Jets Nation Recap: Mason Stones Jets

Game Notes:

• It begins with goaltending. Steve Mason, who had struggled so far this season, was simply outstanding in the blue paint tonight, making 30 saves out of 32 shots for a .938 save percentage. Many of those stops were of the spectacular variety. Nikolaj Ehlers and Mark Scheifele were each victimized not once, but twice by Mason’s superpowers. 
• At the other end, it was a forgettable night for Connor Hellebuyck. The young netminder stopped only 17 out of 21 shots for a .810 save percentage. This after his shutout performance two nights earlier against Chicago, is very disappointing. Hellebuyck does have great potential to be a superstar goalie in the NHL but consistency is still an issue. The third Flyer goal in particular was awful. Mark Streit’s fluttering point shot beat Hellebuyck on the glove side. It’s one Hellebuyck should have stopped. No excuses.
• Controversy reared its ugly head early in the first period. Scheifele was tripped up by Jakub Voracek which led to Sean Couturier opening the scoring. How the referee did not call tripping on Voracek I will never know. We don’t like to blame the refs here but it was a mistake by the striped shirts that did have an affect on the game. 34 seconds later Michael Raffl scored on a two-on-one, and the Jets never recovered.
• There was some good things that happened. Dustin Byfuglien netted his first goal of the season as he finished a lovely feed from Nic Petan. Blake Wheeler had the other Jets goal as he completed a fantastic tic-tac-toe passing play created by Scheifele and Ehlers. There is skill on this team and the Wheeler goal should make a few highlight reels.
• Chris Thorburn appeared in his 700th career NHL game. While it is a nice achievement, he celebrated it by taking a needless penalty late in the third as the Jets were attempting a comeback. Yes it was a questionable call but Thorburn shouldn’t be on the ice when the team is down by two with five minutes remaining. I know the coaching staff and the organization love Thorburn but at some point, they must realize that there are better options. We miss you Joel Armia. Come back soon.

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