JNGD.55 Recap: Blues Spoil Scheifele’s Return
6 years ago
Well, they were bound to have a bad game at some point, right? Unfortunately, the return of Mark Scheifele was a non-factor, as the Jets were outplayed for the bulk of this one. After falling behind 3-0 early in the 2nd period, the Jets struck back with a fantastic play by Jack Roslovic to get Kyle Connor the puck, who fired home his 18th goal of the season. They clawed back to within one after Patrik Laine blasted home a slapshot on the powerplay, but their efforts were immediately stifled by a Vladimir Tarasenko goal just over a minute after Laine’s. The final ended up 5-2 after an empty netter by Jaden Schwartz. It was a game the Jets would probably like to forget, and move onto the next with a better overall effort.
TALKING POINTS
- The Jets powerplay seemed to struggle to set up tonight. Passes seemed to be just a little bit off whenever they tried to enter the zone.
- Patrik Laine absolutely destroyed a puck for his 25th goal of the season tonight. This also marked his 14th powerplay marker, which leads the league in that category.
- There were times (many times) that the Blues employed their signature technique of subtle little stick infractions and shots on the Jets, with the majority of those being uncalled. They also dropped the subtlety in the third and just started cross checking the hell out of people. It’ll be something to expect if these two teams meet in the playoffs.
- I’ve already mentioned it, but I’d like to touch on the great work done by Jack Roslovic along the wall that allowed him to get the puck to Kyle Connor for his 2nd period goal. He has acclimated really well to the puck protection and recovery game in the NHL, and it showed on this play. He recovered his own rebound off a close range shot, and then protected the puck from an aggressive Brayden Schenn in order to feed Connor. Not too shabby for a guy with less than 15 games under his belt.
SCORING SUMMARY
GIF HIGHLIGHTS
HOW DID THEY CORSI?
Matchups are limited to 5-on-5 situations. Tile size is scaled by Time On Ice and colour is scaled by adjusted Expected Goals differential. Blue represents a home team advantage and red represents a road team advantage.
PLAYERS OF THE GAME
For Winnipeg: Kyle Connor – Kyle was one of the bright-spots during a really rough game. He opened the scoring for the Jets with his 18th goal, and added an assist on Patrik Laine’s powerplay goal in the third period.
For St. Louis: Vladimir Tarasenko – Tarasenko had two of the five Blues goals tonight, with his second effectively killing all momentum the Jets had gained after Laine closed the lead to one goal. He also had 7 shots on goal.
NEXT FLIGHT
The recently declared “rebuilding” Rangers fly into town to face the Jets on Sunday afternoon. Puck drop is at 2:00 PM CST.
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