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Jets Look to Redeem Themselves Against the Flyers |
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The Jets will be going up against the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday, who’ll play in the second of their back to back. Add to that the earlier start time, and the Jets should have a clear advantage. Starts have been an issue for the Jets through most of the season, so with the Philly legs bound to get tired as the game wears on, it may not be a bad idea to try to get a quick start to this one.
The Flyers do appear to be for real this year however, the Metropolitan division is so crowded they may not be able to hang in there for the playoffs. The good news is they maintain the second wild card position, 1 point back of the Carolina Hurricanes and Pittsburgh Penguins. The bad news is, they’re going to have to fend off 4 teams just 4 points behind them, and the surging Maple Leafs, just 5 points back.
The Flyers have had to deal with a fair bit of adversity this year, with Winnipegger, and 2nd overall pick in 2017, Nolan Patrick having not played at all this year due to migraines. Add to that their leading scorer Travis Konecny, who hasn’t played since receiving a concussion against Ottawa December 7th. The good news being that he has skated this week. The latest and worst news for this team, is learning that Oskar Lindblom has been diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma, a type of cancer that forms in bone and soft tissue, and will not play for the remainder of the season. Let’s all send our most positive thoughts and prayers for this young man in his new fight.
Incredible that, despite all these injuries to the youth of the Flyers, they still have an insane amount of young talent in the lineup in Joel Farabee 19, Morgan Frost 20, Mikhail Vorobyev 22, Phillipe Myers 22, Ivan Provorov 22, David Kase 22, and Travis Sandheim 23. Why did Hextall get fired again?
Provorov seems to have found his offensive flair again, after a somewhat offensively disappointing season last year, with 19 points in 31 games, including 7 goals. And Phillipe Myers, with his 9 points in 17 games, leads the team as a +14 with the next best rating going to the aforementioned Russian defender at +8. That’s looking bright for the future of the Philly blue line.
Another interesting development for this team is just how spread out their scoring is. After point totals of 85 for Giroux and 76 for Couturier last year, the big boys have just 23 and 22 points, 31 games into the season. Add to that 7 million-dollar men Kevin Hayes and James Van Riemsdyk at 15 and 14 apiece, and you have a team that is scoring by committee. This will be an interesting team to watch as the youth begin to usurp the veterans in the coming years.
The Jets took to the ice for practise today hoping to wash the stink off of their last game in Detroit. Some be saying the old cliche, “we need to forget about that one”, but I’m of the mind that it should remain firmly planted in their skulls so as not to repeat it. Sure, the Red Wings had some lucky bounces, but that’s the game of hockey and you need to prepare for that. Let’s hope the Jets are ready for this one as their own division continues to tighten up.
David Gustafsson was officially sent off to participate in the World Juniors Tournament. It’s expected that he will finish the season in his home country of Sweden. Probably for the best as he was averaging only 6 minutes a game. Hardly the way to develop a young player however, those 22 games of experience are perfect to illustrate what he will need to do to come back and earn a spot next year. The Jets management team really seems to have a great ability to balance the here and now with the future. Kudos!
Mason Appleton, in the second game of his conditioning stint with the Manitoba Moose, got his first point in a very close 3-2 loss to the Texas Stars last night. Paul Maurice said that he was going to have to work his way back into the line up, but my guess is, he will be up sooner than later.
Continuing with the Moose, Jansen Harkins recorded 2 assists last night giving him 31 points on the year and placing him 3rd in the league. Extremely impressive statistics for the 22 year old, 2nd round, 47th overall pick. This Jets scouting staff does not miss much. I don’t think any team has a better track record since Winnipeg re-entered the league. Go on, try to convince me if you think differently. I’d love to hear the argument. Worth noting, Harkins maxed out with 31 points last season albeit, in 70 games, so the trajectory here is truly promising. Will he be a Jet as soon as next year? Will there even be room for him? Good problems for this team to have.
Enjoy the game!
Winnipeg Jets Blogger • 
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