Jets Nation Recap: Jets come close to comeback, but crash in St. Louis

9 years ago

The Winnipeg Jets came close to a miraculous come from behind win, but then it all fell apart.

The Jets opened the scoring from a semi-flukey goal off the stick of Michael Frolik. The Blues then responded with four consecutive goals, leading coach Paul Maurice to switch up the goalies. Out was Michael Hutchinson and in was Ondrej Pavelec.

The Jets started off strong in the third, scoring early and quick. Back-to-back goals from Andrew Ladd and Lee Stempniak made the game seem winnable once again.

The Jets fell into penalty troubles, but strong play from Pavelec and a beauty short-handed by Blake Wheeler put the Jets tied with the Blues.

Unfortunately it was not to be. Barret Jackman scored on a floater just outside the blueline with 1:03 left in the game, and the Blues went away with a win.

Let’s break it down.

Three Keys

Injuries – Injuries can’t be an excuse. All teams suffer them. Teams win despite them. Still, the team is noticeably less efficient without the skilled play of Dustin Byfuglien, Bryan Little, and Mathieu Perreault. Without Little the team has been unable to out attempt their opponents on all three of the top lines.

Hutch not so clutch – You can almost never place a win or loss on one player. We should also be reminded that Hutchinson has performed better this season than any previous Jets netminder. Still, three saves on seven shots is not enough.

Second Period Collapse – You can’t win many games with only 16 shots. In the second the Jets were outshot 7-4. That’s not a formula for winning. The team was extra sloppy on the second from top-to-bottom and it put them in the position that was the remainder of the game.

Charts and Stuff

Jets Individual 5v5 individual statistics:

Individual scoring chances (iSC), shot attempt differential (Corsi +/-), non-blocked shot attempt differential (Fen +/-), and offensive zone face off as percentage of all non-neutral zone face-offs: