Jets Nation Recap: Rally Not Enough In Shootout As Jets Fall To Sens 3-2

Last year it was safe to say that it sucked to see a really good game of hockey decided by a skills competition like the shootout.

This year after a really good game of hockey in regulation time, a frantic display of cl(H)utch goaltending late and a semi-chaotic 3 on 3 overtime that would make a cup of coffee nervous, seeing a game decided by a shootout seems almost criminal.

Alas, that is what we have to deal with tonight as the Ottawa Senators survived a rally in the 3rd and managed to be a bit better with repeated breakaways to pick up the 3-2 win over the Winnipeg Jets.

Ah well, at least they got a point right?

The Jets again didn’t have the greatest of first periods in Ottawa even with a bit of a quick start in the opening minutes. Perhaps is was sluggishness from playing in the back end of their 4th back-to-back of the season and second of those in the past week? Whatever the case, the Sens took over about five minutes into the game and half way through the first picked up the opening goal when a Sens faceoff win got the puck to Cody Ceci who then flicked a quick wrister high glove side on Michael Hutchinson who probably would have liked that chance back.

The second period was a bit more even but that was of little consolation as Ottawa was getting as many scoring chances as they were giving up and after a bad Mark Stuart pinch that resulted in a 2 on 1 rush against, a Bobby Ryan one-timer goal off a Mika Zibanejad pass almost had a “that’s the game” type feel to it halfway through the game.

Only the Jets responded well after that goal by sticking with their physical game and getting more shot attempts towards Craig Anderson. Andrew Ladd picked up an all important goal before the end of the second period after nice cycle work by Enstrom and Wheeler left the captain alone at the side of the net to squeak a puck past Anderson.

Winnipeg came out flying in the third period after Dustin Byfuglien picked the pocket of Erik Karlsson, headed back the other way and then as the kids say went “half clapper top cheddar” to tie the game.

The Jets outshot the Sens 14-7 in the 3rd but couldn’t beat Anderson. The Senators themselves had some nice chances in the final minute of regulation by Hutch made a pair of brilliant saves to keep things even.

The 3 on 3 overtime settled nothing and only managed to raise blood pressure of everyone involved.

We’d rather not talk about the shootout and how the Senators went 3 for 3 on their chances while Wheeler was the only one who could find the net for the Jets.

Have A Chair Chariot – He wasn’t the only one to have a rough game on the blue line, but Ben Chariot was riding pine from the 2:39 minute mark of the 3rd period until the end of the game. The defense continues to be a puzzle for this team and you get the feeling Paul Maurice is now going to start shaking things up a bit with his pairings. Tonight he certainly shortened up his bench as Buff and Enstrom saw a ton of ice time in the third period.

Which Line Is The Top Line? – I think you can make a case that the Jets have a 1a and a 1b pair of lines as both Little, Ladd, Wheeler and Ehlers, Perreault, Scheifele continue to set the pace for the team.

And Then There Is The Bottom Three – Burmistrov, Stafford and Lowry had a bit better game tonight than they did in Ottawa but more is needed from them. Peluso, Petan and Thorburn were very protected with favorable zone starts and still managed to turn gold (or at the very worst silver) into straw.

Winnipeg Jets individual statistics:

Shot attempt chart for all minutes:

Shot location for all minutes:

(Charts courtesy War-On-Ice.com)

GIF RECAP

A 2-1-1 record and 5 of 8 points in the first part of this strange road trip? We won’t complain… Much…