Does it seem that the Jets are not that interesting? Do you as a fan feel there is little compelling story around them? Are they just not that exciting or intriguing?
That's the sense I get from many Jets fans and it probably has to do with their play one that is lacklustre and somewhat inconsistent if not unpredictable. That's what we saw from the Jets this past weekend against the Blue Jackets and Blackhawks, a case where the Jets one a game then lost a game.
First the Jets roared to a 3-0 start against the visitors on Thursday night who happened to be the the lowly Blue Jackets but the score ended as a 6-4 win with an empty net goal being the insurance marker. It was far closer than it should have been. This was also the third win in a row for the Jets after beating Toronto soundly and then the Capitals in a hard fought 2-1 OT win.
One could suggest that the makings of Friday's loss were already in the mix against Columbus and then a 2-0 blanking by the Blackhawks.
Isn't that the rub with the Jets- nothing seems to work all at once, or at least rarely does?
Against the Jackets the Jets only allowed 9 high danger scoring chances at even strength while creating 10 of their own and uncharacteristically they only had 6 penalty minutes all game. Yet against the Blackhawks they only allowed 4 high danger scoring chances at even strength while creating 7 of their own.
To take that further the same thing happened away from even strength versus Chicago as it did against Columbus- special teams killed the Jets. It may not have cost them the game but both goals came on Chicago power plays. So yeah, maybe it did. Because when not at even strength the Jets flip-flopped on high danger scoring chances giving up 10 in all situations while only adding 1 to their total for 8. The won the Corsi battle though.
That possession positive is little comfort when you can't score at even strength and your penalty kill and power play are awful. Sure Chicago is a 5th ranked PP unit in the league, Columbus is 17th but the Jets are 28th. Those same teams are 10th (Chicago) in PK and 12th (Columbus)...oh the Jets they are 23rd.
It's bad enough that the team has trouble being in sync at 5v5 strength but it's only compounded by the special teams problems. Thus you get results like weird 3 game win streaks only to be pounded right back down again. That's the difference between this year and last year, consistency and output were better and the results show it. The inner workings of the results do lead to big problems on special teams though and that can't be sitting well with Paul Maurice.
The Jets face the Blues tomorrow and once again which version shows up, Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde?It's like not going to be anything special though yet that where attention needs to be focussed not on hoping a rookie goaltending can mask bigger problems with a hot streak.