Jets Stop Slide With Win Over Devils

Blake Wheeler (26) scores his eighth of the season in second period action Tuesday

  It got a little scary at the end of this one, but Connor Hellebuyck and the Winnipeg Jets managed to hang on to beat the New Jersey Devils 3-2 Tuesday night, extending their streak of home victories to five, while ending the Devils' overall winning streak of six.

Mark Scheifele and Patrik Laine each scored their 13th goals of the season-both trailing Sydney Crosby by two goals for the league lead-while Blake Wheeler scored his eighth. Laine ended a six-game goal scoring drought.

Connor Hellebyuck made 23 saves and set a franchise record for the longest shutout run at home with 174 mintues and 54 seconds until the Devils' Mark Wood scored at 2:52 of the third period.  He is 5-0 at home in his last five starts.

Brian Little returned to the line-up after missing 23 games (48 of the last 49 going back to his season-ending injury last year in which he missed the last 25 games) but failed to score, continuing his career donut against the New Jersey Devils in the goals department. 

The unsung hero of this game was Andrew Copp, who added an assist to his point totals on Wheeler's second period goal and did all the work in front of the net to earn it.  He was a thorn in the Devils side at every given opportunity.  Serious consideration would have to go to Marko Dano as he took one for the team.  To the face that is.

         

  The Edmonton Oilers are next on this three-game home stand before the Jets set out on the road again for a two-games against the St. Louis Blues and Chicago Blackhawks before coming home to face the Detroit Red Wings. 

Connor McDavid and company will be a real challenge for the Jets as McDavid leads the league in points, and although the Oilers are on a two-game losing skid, they have had a successful year and can score multiple goals at will on some nights.

                          

However, the Jets will show the Oilers on Thursday that the confines of the MTS Centre will be vastly different than the choppy ice of Investment Group Field that both teams had to endure at the Heritage Classic.  Plus, the Jets are a little more healthier with the return of Brian Little and Mathieu Perrault in the lineup.  It's going to be a shoot-out I think with both McDavid and Laine leading the way.
Scheifele is going to have something to say about McDavid trying to dominate in his back yard, so watch for him to contribute as well.

The Jets have a chance to move into third, just two points behind St. Louis and staying relevant in the playoff hunt; barring a win by the Minnesota Wild.  Regardless of any downplay, this is a big game.

Laine Early Favourite To Win Calder

As the Winnipeg Jets are set to take on the New Jersey Devils at the MTS Centre tonight, an article from NHL.com by Mike G. Morreale has Patrik Laine as the front-runner for the Calder trophy as the NHL's rookie of the year.

Whaddya think?

A Closer Look At Kyle Connor

With all eyes on Patrik Laine, it's easy for people to overlook the first-year winger and 2015 seventh overall pick, Kyle Connor,  who had a lot of buzz himself entering this year's training camp.

Here is a good article from Peter Tessier over at HockeyBuzz about the expectations (including myself) on Connor.

After being a finalist for the NCAA's Hobey Baker award (akin to the NCAA football Heisman trophy that eventually went to the New York Rangers Jimmy Vesey) Connor decided to forgo furthering his collegiate hockey career and turned pro, signing a three-year entry-level contract with the Jets after he was selected 17th overall.

At that time, I naively thought Connor was going to be a break-out star in the vein of at least a Nathan McKinnon type.  Although, most say his development is in line with the Red Wings' Dylan Larkin.  He may very well still do that, and to his credit Connor is still with the big club after his nine game tryout.  Not even Mark Scheifele, who was sent back to the Barrie Colts of the Ontario Hockey League after seven games, had the level of trust the Jets coaching staff apparently have in Connor.  Based on Scheifele's level of play the last two seasons, one would have to ponder that was unthinkable.

However, Connor hasn't contributed to the level at least I thought he would by now.  I know, that is putting a lot of pressure on a 19-year-old.  Patrik Laine notwithstanding.  But I did think he'd be at close to double digits in goals.  At least I believe I was led in that direction after his season last
But the Jets' draft and develop style has paid off for more than one member of the Winnipeg Jets.  Other than Connor and Scheifele, there's the positive and on-going development of Josh Morrisey, Brandon Tanev, Adam Lowry, Joel Armia, Nikolai Ehlers, Jack Roslovic and Marko Dano.  All developed (or developing) in the Jets system and all, eventually, will be bonafide NHL stars.

Much like how nature creates diamonds, it's all about time and patience.  And based on how fans, again, including myself, have certain expectations for players like Connor , Laine and Morrisey, there's going to be pressure too, lots of it.

Shutout Of Preds Ends Jets Five Game Skid

  It wasn't an entirely exciting game to watch.  The home team even bobbled a few passes and had missed shots, but the Winnipeg Jets were able to hold off the Nashville Predators and Connor Hellebuyck garnered his second shutout of the season with a 3-0 win.  That includes a 42 -save performance  Drew Stafford opened the scoring with his first of the season, while Mark Scheifele potted his twelfth goal of the season and Adam Lowry got his sixth.  Both were empty-netters.

  The victory finally ends an ugly five-game losing skid and exactly zero points for their dismal efforts away from home.  Ten points wasted.  Not even an overtime or shoot-out loss.  Not one extremely important point.  From second in the central to sixth and two points out of a wild-card playoff spot.  Yes, after the 20-game mark, I'm talking about the playoffs.  

  The good news is the other teams in the central division didn't take full advantage of the Jets skid to pull even farther ahead.  After blowing a chance to challenge even the Chicago Blackhawks for the central division lead, the Jets sit now with 22 points.  Miraculously, they are only one point removed from the second wild card spot and even more believable; they are only five behind St. Louis for second.  With a team like the Blues, even two to three games may be insurmountable with a team like the Jets who have a hard time putting a winning streak together.  But a few good bounces (not to mention the return of injured players like Brian Little) may put the Jets in a decent position to control their own fate.

  The Jets themselves are the most frustrated as you can guess.  A lot of talent, youth and exuberance. Unfortunately at this time, that magic "gel" hasn't come to fruition...yet.  When the experience of these players arrives, the Jets will be a team to reckon with as most insiders have been predicting for the two seasons.


        

Five Straight Losses

Well, five road games, fives consecutive losses for the Winnipeg Jets between Nov. 17 and last night.  That's a potential 10-point grab that wasn't.  From an unbelievable early position of second place in the central division to barely a playoff spot.

It's way too early to say all hope is lost.  But that may come sooner rather than later for the Winnipeg Jets if they don't start winning games.

These losses were ugly.  It's not just the usual "roadblocks" keeping the Jets from attaining critical points in the standings such as still not being able to stay out of the penalty box, but a much more nefarious problem is growing.  They're starting to get used to losing.  This cannot happen.  A culture of losing is not an option.

Twenty games in and they were either in second or at the very least, a wild card spot.  Now the Jets are three points out of a playoff spot.

Yeah, yeah.  It's only November and three points is not the end of the season.  They have time.  Yes, but when you have four or more starting rookies, including you're starting goaltender (who Connor Hellebyck appears to be more and more lately) you have no discipline, you have a turn-over rate that baffles the mind and now, even your phenom number two overall pick from the entry draft has cooled off of his offensive production.

After thoroughly shutting out the Chicago Blackhawks 4-0 Nov. 15 at the MTS Centre, the Jets came crashing down to reality with a decent game against the Philadelphia Flyers on Nov. 17. but just couldn't solve Steve Mason, nor find their game in a 5-2 loss.Two days later in Boston, the Jets fell 4-1 to the Boston Bruins.  A second game in a back-to-back situation the next day in Raleigh against the Carolina Hurricanes resulted in a 3-1 Hurricanes victory that the Jets should have had.  If the Jets should or could have just one of these games, it should have been this one.  The Jets are not going to be put on a pedestal over any other mediocre team this season, believe me; but they are better than the 'Canes.  They should have had the two points from this one.
From there, the Jets travelled back west for a divisional tilt with the Minnesota Wild.  More offensive stuttering, another 3-1 loss for the Jets.
Finally, the Jets headed to Nashville last night for the final game of this awful road trip.  Soft goals, giveaways, and a total commitment to forgetting anything defensive about the relatively simple game of hockey.  Seriously, this "performance" by the Jets was in one word, pathetic.  To be fair, the Predators have played very well defensively at home this season and Pekka Rinne has been outstanding for them.  Catching a team with a hot goalie is daunting enough, but when said goaltender has a goals against average of 1.98 and your team hasn't scored more than five goals in four games, you may be in for a long night.

Whatever plan Paul Maurice is trying to hatch this season clearly isn't working.  I don't know if it's a bad plan, underachieving players, too many rookies, injuries (which I have no doubt will improve the Jets numbers when Brian Little returns) bad coaching or just a perfect storm of ineptitude.  At least so far.  But if one is going to grade a team after 20 games or so and say Patrik Laine is a God-send, or Mark Scheifele is really developing into the player they hoped he would be when they drafted him in 2011; then one must also realize when a team's plan for the season isn't working.

But regardless of injuries or freshman players, you have to move forward.  Veterans have to step up. Rookies that are being heralded as the saviour of the franchise must work their magic whether or not their line-mates are doing their part or not.  Certain heroes of the game can, when called upon, win games by themselves.  Goalies do it all the time.  So have stars from the past.
Mike Bossy, Teemu Selanne, Bobby Orr, Wayne Gretzky, Maurice Richard, Gordie Howe, Mario Lemieux.  The list is endless when it comes to players that can and have taken it upon themselves to inspire and lead their respective teams to the promise land.

Mark Scheiefele will be one of those players.  Am I comparing him to Gretzky or Lemieux or Orr?
Certainly not.  But he already possesses the skills of a leader (thus Jets brass honouring him with the alternate captain position) and for a bit of time in the last few weeks, Scheifele did in fact lead the league in points, while teammate Laine led the NHL in goals.  Neither of them are now, but the potential is there for the Winnipeg Jets to develop not only home-grown Winnipeg Jets stars, but bonafide NHL superstars.

Time is on the Jets side.  These players are young and supremely talented.  The organizations draft and develop plan is bearing fruit.  Many experts are seeing the growth in the Jets young stars and some of them are betting that the Jets will be a serious contender in not six to seven years, but three or for.  Some even say sooner with addition of Patrik Laine.

They aren't there yet.  Soon.  But not yet.  So, as we've collectively been warned since the start of the season, there is going to be nights when the Jets are simply terrible.  There are also going to be nights when the Jets will make you proud enough to be a Jets fan, such as the shutout against the Hawks or the shellacking the Jets gave the Dallas Stars on Nov. 8, that you can actually debate about who's better with your Leafs, Red Wings or Oiler-friendly buddies or co-workers.

But man, do these guys have to stay out of the box.

Jets Shutout Hawks

A tight, hard-fought, aggressive, one-goal game turned into a blowout quick in favour of the Winnipeg Jets over the Chicago Blackhawks last night as Nic Petan scored his first goal of the season 11 seconds after Patrik Laine gobbled up his 12th of the campaign at 8:46 of the third period to make it 4-0.  That keeps Laine as the NHL's top goal scorer for a few more games. 
That's the way in ended to give Connor Hellebyck his first shutout of the season and third of his NHL career.  He made 27 saves.

Josh Morrissey opened the scoring with the first goal of the his NHL career, that turned out to be the eventual winner for his first game-winning goal also.  Chris Thorburn made it 2-0 in the third also with his first goal of the season.  A few personal goose eggs were broken tonight.  I glad to see Morrisey get the monkey off his back.  I've been watching and waiting for him to develope since the Jets drafted him 13th overall at the 2013 NHL draft.  He's having a really good year.


The game was substantial for three reasons.  One, it keeps the Jets on the heels of the Central division-leading Blackhawks for first place in the division, as the Jets gain two points on the Hawks and maintain second place in the Central division with 20 points.  The Blackhawks sit atop the division with 24 points.  Two, it snapped the Blackhawks 11-game undefeated streak in regulation time.  It also extended the Jets game point-streak to five.

The Jets goal differential now sits in the positive for only the second time this year after the season-opener against Carolina.  Coming into this game they were at 50 goals for and 50 scored against.

The Jets are now 6-0 when leading after two periods.  They went 2-5 on the power-play.  And amazingly enough they are now 5-0 when killing off a 5-3 disadvantage.  The Hawks had the two-man advantage in the third before the Jets decided to light up the scoreboard with the momentum off of killing it.

Mark Scheifele slid the puck across to Morrissey for game-winner which helps him to maintain at least a share of the NHL point-leaders board with 21 points (10 goals 11 assists) along with the Dallas Stars' Tyler Seguin.

Jacob Trouba had to leave the game momentarily after blocking a shot in the neck.  Yeah, in the neck.  He slid across to block a shot by Blackhawks defenceman Duncan Keith, but apparently it caught him just enough to miss a shift. 
Trouba had a heck of a game.  Some nice blocked shots and hustle. 

Good game by the Jets.  If they can maintain this high-level of play and get some healthy bodies back it could almost make one think they could actually challenge for a division title.

Silly that one.

Shootout Win Over Kings Puts Jets Into Second In Central

  It doesn't and probably won't happen too often, but with this afternoon's win against the Los Angeles Kings in a shootout at the MTS Centre, the Winnipeg Jets are now in second place in the central division.

  The Jets have accumulated 18 points in this young NHL season so far.  That puts them only four points behind the Chicago Blackhawks for first place. They should actually be tied in points (plus or minus the ROW in the standings) but due to losses against the Avalanche and Sabres (again, two teams the Jets should have beaten) those four points are gone.  The only reason I state this is because until the Jets move forward in their mission to become an eventual Stanley Cup contender, the next couple of days will probably be the only time the Winnipeg Jets are in the top three of the central.
I'm just enjoying it while I can.

I mean, seriously; I usually have to read the sports pages upside-down to see the Jets near the top of the division.

  A good win by the Jets today. A couple of defensive breakdowns that led to the Kings tying goal in the third period, but overall the back-checking was solid.  Connor Hellebyck, getting his fourth straight start, was again very solid. He covered his angles well and challenged shooters when necessary.

   After surviving a Kings power-play resulting from a bogus tripping call against Patrik Laine in overtime, the Jets put their best young snipers on the ice for the shootout.  Other than captain Blake Wheeler (who is awesome) the Jets showed the league why they have one of, if not the best, collection of talented prospects and rookies.  Patrik Laine and Mark Scheifele came up big in the shootout, scoring once each; including the winner by Scheifele.
Laine's goal after the Kings Dwight King barely got one past Hellebyck, was a beauty as he slowed up on Kings goalie Peter Budaj and slipped one past the five-hole.

 I was hoping Nikolai Ehlers would have had the game-winner. Paul Maurice didn't even put him the ice for the shoot-out. I'm sure if it had gone past the first round he would have.  It would have been nice for him to completely wash away the embarrassment of the Colorado OT fiasco on Friday night.
Ah, well. I'm sure he's just as happy with the two points.

A Steal And A Giveaway

The last two contests by the Winnipeg Jets were pretty much an exorcise in how not to play a road game. The latter, against a divisional opponent that had lost four out of the last five.

On Thursday the Jets travelled to Glendale, Arizona to battle a weakened Coyotes squad that was without their starting goaltender Mike Smith.
The Jets did well.  But they struggled against a team that was one of those teams below you in the standings that you should beat.  The Jets did that.  Handing the desert dogs a hard-fought 3-2 defeat.



 By the way, the Coyotes, who do have their own history after 20 years in the Arizona desert, are still trying to pretend the Jets 1.0 history has any meaning to them whatsoever.  Yes, we all know the "franchise history" of the 1971-1996 Jets resides with the present-day 'Yotes.  Just like we all know the Atlanta Thrashers "history" is with the Jets 2.0.  That doesn't mean we have to like it.

But as I said, these are teams you're supposed to beat.  The exact same can be said for the Colorado Avalanche.  As of before the puck-drop last night, the Jets led the Avs by five points in the standings. Although the one could be forgiven for not being prepared  for the work of Avs rookie Mikko Rantanen, who potted an nice individual effort against Connor Hellebyck.  But with a supposed all-star in the making in Jacob Trouba returning for his first game of the season since signing a two-year bridge deal with the Jets last week to end his sit-out, this wasn't supposed to happen.
He played over seven minutes of ice-time and although did o.k and didn't look too rusty, Trouba did not contribute to the scoreboard as many thought or hoped he would.  Coach Paul Maurice was in the latter crowd, I'm sure.  The Jets lost 3-2 in overtime by a miscue by Nikolai Ehlers 1:23 in.


The Jets tried yet again to honor the new moniker of "come-back kids" as they tied it up at 16:00 of the third period after falling behind 2-0.  Mark Scheifele tied the game with a beautiful wrister from the slot. Blake Wheeler scored his second in as many games after going dry in the scoring department for the last 10.

The Jets are going to have to do better.  Although they did manage to secure three out of four points on a two-game road trip, they really should have had four.  Again, these are teams the Jets should have and could have beat.  Missed opportunities such these may seem like only one or two points here or there, but these lost points add up.  Let's hope at the end of the season if the Jets miss out on the post-season, they aren't looking back at these missed opportunities of gold.  There will be other nights of points missed and still even other nights of points stolen of which they had no business doing.



Ehlers' explanation:

Jets Blowout Stars

Good gracious.  That was fun to watch.

The Winnipeg Jets, at least for one night, stopped the hemorrhaging that is their goals against last night against the Dallas Stars as the Jets handed out their own puck spanking, embarrassing Tyler Seguin and the gang 8-2.

In terms of offense, it was an avalanche for the young Jets, especially the line of Mark Scheifele, Nikolai Ehlers and Patrik Laine, who accounted for 10 points.  Laine scored his second hat-trick of the young season while adding an assist.  Scheifele scored two while adding two helpers, and Ehlers added two assists to his point total.  Call up Nic Petan had a heck of a game as he had two assists as well.

The most amazing part of all this is, at least for the time being, the Winnipeg Jets now have the NHL's leading point-getter in Scheifele who now leads the league with 18 points.
Laine leads not only all rookies in goals, but for now, the entire league with 11.  Scheifele is right behind him with nine.  It's nice to have a Jet atop the NHL elite for as long as that lasts.

It's always good to have your team blow out someone once in a while.  It's not so cool to be on the other end and that will most asuredly happen.  The Jets are going to get destroyed in a few games this year, but if they can hand out their own punishment once in a while, that's o.k.  As long as they can at least grab a wild card, because honestly, that's all that the Jets can really hope for these days in the tough central division, that's all that matters.

Trouba Signs

So defenceman Jacob Trouba has decided to end his holdout and sign a two-year bridge deal with the Winnipeg Jets.

Not that this means very much as he'll probably be traded by the end of December anyway, but it does put Trouba into the line-up for the short-term.  Dustin Byfuglien has been playing an average of 30 minutes a game and with Tyler Myers injured, Trouba will get what he asked for; more ice time.  He may even get that right side that he claims to want if Buff's numbers drop a little to accommodate him.

As of this writing, Kevin Cheveldayoff still hasn't found a deal that he feels would benefit his team by trading Trouba.  He wanted a young defenceman with the same skill-set as Trouba.  He said he wouldn't take anything less.  He was willing to make Trouba sit the whole season and that almost happened as the deadline for Trouba to sign with any team was going to expire on Dec 1.  Twenty-four days from now Trouba would have had to hang up his skates until July 1 of next year.  Cheveldayoff said it and he meant it.

A precedent has been set.  The Jets players both present and future know they're not going to have their way with Cheveldayoff.  They know now that no player is going to blackmail Winnipeg management.  Welcome to the world of NHL contracts kid.

Still, Trouba is not going to be a Winnipeg Jet come October 2018.  Again, before December 31, Trouba is gone.  Where he goes is still anyone's guess.  Personally, I say either Detroit or Boston.

We'll see.

UPDATE 11/08/16:

Trouba has officially rescinded his trade request.

In signing his 2-year, six million dollar extension, Trouba says he just wants to play hockey.  So, he is now committed to the Jets for the next two years.
That seems a little fishy to me.  Probably because I highly doubt it.

U-G-L-Y

Well, in typical Jets fashion for the last few seasons, Winnipeg showed guts and glory in a decisive hard-fought battle that earned them a victory one night (in this case last night against Detroit) only to embarrass themselves yet again (and again floundering in the second period) by allowing another 4-plus-goal game to the opponent.  This time it was at the hands of the New York Rangers.

The only upside to this is that Patrik Laine and Mark Scheifele added to their goal totals for the season. Laine now has eight, while Scheifele potted his seventh.

Apparently, the Jets have decided to forgo defence this season.  The goals against hemorrhaging has to stop if the Jets wish to have any success this year.

Tanev Delights in Win Over Red Wings

Brandon Tanev scored two including the game winner Friday.

A little late in posting, since it is two days later and it's game-day against the New York Rangers-hey, you want deadlines?  Go get the paper in the morning (or read the sports articles after the game online) but this post is about the 60-minute performance the Jets left on the ice against a tough Detroit Red Wings squad.

Brandon Tanev couldn't wait to pot his first National Hockey League goal.  Little did he and his teammates know that he would get two, including the game-winner with 7:36 remaining in the third period.  Not bad for an undrafted player in his 15th NHL game.

In a game that twice had to goal to video review (one each favoring each club) and would have gone to a third until the "War Room" in Toronto goal horn sounded amid late third period action to signify that Tanev's second marker that he roofed over the shoulder of Wings goalie Petr Mrazek was indeed a good goal.

Laine scored to earn his seventh goal to lead all rookies.  Ehlers got his third into an empty net and Mark Scheifele got his sixth goal and sixth assist to garner him 12 points on the year so far.  Wheeler is under his annual projection, as he has only three goals thus far.  Look for Wheeler to pad those stats tonight against the Rangers, although the Blueshirts are very dominant at MSG this season.

The Jets are starting to earn the moniker of "the comeback kids."  While that may sound inspirational, it does, in fact, mean that the Jets have to come from behind...a lot.  Being resilient and having a never-say-die attitude is great.  It makes things exciting to know your team never gives up and is tenacious.  This can be especially rewarding in the playoffs.  But it also means you're chasing the game more often than not.  The fact that the Jets have four starting rookies, including a goaltender seeing regular duties, may give the Jets a little latitude in their won-loss record; especially only 12 games in.  But when the schedule passes 20 games or more, you have a pretty good indication of where your team is and where they're heading in regards to the season standings.  Playing catch-up in the NHL in December is quite the assignment.  Compound that with the Jets being in the toughest division in the league and you have a recipe for mediocrity at best.  The Jets have had to play catch-up in at least five games already.  Four of them thankfully turned out to be victories, save for the overtime loss on November 3 against the Washington Capitals.

Still, hope abounds.  Patrik Laine, Kyle Connor, Nikolai Ehlers, Mark Scheifele and Blake Wheeler will excite Jets fans and they will light the lamp on some nights while others will be chalked up to growing pains of a young team.  The question is, how much patience will the Jets fan base (not to mention the Jets brass) have?  This is the same fan base that didn't pay much attention to the win-loss record in the Jets first season back in Winnipeg.  As you may well have heard, the fans in Winnipeg were just ecstatic to have their team back.  But five years on, results are now expected.  Personally, the mess the management in Atlanta made me think at least six or seven years (with good drafting, which the Jets have accomplished) before any real progress could be made.

They're on their way.  But this year seems to be an experiment to try and gel all their top prospects together in an attempt to create a team bond.  A culture of winning.  When these very young and very talented group of Jets players hit their peak potential together, the talk of the NHL media (outside of Toronto and New York presumably) will turn to Winnipeg and their terrific group of superstars.  Yeah, yeah.  Edmonton too. Yecch.

The Jets So Far

What's the jets problem(s) so far?  What are their strengths?

So far in this 2016-2017 campaign, the Winnipeg Jets are probably right where they are supposed to be.  every expert had them out of the playoffs in every season preview.  With four rookies in the line-up, the Jets are obviously going with the youth movement.  Second overall pick Patrik Laine has already proven his worth and is living up to expectations.

 Kyle Connor is probably underachieving just a little bit, but in his first professional year out of college, the Jets brass are going to be patient with him.  Personally, I'm surprised he didn't start the year in the AHL with the Manitoba Moose.

On defence, Josh Morrisey is showing why he made the team.  He's been more than adequate paired alongside Dustin Byfuglien and is already being touted as a bonefide NHLer.

The powerplay has slightly improved this season thus far.  That's not saying much however, as the Jets have only improved from being 30th on the PP to 25th.  They are taking less dumb penalties this year however.

The real problem lies in the young goaltending tandem plan head coach Paul Maurice has instituted.  Although right now Micheal Hutchinson gets the nod to actually become the number one guy, Connor Hellebyuck has let in some soft goals thst cost the Jets a game or two.  I mean, really, it's the overall defence, but Helly can stand to use some better luck or tighten up those soft spots.

Why is Laine on the second powerplay unit when four of his six goals thus far have come with the man-advantage?

Tom Wyman (not my favourite sports writer) has a decent piece in the Winnipeg Sun about this. What the Jets have and what they don't.

Here is another good stats-laden article by an unknown author found on link from a Facebook group, entitled Jets Game Our City Our Team Our Year.

Heartbreaker

With hardworking goals in the third period by Mark Scheifele and Adam Lowry, this is a game the Jets let slip through their fingers and should have won.  Although the Jets trailed 2-0 going into the third period, they kept pace with the vastly more experienced and powerful Capitals; winning the battles in the corners and held the edge in possession numbers.  They were able to rally back and get the crowd back into it, as well as the momentum, until the clock had 30 seconds remaining in regulation and the Capitals Jay Beagle worked one in behind Connor Hellebuyck to secure the victory and send the Winnipeg Jets faithful home deflated.

Both the Jets Patrik Laine and the Caps Alex Ovechkin failed to register a point