The handwringing is done and today there's nothing left for the team and more particularly head coach Paul Maurice to figure out a way to deal with an improving Predators team.
While many metrics suggest the Jets were the 'better' team on Thursday night, and they are not wrong, the Preds were victors because they were able to execute a game plan once they secured a 2-goal lead. Lost in much of the discussion yesterday was that the first Preds goal was an unlikely one given the players and situation and the second was a good PP goal but not unstoppable. Perhaps the simple yet completely hard to measure aspect of luck played a role? How differently would the game have progressed had Rinne's knob not gotten in the way of Morrissey's weak shot?
The Preds capitalized on good opportunity and got some luck, the Jets did not get some luck when they had good opportunities. That there is really what decided the game and tonight the Jets need to find a way to be where Nashville was on Thursday.
One thing that has happened in this series is the forcing of mistakes, we saw it happen both ways in games one and two and then we saw everything in game three. Game four was a different in that it was low scoring and now we have game five- is there anything left to see?
The biggest controversy around the Jets is whether Mathieu Perreault could have played on Thursday and why Joel Armia came in for Roslovic while Hendricks was left on the roster? Those are questions Paul Maurice was vague about when questioned, at least to the more curious and challenging minds. Given that Perreault is almost a certainty to be in the lineup tonight how do the lines look?
27-55-26 81-25-29 17-09-13 85-18-40 or 52
Many are going to have some very passionate views about if they do not look this way.
Consider that Nashvilles top four defense are playing crazy minutes compared to the Jets if Maurice can roll his lines and sneak that bottom three out there is potential for havoc and goals- something the Jets dearly need given that Rinne is starting to look like Vezina Rinne right now.
The other part of usage is the defense pairing times. At 5 vs 5 the Preds third pair of Irwin and Weber only played 8:31 and 8:16 respectively while the other four were all over 20 minutes. Byfugliena and Myers topped out for Winnipeg but way down the list were Trouba 14:57 and Morrissey 13:39 with Chiarot between them. That's not the way to do things considering Trouba and Morrissey led the team in CF% each at 67%. Who was at the bottom- oh Ben Chiarot.
Random thoughts about the team
Is Blake Wheeler injured? Something seems off with him, I wonder if Laine is too.
Anyone have any video on how you beat a 1-3-1 trap, if so send to Paul Maurice.
With 3 slow starts in a row, will the Jets launch a bit more of an attack to start game 5?
If Nashville continues to roll 2 defense pairs will the Jets try to physically wear them down?
If Perreault is healthy and playing what line combos do you use?
Game is another 8:30 CST start so get the coffee ready and Go Jets Go!