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Lemieux comes in for Appleton to face Islanders

December 4, 2018, 11:49 AM ET [61 Comments]
Peter Tessier
Winnipeg Jets Blogger •Winnipeg Jets Writer • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Let the meltdowns begin but this was the news coming out of Brooklyn today ahead of the Jets playing the Islanders tonight:




With Copp not feeling well and Perreault moves up with Lowry and Tanev while Lemieux comes in rather than using Nic Petan. This move is puzzling and not because we know Paul Maurice likes some level of grit in his roster but simply because with Appleton the 4th line has hardly been the liability it once was with Lemieux on it.

What's more concerning is why the coach feels the Islanders are a team with an average amount of penalties as it pertains to majors with 5. Is Lemieux in to police the locals? The problem is that Jets are the second most penalized team by minutes at 297 and Brendan Lemieux ranks third on the team with 29 minutes (9.7%) in just 12 games played. Ahead of him are Myers and Chiarot with 35 and 32 minutes respectively. The crazier reality is that in less than half the game splayed Lemieux average 2:24 PiM/G compared to Myers 1:20 PiM/G. What good does sitting in the box do?

Needless to say there's more than a few fans who are restless around this move and again if Paul Maurice is working on building the team's identity as he stated before the season- what kind of ID does Lemieux give this group?

Wyman also reports that Hellebuyck will be back in net and given the game he had vs the Rangers it seems fair as this is a goalie who needs to find his confidence again. Furthermore Kulikov will be back soon according to Wyman but not tonight so that could ease concerns around Schilling soon.

Compared to the Islanders the Jets are a scoring machine with 15 more total goals in one less game played but look at the other column- they have given up five more goals. The Islanders only have two players who have cracked 20 points and no one who has scored at least 10 goals. The shots rank 27th on PP at 15.4% and 18th on PK at 78.5% while the Jets are 2nd and 7th respectively.

On paper this looks like a game the Jets should win and that's what most were feeling about the previous two games versus the Devils and Rangers. If the Jets realize that the third period versus the Rangers is the team they need to be for 60 minutes then this might not be too much trouble but most know nothing comes easy for the Jets these days.

Greiss and Lehner have more than made up for other deficiencies on the team with their play. Greiss is rocking a .926 while Lehner is at .913 in their 25 total games this season. That's a far cry from last year and is this the new normal under Trotz or simply two guys coming back to where they should have been?

The Jets can keep pace with the Predators and Avalanche with a win but given the inconsistency with the team and the Lemieux variable (probably overstated) this game could be another adventure. That's on the Jets to manage and if they are forming an identity again, fans can only hope they manage it like last game, in particular a continuation of the 3rd period.
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