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— NHL on NBC (@NHLonNBCSports) April 12, 2018
The first period was tentative- a bit of feeling out by both teams and a whole lot of physical play. Then 'it's happened and the release came- Mark Scheifele on the power play opened the scoring and the Jets took a 1-0 lead into the third period. Then it got interesting.
Before that third period the Jets and Wild had traded punches so to speak with the lone casualty being Mathieu Perreault as he had to leave the game and only had seven minutes of playing time. Upper body injury as of right now.
The game was a bit back and forth but by the end of the first the Jets had shown some control with possession and scoring chances. Combined between scoring chances and high danger scoring chances they led by 11-5.
The Wild managed to claw back into the game in the second and took over the possession control for the period but still had not matched up to the Jets for the totality of the game. The combined scoring chances had the Wild leading 9-5 for the period. Then Scheifele scored.
The Jets had already had a power play and were held to some chances but no goal this time though they loaded up again but did something a bit different. When the Jets set up Wheeler again controlled the puck from the top pf the circle and came down but so did Patrik Laine the Wild reacted. They reacted by collapsing and collapsing wide to cover Laine but who moved into the slot? Mark Scheifele. He opened the scoring with a PP goal that had Dubnyk beat far side as the goalie was probably not thinking a shot from the slot.
Again though this adjustment showed how Maurice is seeing the game and using all the weapons he has. It was a smart design and excellent execution. There was also poor execution though and again it was from many fans target Dustin Byfuglien.
Before that event though another pair of fan targets Myers and Chairot blew a read as the Wild attacked. The Wild had a plan and if there was a turnover in their end they did everything possible to move the puck out fast and it often worked. In this case as the Wild attacked, Myers and Ehlers followed the same player in and Chiarot stayed low allowing Cullen to come in with Chiarot caught in no man's land.
The go ahead goal for the Wild was due to a misread or calculation by big Buff. He launched a shot from the right point and it was blocked but he had a chance to play the puck again but instead of whacking it in he tried to finesse it past the Wild player and generate another chance. It didn't work and Morrow was caught in deep covering with a 2 on 1 facing him down. He did not play it well but but in the end a great pass and timing by Parise had the Wild up 2-1 with 16:02 left in the third period.
You. Could. Here. A. Pin. Drop.
It did not take long though and after that goal the Jets found their legs and drive. They only allowed the Wild one shot for the next 15 minutes, they had 17. As Paul Maurice said post game, "Theres an underlying confidence in our team that we can score goals. Now you've got an awful to of goals coming off the bench, we don't need to open the game up to do it".
He was right and it took less than a minute for the Jets to respond and they did when Laine ripped a wrist shot that Dubnyk is still trying see. Laine helped keep that play alive when he managed to coral a bobbled puck at the Wild blue line and hold possession until Ehler and Stastny could regroup. Then he fed Stastny who cut down the middle and dropped a pass before taking a hit that ultimately turned into a pic that would open space for Laine. As he skated in the stick bent and then the bullet left the proverbial chamber before hitting the net behind Dubnyk's glove. Tie game, but the Jets weren't done.
The onslaught continued and the Jets kept attacking. They were 26-10 in combined scoring and high danger scoring chances while out attempting the Wild 33-11 in shots. Then it was Joe Morrow's chance. Again Laine and Ehlers had a part of the action.
Laine kept the puck down low along the boards where Ehlers was able to battle for it and then flip it back out. At this point Laine was in familiar territory but the puck came past him to Morrow and then the shot heard across the province came off. First it hit the inside of Coyle's skate which caught Dubnyk allowing it to hit the inside of his bad and through the five-hole. 3-2. Not the goal scorer anyone had in their pools. "We're taking all of them, you're not throwing any back in the playoffs," said Maurice when asked about quality of goals and unexpected scorers.
The Jets kept the pressure up, driving play but also taking some chances to extend the lead once the Wild had pulled Dubnyk with 2:50 left. They had six icings and all because of failure to control the play and hit the empty net. Paul Maurice was not concerned about the icings. "Key piece to that is big face-off wins by Adam Lowry," said the coach when asked about the series of icings. They were winning draws and that was what was most important to him.
When it was all said and done the Jets squeaked out a 3-2 win and finally got the playoff win monkey off their backs. Paul Maurice was pleased with his team and mentioned that "The tension came out of our game as it went on," talking about the nerves of his players and that, "They all started to skate a little bit better as the game went on".
Bruce Boudreau was calm after the game when he spoke, a far cry different from his reaction on the bench when th eJets got the go-ahead goal. "I mean they picked up the pace a little bit. When they scored the got the emotion into it and we sagged a bit," said Boudreau. Most of the goals tonight came from mistakes and Broudreau knew it from his side when he commented, "We made a couple of mistake and it cost us goals," referring to the play of the Wild rookies.
When he spoke of the tying goal he was quite direct about the impact and how ti came to be as well, "We had an oppotunity with the lead in the third period, we had a good chance to win. You can't give 29 a chance right down the slot to score on a turnover, you're looking at disaster there."
He was right, it wasn't so much a disaster for the Wild though. Even though they were outshot out chanced and for the most part outplayed in the last half of the game they kept the Jets close and made them work hard for everything. I'd expect the Jets to have to work even harder come Friday night.
By the Numbers:
WPG CF% 63.06% WPG FF% 80% WPG SCF% 64% WPG HDCF% 62.5%
1 win 3 to go.