Jets in Shock After Lightning (Jets Lightning)

Jets Lightning

Jets in Shock After Lightning

By Wesley Peters

Jan 18, 2020 • 12:33 pm

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The Bolts

The uber-talented Tampa Bay Lightning rolled into town second in the Atlantic Division, 8 points back of the Bruins, and 3 in front of the Leafs. Despite going 8 – 2 in their previous 10, they looked rather poor during the last 3. Having conceded one to the lowly Devils, followed by a close overtime win against the crappy Kings, and then a second loss, this time to the mediocre Minnesota Wild.

Then they just walked into MTS Arena and completely out-Jetted the Jets. Allowing their opponent to outshoot them, but scoring in every possible situation.

The Jets

The Jets came in just 1-point shy of the last wildcard slot and 2 out of the first. Niku was lining up with Neal Pionk for the first time, and Bourque was back in for Harkins, who had played 6 minutes, and registered a shot Tuesday against the Canucks. I think everyone was expecting a fiery Perreault today after his comments Thursday.

I think we all were aware of how lucky the Jets were to win their last game. How many posts did Vancouver hit in that one? And yet, we’d seen it before. The Jets just executing. “Is this the luckiest team since the 2013-2014 Colorado Avalanche?… we thought.

Before we break out the har… uh… break it all down, I have to say; as I’ve come to learn more about indigenous cultures in Canada, the more my appreciation for it grows. So, just a fantastic game-opening ceremony, and cool jerseys during the warm-up.

1st Period

Andrew Copp got things going when he set up Wheeler in the slot, but an unfortunate bounce caused the puck to skip on him. I loved Sbisa’s goalie save at the offensive blueline to try and keep the pressure on. They didn’t, but cool move. It was nice to see Morrissey jumping up in the rush and taking a pass from Copp to get a dangerous shot off. So that was two nice setups for Copp in the early going.

Kyle Connor and Tyler Johnson traded good chances but Hellebuyck was still in this one, and Vasilveskiy wasn’t going anywhere. Not learning from the Johnson chance, way too much time and space was given to Nikita Kucherov who walk in and thankfully missed the net wide. Short-lived relief though, as Onderj Palat made a nice play, finding Cirelli sneaking in from behind, and ripping one from the slot.

Then, in the last minute, Anthony Cirelli would take another great feed from Palat, and with some pretty slick hands, pull the puck to the backhand and slide the it past a sprawled out Hellebuyck. Ugh.

The Jets started off with a good forecheck and drew a penalty however, despite moving the puck around well on the powerplay, they wouldn’t get anything out of it. Their one dangerous looking play was a bobbling, inside pass from Wheeler to Laine that he just couldn’t get toward the net. The second unit came in and almost got one, when Roslovic took a laser of a pass from Copp across ice, but he couldn’t quite get it to go from the tough angle. That’s three sweet dishes for Copp now. I think he likes playing higher up in the lineup.

Next, it was Laine seemingly setting up Morrissey perfectly, but it was perfectly blocked by the Lightning defender. Shortly after, Point just missed Stamos on the rush, but grabbing it out of the corner, he spun around and found Kucherov for the one-timed snapper. Eeaah…

Verhaegue thought he would get in on the fun after the puck got turned over on the wall. And, anymore of that would have been punishment for Hellebuyck. Your turn Brossoit.

Intermission

I made a delectable Rueben sandwich and filled my glass with whiskey, fizzy water and orange peels. A considerable improvement to an otherwise less than fervent evening.

3rd Period

Both teams would have a powerplay in the first five minutes of the period, but neither would get an especially good chance. Niku’s wrister off a drop pass was probably their most dangerous in the first five minute, but if you haven’t been paying attention, Vasilevskiy, man. Cirelli would complete his hattrick on a broken play in which he initially tried to shoot, but was impeded. Still with the puck, he attempted a pass across to Johnson however, that was also blocked, only to return to him in time to get a feeble shot off that somehow alluded Brossoit. Sad trombone.

So, there you have it, folks. The team the Winnipeg Jets aspire to be. A fast team, built with skilled pieces that execute on the chances they maximize by sheer talent. How far away are these young Jets from being this team? I’d say some more proven defenseman on the backend, and a year or two’s development for the youngest of the Jet’s budding stars.

Post Mortem

The Jets are still just 1 point out of a wildcard spot and all is not lost. But, the Lightning my friends, is what a true contender looks like and it was a good measuring stick tonight. If you feel like you should after that one, watch this video.

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