Jets Barely Beat Wild- Kings Coming In Strong
Forget that it was 5-1, forget that the Jets coud have made it 6-1, or 8-1, ask one thing and one thing only, where is the killer instinct in this group?
It does not matter that the Jets let the WIld back in the game it matter that they did not put it so far out of reach that the Wild had no choice but pack it in. When the Jets made the game 5-1 and surely had the Wild had a goalie who could stop anything, unlike Kuemper, the score may have been much different.
The good
Stafford had two goals and was an offensive threat much of the game
Ehlers- could have had a hat trick if he kept shooting. Fooled everyone in the building when he rang one off the cross bar from an odd angle and very quick release. Jets need to set him free more
LLW- had a solid game with goals but again had some tough time in their own zone
The bad
Hutchinson- while not at fault he was shaky and had a hard time playing the puck behind the net whilst communicating with his team mates. Were his goals allowed bad, no but they weren’t great as a whole either
Stuart may have had the best Corsi rating but he was awful along his own blue line and not much better down low as the game wore on. Stuart is showing the signs of age, when the play comes at him fast he can’t keep up.
Officials- they let so much go that should have been called but in the end it sets a bad precedent for what players can get away with before they call the game. Missed a lot and it was going both ways, even though the Wild had the PP edge.
The ugly
Trouba- beaten like a rented mule on the opening goal just 10 seconds in, he fought the puck hard all game, making mistake after mistake while failing to adjust to a Wild attack that was splitting him and Stuart like the Red Sea.
Byfuglien- Even Burmistrov knew he did something done with his elbowing penalty when he saw it- I’m not sure Buff feels remorse for his hit on Pomminville. It was a dumb, selfish, and potentially costly as there were two minutes left in the game and it gave the Wild the chance to go 6-on-4 with the empty net.
The bigger picture here is the Jets are still riding some luck, although it did not come in the way of goaltending, more so from shooting success. That won’t happen every game though. The challenge now is that they have to realize there are deficiencies in their approach to the game plan and play. Coach Paul Maurice knows and he said as much about the team moving their legs after they had a lead. At times last night the Jets looked like the Globe Trotters out there and soon after they looked like the Charleston Chiefs, sometimes in the same shift.
The Kings, winners of five straight games are coming for a game tomorrow night and present the biggest challenge to date for the Jets. That’s not to take away from the Islanders, or Blues but the Jets are 2-1 on this five game home stand and now face the hottest team in the west. This is a measuring point for the team, for one to see if they want to play for sixty minutes and the other to see how they match up to another team that plays a heavy game. So nice to use a Claude Noel-ism.
Some would say the Kings have been bad but if you look closer they have just had bad goaltending until lately and a ridiculously low success rate shooting the puck- well that’s starting to change. Again the same standards apply for the Jets, less penalty trouble, alert play and make proper adjustments.
The Kings are probably licking their chops after seeing Stuart and Trouba give up ground like the French during an invasion and that would be the first adjustment that Maurice has to ensure is made. The other adjustment is the neutral zone. The Wild were making it look easy getting through at times and that was because they put one guy high almost every breakout. Get the first pass to the blue line and then it was almost instantly in the Jets end and the defense was often chasing.
In the end the Jets pulled up and got the win but it doesn’t mean they have to forget the turbulence they caused themselves. Something that is preventable but that never gets prevented.
Burmistrov was fined $4000 today for his elbow on Spurgeon but he knew it was probably coming.
Vine from Stefan Kurbis
One has to wonder if Byfuglien gets anything for this too: