Jets Vs Capital Part Two & Risings Star
The Jets, and their fans, have by now licked their wounds and hopefully shaken off the ‘agony of defeat’ but like all things with the Jets, questions remain.
For instance some are wondering about the goaltending from Connor Hellebuyck in that game on Tuesday night. There was good and there was bad from Hellebuyck but there was no ugly so take that as a positive. Hellebuyck did enough to keep his team only down by two goals going into the third and in theory that should be enough, but it wasn’t.
The Capitals were not getting nearly the same volume of shots or power play time and that’s where the concern is, two goals on shots he should have saved. Then there’s the game winner with thirty seconds left, perhaps it’s more than Lowry who should own the blame?
This should all be in the past though right? Not sitting in their heads where they can dwell on it for days before facing the same team tonight, at least that’s the hope.
Vezina award winning goaltending compared to 32 total NHL games and that probably happens again tonight as the Jets head into Washington. What should the Jets do differently? Absolutely nothing unless you mean score a power play goal or two. It’s likely that we see the addition of either Andrew Copp who has been called up and possibly Marko Dano tonight or in one of the next few games on this road trip.
Drew Stafford is retroactively placed on injured reserve and now Mathias joins him thus the need to call Copp up from the Manitoba Moose. This could be an interesting situation as Copp played the whole year with the big club last season and near the end, with better line mates he showed some flash and offensive skill that was lying dormant within him. This shall be interesting to see the lines and any juggling as the game goes on.
The other thing that has some Jets fans talking is the play of rookie defence man Josh Morrissey. As a primer I wrote this piece about Morrissey last year and I think’s relevant based on the season Morrissey had last year with the Moose and what he’s doing now.
I threw out this poll yesterday and I think it’s worth taking a look at.
Who is the Jets best defence man right now?
— Peter Tessier (@Teddier) November 2, 2016
Morrissey as a rookie has been more than effective and while not putting points up the way he did in junior he’s far from a liability at the NHL level. The other part about Morrissey is that fans may have tempered their expectations of him as well and he was allowed to learn and make mistakes away from the NHL microscope. Another player who benefitted from that is Mark Scheifele. It was clear he was not ready in his first two attempts to make the club but look at how he has trended by growing in a better spot.
Morrissey is on this team because he has grown and also out of necessity, that being due to the Jacob Trouba contract situation. While he may not have been the most likely candidate for some, he’s done nothing short of earn and own his position and role on this team.
Morrissey, after some early season struggles, is now putting up a 53% Corsi and starting more in his own end than any other Jets defence not name Byfuglien. The team is shooting just above average when Morrissey is on the ice and the save percentage is higher too, all this at even strength.
There’s no question that playing with Byfuglien helps Morrissey, as it would any player, but that ‘other player’ has to be able to read the play and learn from the situation. One thing that is said frequently about Morrissey is how smart he is and how he conducts himself. That wasn’t always the case with him and he earned a bit of a reputation in junior hockey circles. He’s done more to dispel that reputation than anyone could have imagined as well as create a new one, a hard hitting positionally sound player.
While some would tell you about Morrissey’s physical play from junior it was not his hallmark, now we’re starting to see something from him that for most fans was unexpected. For head coach Paul Maurice and the management team what they are seeing must be a bit more than a pleasant surprise. Is it sustainable? That’s something we’ll learn as the season goes on but so far Morrissey has given fans and his coaches reason to be optimistic about what his career can be. He’s still got more to learn and room to grow but that’s on him and if past history is any indicator this player wants to grow into something special.
FYI:
It appears Dano is in at LW and Burmistrov moved to wing while Copp centres the two. Laine has moved down to be LW next to Lowry and Armia while Tanev bas moved up to 2nd line RW with Perreault and Connor. Melchiori or Stuart could be a game time decision?
27-55-26 81-85-13 29-17-40 56-9-91
44-33 39-4 71-7