JNGD.S8.G63 Recap: Wild Stun Jets With Two Late Goals; Win 3-2

5 years ago

Ok, this for sure is as bad as it will get, right?

A few times this season it’s felt like the Winnipeg Jets have suffered the worst loss of the season, but for sure this time, after giving up a 2-1 lead with two Minnesota goals 26 second apart with less than two minutes left in the third.

This has to be as bad as it will get for the Jets this season. Right?

Right?!

FIRST PERIOD

Frantic start to the game as both teams get some great chances early on thanks to some very sloppy defense on both ends. The Jets do manage to tighten up a little bit in their own end and thanks to a couple of Wild penalties, the Jets start tilting the ice towards the offensive end. Mark Scheifele scores on the Jets first power play of the night with a drive to the net and a snipe to the five-hole to give the Jets a 1-0 lead.

Shots in the period finish up 13-12 in favor of the Jets and Winnipeg came away with the better share of 5v5 scoring chances.

SECOND PERIOD

The Wild start to pressure the Jets right from the start of the second as they outshoot the Jets 6-1 in the early minutes of the period, forcing Hellebuyck to make a handful of big saves. Just as the Jets start to right the ship a little bit and get some pressure in the Minnesota end of the ice, a Patrik Laine hooking penalty puts them on the PK and they give up a goal on it to tie things up.

The Jets get the one goal lead back seconds later though as a nice rush from Ben Chiarot deflects off of Patrik Laine and past Devan Dubnyk.

For the most part though, the period belongs to the Wild as the Jets defense struggles with zone exits and getting past the Minnesota forecheck. The period ends with the Jets still holding on to a 2-1 lead, but the Wild have an edge in shots and 5v5 scoring chances in a period that saw them get four high danger scoring chances to the Jets zero.

THIRD PERIOD

The Jets thanks to a Wild penalty start to even up the shot totals and press for an insurance goal, but they can’t beat Dubnyk. Overall the third period has a pretty even feel, but the Wild are getting some prime scoring chances still thanks to porous Jets defending. Still, the game doesn’t feel like it’s out of control for Winnipeg until the last five minutes of play when the Wild make one last push, force the Jets into taking a bad penalty and score on the ensuing power play with the added bonus of Dubnyk having been pulled.

26 seconds later the Wild crash the Jets net again and push a puck past a spawling Hellebuyck and after a couple of reviews it’s confirmed that it was indeed the game winner.

THE GOOD…

Laine goal again! Actually the Chiarot carry towards the net was the really nice part of that goal. Amazing what happens when you take the puck to the net and fire up close.
I thought the debuts of Kevin Hayes and Nathan Beaulieu went relatively ok. Hayes is as advertised with the ‘pass first’ mentality, but it would be nice to see him shoot when fed a one-timer chance on the power play. Beaulieu provided some hope that he could be a reasonably decent defender and more to the point, a guy who can carry the puck out of the zone instead of making an errant pass for a turnover.
Paul Maurice touched on it post game and I tend to agree, Chiarot and Sami Niku were pretty good tonight and they might be starting to click together a bit on the ice. Niku especially did well with the puck in the offensive end and almost played an effective rover role for the team.

THE BAD…

Kulikov and Chiarot get dinged up early in the first period. Yes they returned, but seriously hockey gods, enough with the injuries to the defensemen. We’ve had our fair share.
As always the Jets defending was bad and their passing was worse. They can’t handle any kind of pressure from fore-checking teams.
Too many passed up chances to shoot, especially in that last minute where the Jets needed a goal and Blake Wheeler for whatever reason decided to circle around with the puck with seconds ticking away. Sometimes getting the puck on net is not a bad play.