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Jets fly by Bolts in dramatic fashion |
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"Negative Ghostrider, the pattern is full" well that did not stop Tom Cruise from doing his tower flyby in Top Gun and last night at Bell MTS Centre the Jets and Lighting were unrelenting in quest to be the top gun int he NHL.
While this game was not a 1 vs 2 game of the top teams in the NHL is was close and probably as close as it will get until that reality is decided in the Stanley Cup playoffs. However, for the first half of the season the Jets claimed the title as the top gun, but just barely.
No lead was safe in this game. Killorn opened the scoring with a PP goal and then just over 6 minutes later Matthew Perreault, the little French axe murderer, tied it up with his own power play goal. The Jets took the lead in the second period when Branden Tanev scored 8 minutes but Stamkos answered for the Lightning less than 45 second later.
No
Lead
Was
Safe
Tyler Johnson potted his 14th of the year at the 18 minute mark and one minute later Nik Ehlers stormed in to get his 11th. And again, tie game going into the intermission. Kucherov finally arrived and scored his 14th at the 6 minute mark of the third period but this game was not going down with a hold and wait finish. The Jets in recent games had absolutely owned third periods with shot share dominance rarely seen and that's what many expected to happen but the Lightning were not 'other' teams.
The Lightning had a 65% share of shots at the net and tested the Jets in all ways possible as they tried to get an extra goal and put the game out of reach. Nik Ehlers had other ideas though and 14:23 he scored the tying goal to make sure the Jets had a chance.
This game had everything that a hockey fan could want and if you took a moment to check Twitter you could see the call outs from all kind of people across the hockey media landscape to 'watch this game'. It was far from perfect and neither coach would tell you otherwise. Both goalies probably wish they had made stop or two the didn't but that didn't diminish the entertainment value and those in attendance and watching on TV.
Eventually the game reached it's regular time conclusion and no one had really noticed something on the score sheet...
Like the past few games Mark Scheifele was right on the doorstep of his god given right to get 3 points a game and that's exactly what he did in OT but not helping but scoring the game winning goal. His second OT winner in a row, his fourth 3 point game in 5 games and his 21st goal of the season. In his last 5 games Scheifele has 5 goals and 9 assists and now sits 5th in league scoring just 2 points behind Kucherov and 10 points back of leading Rantanen.
The Jets are no tops in the west, tied with Calgary in points but with a game in hand. They are 1 point ahead of Nashville as well. They go on a west coat swing to play LA, San Jose and Vancouver before the Christmas break.
So as of today last night's game was a battle of 1 vs 2 and the number 2 team won, but just barely. For many this game was a measuring point for the Jets given their schedule to date and play. They came out on top but there's room for improvement and Paul Maurice knows it. How me manages that improvement is the real test as after Christmas the Jets schedule becomes much more difficult. For now though they can bask in the afterglow of that amazing game and relish the moment.
Winnipeg Jets Blogger •Winnipeg Jets Writer • 
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