The Winnipeg Jets earned one point in a shootout loss to the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday. On the second half of a home-and-home series between the two Western-Canadian teams, we got to experience a whole lot of storylines. Goaltending was phenomenal at both ends of the ice, with both goalies carrying an almost-54 minutes shutout. Connor McDavid does COnnor McDavid things, and the Jets are finally feeling comfortable in their system and teammates.

Looking at the box score of this game, you wouldn't really get that feeling that you missed much in this game. With each team only notching one goal on the scoresheet, and other than a couple off-setting penalties, there wasn't a ton for special teams either, until the end, that is. Despite all of this, the Jets had an impressive 29 shots headed into the third period, finishing OT with 47. While shots themselves aren't a game-changing stat or anything, it is worth noting that Kyle Connor registered 9, Copp with 7, Ehlers with 6, and Harkins with 5. On the flip side, there were 6 Jets players to not register one shot on goal. The depth needs to contibute to some more offense.

The biggest story from this game, as I mentioned, was the goaltending. Not only did Connor Hellebuyck stop all but one shot (and it was a pretty darn good one, which we will get to), Stuart Skinner also stopped 46/47. These performances would be impressive enough on their own, but when factoring in all of the highlight-reel, desperation, and saves that are straight robbery, these goalies earned the first and second star of this game, no doubt about it.

The game opened up with a pretty early fight, seeing Logan Stanley and Zack Kassian go toe-to-toe in a heavyweight match that didn't really go anywhere. After this was a another call on Dubois and Nurse for roughing. It isn't much, but the toughness that was on display early was good to see out of this team. We know Dubois and Stanley are capable of this, as well as Wheeler and others, but it is good to see some emotion coming out of these guys.

Up until the end of the second, and truthfully, up until the pair of goals in this game, the Jets did a fantastic job defending this Oilers team. Again, just like the last game against them, the Oilers were shut down due to the Jets playing tight in their own zone, not giving lots of breathing room, and cloggin up the lanes. These are really cliché sayings for how to defend well, but it is because it works. The Jets have the two best forwards in the league (This season at least) and held the entire team to one goal? The reason they are cliché is becuase it works. Adding so much pressure on a player whenever they have the puck causes turnovers, which the Jets got lots of opportunities from.

Nikolaj Ehlers is the lone goal-scorer for the Jets, as with about 6 minutes to go, he rifles home his 5th of the season, with two drop-pass assists coming from Scheifele (4th) and Connor (9th). Similar to his goal on Tuesday, he just kind of winds up for a huge slap-shot while he is all alone, and takes the shot. He makes it look just too easy. But not as easy as Connor McDavid makes the game of hockey look...

Just over 25 seconds later, Connor McDavid works his magic and comes flying into the Jets zone with 3 defenders in front of him. With Stanley and DeMelo in position, and Lowry, who has been staying with McDavid, it is hard to imagine he scores another goal like he did against the Rangers.

But it is Connor McDavid, of course he did.

As McDavid crosses the blue-line, evading Lowry, he just walks through everybody and finds the back of the net on a 1 vs 3 rush scoring his second best goal of the season.

With just under a minute to go in a tie game, Connor McDavid catches Mark Scheifele up high with the stick and draws blood from the lip, and now has to sit in the box for 4 minutes or less with the game about to go to overtime. Overall, this Jets powerplay looked incredible. The Jets spent almost the whole 4 minutes with their powerplay set up, 4-on-3 in overtime. The powerplay did everything you could ask for but score. Some players seemed gassed, lost, or overwhelmed with the given opportunity, as Wheeler, for example, had plenty of opportunities to shoot and elected not to. The biggest positive about it all was the Jets ability to hold the line. What an impressive job done by a combination of all of the Jets players, especially Wheeler for this one. Again, they did everything they had to but score.

Once the powerplay was over, McDavid touched the puck for a second and I think everyone has a voice whispering in their ear that somehow the winner would be McDavid after serving his 4 minute penalty, but not much happened after we were back to even strength.

The shootout, which should be replaced with 5 more minutes of 3-on-3, was a quick one. No Jets players were able to beat Skinner, and Turris ended the shootout before the Jets could even get their third shot. Hard to complain about a shootout perfomance from anybody as it is just one shot, but with the offense this team has, usually it is a safe bet to bet on at least one goal.

It was a very strong team effort for the Jets, and going against a rival, who they have recent playoff experience with, and will likely have lots more in the coming years, they played a huge game. Hellebuyck, Elhers, Dubois, all played fantastic, so look to see them ride this home-and-home series through to the next few games. Edmonton is not an easy team to beat, and an even harder team to hold to one goal.

Thank you for taking the time to read, let me know your thoughts below and what you think the Jets did right. Have a great day!

By Jacob Billington
Follow @JacobBillingt10

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