I was at work the other night and a co-worker asks me, "Where are the Jets playing Saturday?"
"Calgary." I said. Then, for some reason I just said, "I think they're gonna get their butts handed to 'em."
"What makes you say that?" he said.
"Calgary is just the better team," I answered.
Now, when I said that, I wasn't just complaining that the Calgary Flames were on a five-game winning streak and that they were probably going to feast on the slumping Winnipeg Jets who were coming in losers of two in a row. I said it, because the Calgary Flames have a better overall hockey club than the Winnipeg Jets in this 2016-2017 NHL campaign.
But when I said "they were going to get their butts handed to them," I didn't think I was being prophetic. But when the Flames struck with four un-answered goals in the second (Hello Jets. It's me. You're second period nightmare. I'm baaaaaack) I almost turned the game off and started this post. Well, the third period hasn't started yet and I'm writing this post. At least the game is still on.
This was a brutal non-attempt at competition by the Jets. They were schooled all over the ice by Johnny Goudreau and company. Starting goaltender Michael Hutchinson should have been yanked after the third goal. As it was, Paul Maurice was at least cognizant enough to start Connor Hellebyuck for the final frame.
The showed why they had won their last five games. They won the battles in the corners. They clearly won the battles in front of the net and defensively, the Flames had better sticks all over the place.
Blake Wheeler continues his scoreless streak. Jets power couple Mark Scheifele and Patrik Laine were both held pointless and once again, the Jets continue to shoot themselves in the foot by not staying out of the box. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
Oh look, it's 5-0. Nice.
There's a bit of light in an otherwise black hole of offensive ineffectualness, Nikolaj Ehlers finally scored to end a 15-game drought. He hadn't scored since Nov. 10 against the Arizona Coyotes. Jacob Trouba scored his first of the year with 0.1 seconds left in the third. A pretty anti-climactic first goal of the season.
So this atrocity ends 6-2 with the Edmonton Oilers up tomorrow night in Edmonton.
I don't expect a different result. I detect a divisional/conference slide coming. Minnesota, Dallas and Los Angeles are starting to win. The Jets are not. The wild card is now something the Jets are looking up at along with three other clubs.
This is/was painful.