JN Recap – Jets Streaking Wrong Way With Loss To Hawks

Put the brooms away.

It’s like your grandpa used to tell you: “Kid, you may beat the Chicago Blackhawks five times in a season, but you’ll never beat them six.”

The Jets understood this which can only explain why they came out so sluggish in the first period and couldn’t play catchup the rest of the way, falling to the Hawks 5-2

The general consensus was post-game from media and fans alike that the Jets deserved a better fate tonight, but that’s actually a tough argument to make. They were grossly outplayed in the first period – a fact helped by two careless penalties by Enstrom and Wheeler – and ended up being outshot in the first frame by a 16-9 count. The Hawks did manage to get one past an otherwise strong playing Connor Hellebuyck thanks to a laser one-timer from Patrick Kane, but it could have been much worse and the Jets were fortunate to be only down by one after twenty.

The second period was only marginally better. The Jets were still out-shot (10-7) but at the very least there were signs of life. Bryan Little continued his red hot play with a nifty goal less than two minutes in and Matthieu Perreault was absolutely robbed by Corey Crawford shortly after.

 In between those moments though, Anisimov scored to get the Hawks the lead back and both of Chicago’s first two goals had a common theme. Weak play by a forward that ended up in a turnover and poor defense. Blake Wheeler looked awful giving up the puck in the first period as Dustin Byfuglien inexplicably just skated by as if he was a forward again which led to the first Hawks goal. Patrik Laine tried to extend with one arm to reach out for a puck that had gone around the boards which led to a turnover, a shot from the point and a rebound to Anisimov, who wasn’t alone in front of the net – Enstrom was right there beside him – but he may as well have been as Enstrom made the mistake of trying to play the puck and whiffed.

The third period was remarkably better as the Jets – as they tend to do – tried to stage a rally, but as we’ve seen so many times this season the Jets simply can not be a come-from-behind team with as many times as they look to make a pass instead of shooting the puck or as many times they miss wide when they do in fact shoot the puck.

Duncan Keith’s goal with about three minutes left in the game may have been a dagger, but with as strong as the Hawks had played or the first two periods, the game result felt inevitable in the final frame.

The teams traded a few garbage time goals in the end. The Hawks picked up two empty net goals which is fitting because the Jets couldn’t hold onto the puck for any length of sustained pressure even with a 6 on 4 man advantage. Adam Lowry scored his 10th on the powerplay much to the collective chagrin of fans who still have no idea why he’s on the team’s first powerplay unit outside of the whole “he’s a big body” talent.

In the end, the only person who deserved a better fate on this night was Hellebuyck who stopped 31 of 34 shots and posted a better save percentage tonight than any of Ondrej Pavelec’s outings this season. Of course it’s that final goal – the supposed ‘dagger’ – that a lot of people will scrutinize because it wasn’t a “timely save” but Connor’s “timely saves” in the first period is what gave the Jets a chance later in the game to pull victory from the jaws of defeat.

Courtesy of HockeyStats.ca