Despite the highly negative tone coming from the Jets following Tuesday’s loss to the Montreal Canadiens, looking at scoring chances you can see that this game was actually a lot closer than many think.

All of Montreal’s first period chances came within the first 10 minutes. Neither of Montreal’s goals counted as chances (Prust was almost lateral to the net and Subban was too close to the blue line), and Claude Noel’s time out resulted in a string of 5 consecutive Jet chances. If Pavelec would have been able to prevent those goals (both of which I ranked as his fault by the way), this game could have turned out very differently. Nonetheless, the Jets need to start better. It’s been said a countless number of times over the past couple weeks, but the Jets need to figure this out quickly.

Outside of that first 10 minutes, the game was actually quite evenly played. Both teams had missed opportunities (puck bouncing over sticks, bad passes, etc.), but in the end it was the strong play of Carey Price that decided this game. This really makes me question Claude’s decision to once again start shuffling lines mid game.

The Jets penalty kill was strong once again, limiting Montreal to a single power play chance throughout 5 opportunities. The lone power play goal came on an empty net, and the Jets managed to even put up another short-handed chance of their own.

Trouba and Bogosian showed how well they play together once again on this night, as both were positive chance players at even strength. I really hope Claude doesn’t separate the two of them for a long period of time again.

Evander Kane had a tougher night. I’m going to chalk it up mainly to the speed of the Habs taking away a lot of his ability to simply blow by people to get into the prime scoring areas.  It also hurt him a little bit that he spent a lot of time in the penalty box.  He’s got to cut that out, but he’ll be back to normal soon….we hope.  As I’m sure you’ve heard by now, Kane was hurt in practice Wednesday and at this point in time the duration of his absence is unknown. This could be an absolute killer for the Jets, as on most nights he is the number one guy creating chances and is used by Claude Noel in almost every situation. Have to hope it’s not a very serious injury.

With the Blues coming into town of Friday night, the Jets really need Evander Kane healthy if they really want a chance to win. That being said, Kane’s long-term health is not worth short-term gains. I really hope the Jets make sure he is 100% before they let him come back, no matter how bad things get this year because of it.