JNGD.75 Recap: Jets Beat Preds 5-4.. See You In April?
6 years ago
The Jets are in!
But you knew that already, so we’ll talk about this game in particular, a 5-4 shootout win over the Nashville Predators that closes out a fun, maddening regular season series that could easily be a second round playoff series that is even more fun and maddening.
TALKING POINTS
- It doesn’t matter what kind of system you employ for a penalty kill, when you give up four minors – all of them of the avoidable / preventable variety – in a single period, you’re playing with fire. The first goal came a second or two after a brief 4 on 3 powerplay advantage for Nashville had expired and the second came after the Preds had the puck int he Jets zone for an overly extended time.
- That said, Winnipeg’s PK system thrives when they give up the long distance shot that they are willing to give up, but then clear the puck 90 feet out of the zone and don’t let the opposing team reload repeatedly.
- In the second period, it was as if the Predators saw what Winnipeg did in the first period with all those penalties and said “hey, let’s try that too” and took two early on in the middle frame to give the Jets life.
- You want “kicking motion”?! THIS is a kicking motion…
- Any worries we may have had about the Jets offense a week or two ago may have been taken care of. There are still a few issues (Perreault not scoring, fourth line hasn’t chipped in much..) but it’s not just Laine, Ehlers and pray for one more somewhere else.
- Kyle Connor is starting to become next level right in front of our very eyes. He was tap dancing around some defenders, pulling out all kinds of slick passes around others. That moment he was about to go inside-out on PK Subban is the sign of a very confident kid who fears no situation in front of him. He is feeling it out there to the point where it feels like Scheifele and Wheeler were looking to get HIM the puck when it was the other way around at the start of the season.
- I know we all love 3 on 3 overtime, but thank goodness we don’t have that in the playoffs because that would cause all kinds of heart attacks. That said, thank goodness we don’t have shootouts either.
- Hey, speaking of the playoffs…
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 – One goal, two assists and eight shots registered on goal. As we mentioned, he was feeling it all game and has been on some kind of roll.
For Nashville: Ryan Ellis – With a goal and an assist, Ryan is one of the best defensemen in the NHL and was a threat all night to carry his team to a win.
NEXT FLIGHT
The last game of this big home stand happens on Tuesday as the Boston Bruins come into Winnipeg for a 6 PM puck drop at Bell MTS Place.
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