Oh Captain where art thou?
“Right here!… should be the reply to the question in the heading of this blog.
One of the main criticism of the the Jets and the players has been the that of the captain, Blake Wheeler. Some have even gone so far as to say he’s been missing in action. That’s a strong statement about the passionate leader of the Jets, one who has a lot of pride about his game and team. However Wheeler has been rather absent, until last night.
By the base metric for possession, Corsi, Wheeler was a positive last night at 54.55% CF at 5v5 against the rival Wild.
Before that in the previous 6 games Wheeler was a combined 44.3% CF. His on-ice save percentage has been a dismal .843 only to be compensated by his on-ice shooting percentage of 15.79% at least some one is scoring when he’s been out there.
Wheeler has also been marred by uncharacteristic giveaways and poor defensive play, he had a team worst 4 giveaways with no takeaways. His on-ice GA/60 is a second worst on the team for 5.59 per 60 minutes of ice time.
Frankly, many would say that Wheeler has been abysmal to date. However is that really the case? From a simply possession and control measurement he’s been certainly been off but by today he’s got 8 points in 7 games with one goal. He’s doing something right in spite of his iffy play.
Last night Wheeler was his old dominant self. Matchups against the likes of Winnik, Brodin, Staal, Kunin, Dumba and Koivu, Wheeler was out there keeping them in check and doing well. This measurement is using the xG from Manny Elk’s corsica site.
Wheeler was one of the top performers in xGF% for both teams as well last night. Simply put he was driving play on the ice and helping get the shots against the wild the team needed. He set up Laine beautifully and his drive to the net on the questionable disallowed goal by Scheifele was fantastic. However it was his game-winning goal coming on at speed to take the pass from rookie Kyle Connor and then undress Dubnyk was the icing on the cake for the captain.
It’s one game but the captain was back to his old self it appeared and Jets fans are going to hope it stays that way.
Overall the Jets had a good if not great game with the usual lapses. The challenges came again defensively at the end of the first period where a mis-play by Trouba to clear the puck behind the net after Morrissey was hammered into the boards caused an easy backhand goal against the Jets as Hellebuyck was frozen trying to stop a point blank shot.
The Jets lead disappeared completely in the second period until Wheeler’s game winning goal when a streaking Trouba could not take a pass in the circle for a shot and the Wild rushed up before Matthias could get back to stop Koivu’s backhand. Perhaps that style of shot is a bit of kryptonite for Hellebuyck because the rest of his game was solid.
Two players who looked particularly dangerous were Laine and Ehlers and the results of 3 goals between them is all the evidence needed. Laine’s two goals were classic style for the second year player- both cannon strength that Dubnyk had no chance against. Ehler’s goal was unstoppable as well on a great feed from Enstrom behind the as he took the puck down low and found the Dane in the slot all alone. It was in and out so fast it required video review to confirm it.
This was a better effort than what fans experienced Tuesday but it was far from a masterpiece. This is was also against the Wild who have just one win this season. It’s still hard to get a read on what kind of team the Jets are, can be or won’t be as there’s simply not enough consistent game work to make sense of this group. That in actuality might be what the Jets are another version of their inconsistent selves. There’s now six days off before the Jets play again, it will be interesting to see what comes back to the rink when they do play again.