Jets Nation Recap: Crazy Day Ends With 6-3 Win Over Stars

Just before the players hit the ice for the pre-game skate, the Jets traded away their captain to the Chicago Blackhawks. Then as if to give their now former captain a going away gift, they handed a 6-3 loss to the team Andrew Ladd’s old/new team is chasing for the division lead, the Dallas Stars.

It wasn’t an overly dominant display by the Jets as both teams played even for the first 15 minutes of the game and a Jets penalty seemed to turn things more to the favor of Dallas, but within a minute the Jets struck twice as Blake Wheeler converted a sweet feed from Mark Scheifele and then 56 seconds later Tobias Enstrom’s shot got past a rattled Anntti Niemi.

Joel Armia’s first goal of the night with three seconds left in the period was a fantastic exclamation mark and ended Niemi’s night after 20 minutes.

The Stars did get some push back in the second period as a pair of rather ugly looking Jets penalties led to two Stars power play goals to cut the Jets lead to 3-2 and the Stars continued to press for a third goal.

They got that third goal to tie things up two minutes into the third as most Jets fans assumed that the fun was over and the tank had started back up, but suddenly the Jets kids stepped up and took over the game and it was a partial glimpse of a glorious future as Scheifele scored off a great pass from Nik Ehlers, Armia scored his second by making Johny Odouya look like the second coming of Shawn Chambers and Jacob Trouba scored a point shot that had helpers from Scheifele and Armia.

Was it a missed chance to help the tank along on a night where the Blue Jackets and Leafs won? Sure, but after a rough day where Jets fans lost two favorites, a win was a nice change of pace.

THREE KEYS

Hutchinson: Was this his last game as a Jet? Hard to say but if it was it wasn’t a bad showcase for teams who may need a steady backup. He stopped 27 of 30 shots and outside of the third goal that he gave up which was all kinds of ugly, he kept the game from getting ugly in that second period.

Penalties: Not that the Stars offense needs the help, but giving them multiple power play chances in a row is a sure way to lose a game. Thankfully (or regretfully if you were pulling for the tank) the Jets smartened up after taking a pair of bad stick fouls and stayed out of the box (save for Byfuglien beating down Antoine Roussel and Stafford trip) the rest of the game.

Stars Goaltending: It was bad. Very bad. Bad to the point where Pavelec could be thought of as an upgrade. (Someone check to see if the Stars are interested in trading for Pavelec..)

Good luck in Chicago!