck for no reason as they tried to skate with it through the neutral zone. But it wasn’t the Jets mistakes that cost the goals tonight (with the exception of that line change), it was the Bruins skill. Beginning with Pastrnak, who received a perfect pass in the slot from Nordstrom cruising behind the net. Yeah, you can’t leave the NHL leading goal scorer alone there, guys.

2nd Period

The Bruins out shot them 2 to 1 in that period, and that would be a theme throughout the game. Regardless, the Jets did what they could on the fumes they were running on. And those fumes would give us some enjoyable moments, such as the Morrissey blast that Copp deflected on the powerplay for his 100th career point. Congrats Copper!

Another short-lived lead would die when Wheeler got sent to the box for a trip and Pastrnak, seconds into the powerplay, one-timed the pass shelf on Bro.

I have a lot of fun watching the skill of the Jets individual players, so it was pretty cool when Scheifele intercepted a Bruin’s attempted aerial pass by knocking it down and then whacking it back into the zone off of the bounce. That’s some serious hand eye on skates mang!

The Bruins would get their first lead soon after, when DeBrusk impeded Sbisa’s attempt to keep the puck in the offensive zone and went in alone on Bro, firing it high glove side. Just good execution there, settling the puck just in time to shelf it.

The resiliency would come to light when Wheeler, on the powerplay, teed one up for Pionk who absolutely rifled one for his fourth. Who would have thought at the beginning of the season that Pionk would usurp Morrissey on the top powerplay unit? Not me.

And for those keeping score at home, that’s 29 points in 45 games for Pionk versus Trouba’s 21 in 43, for less than half the price. Just sayin’. Oh yeah, and reformed set up man Laine got his 100th career apple on the play.

3rd Period

This one started with Morrissey receiving a penalty for skating beside a falling down Charlie Coyle. Merp. The good news is that the Jets have learned how to kill penalties and so went about their business. On top of that, the Jets were able to find enough energy to cycle the puck in the Bruins end and create chances until Connor escaped his man along the boards and took the puck to net, sliding it across the crease to Scheifele who somehow flipped one on goal from a tough angle and snuck it by Halak. Neat!

After the botched called against Morrissey the refs figured they’d just double down and call an inconsequential hooking penalty on Ehlers in the offensive zone because, why not? Alright, cool. Might as well let the Jets get a little more practice on the PK during this “scheduled loss…. Gotta say though, that was a valiant-ass effort for a team playing it’s third in four nights and second of back to backs. And… we’ve come full circle.

I’m not gonna pretend to be impartial at all. I love this Jets team. They are probably where they belong in the standings, but they’re only there because they do every thing they can to be somewhere better. Don’t forget how young these guys are, if they keep playing with this determination, they’re going to be a better team by the season’s end, and an even better team next year.

The Jets will head back home to take on the Nashville Predators Sunday at 1:00 PM. So, you should all have plenty of time to get home from church.

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