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Jets take nose die in St. Paul

April 16, 2018, 9:53 AM ET [38 Comments]
Peter Tessier
Winnipeg Jets Blogger •Winnipeg Jets Writer • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The better team won.

The better team of the two that played in St. Paul MN that is. The Jets held their own when the teams were paying at even strength but once special teams happened and a few other unfortunate events they were out-scored. Some are troubled by how the loss happened and others are questioning certain aspects of the Jets-they shouldn't.

The Jets took the Wild bait yesterday. They opted to engage in the physical warfare the home team decided to wage and in the process took a few too many penalties. In the end, a long affair for the Jets and their fans it was a 6-2 loss and now the series of three games is tied at 9 goals apiece.

The injury on Tyler Myers, while apparently dirty, will never be seen as that by the league. There's simply not enough evidence to support further investigation on the event. Myers however will be looked at today and evaluated. The good news was that he walked down the tunnel on his own power.

The basic reality remains that the Wild pushed the Jets into a style of game they did not want to play- a physical grinding one that forced Winnipeg to take some dumb penalties. See Chiarot, Ben.

The Jets are a team built on skill and while the opposition may decide to bring the physical game if you are moving the puck well you will defeat it nine times out of ten, but you still have to take the odd hit or two. The Wild will certainly come out charged by their fans again on Tuesday night and likely apply some similar tactics, why not they worked right?

Here's the thing, now the adjustments happen. The Jets did not skate particularly well nor did the cover the gaps well on their checking assignments- these are easily fixed. What the Wild should be wary of is this: in the first two games the Jets had 7 goals on 84 shots for 8.33% shooting while the Wild had 3 on 3 on 37 for 8.1% shooting. Last night the Wild had 6 on 29 shots for 20.6% while the Jets had 2 on 31 shots for 6.4%.

The Wild are not going to shoot 20.6% the rest of the series and the Jets are simply shooting to the average of the league that hovers around 7-8%. While the Jets have had some luck, that luck has not been to the same extent as it happened for Minnesota last night, not even close.

I'm a firm believer that you give yourself opportunities to capitalize on good luck but last night could be seen as excessive for one team. That's going to happen now the task for the Jets is to make sure it does not become a trend. There's more to look at here and that can come later but no one should be hitting the panic button. The Jets hold a 2-1 series lead, have 2 more games at home and a day to regroup that's not interrupted by a weird travel day.

The Jets will get back into their routine and do what's necessary. How they execute the changes and adjustments is the bigger question and against the second best home team in the league make the challenge a bit tougher. It's the playoffs, nothing comes easy and no one thought the Jets would win 16 straight.

Finally- the officiating.

Look, if anyone is expecting consistency from officiating in the NHL during the playoffs then I'm not sure what sport you've been watching since October. It doesn't happen over 82 game and it's not going to start now.
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