Tonight the Jets were in Raleigh to face off against a bunch of jerks. The Carolina Hurricanes are 8-1-1 in their last 10 games, surging into the top wild card spot in the east. The Jets are 4-5-1 and second in the central division, falling from their top spot after a loss in Tampa Bay on Tuesday. A win tonight can put the Jets back into first place in the central division.

Winnipeg doesn’t waste much time getting to what would become a barrage of goals scored in the first period, Nik Ehlers offers up a drop pass to Kevin Hayes who finesses it past Canes’ goalie McElhinney to mark his second goal as a Winnipeg Jet.

Can Laine pass the puck? Oh Laine can pass the puck! For the second goal of the night, he turns impressive drive into the attack zone into a nice clean pass to Blake Wheeler, who can’t help but score lately. Patience pays off and the the captain pockets his 19th of the year and his 7th in the last 5 games.

Back at the other end of the ice, Justin Williams attempts to feign ignorance on an off side whistle and throws a dead puck behind Brossoit, but Kulikov makes sure to let him know that kind of behavior just isn’t cool.  Offsetting penalties are given to both Kulikov for roughing and Williams for unsportsmanlike conduct. While on the four on four, Chiarot makes his way to the center slot and fires a pass from Kyle Connor into the net making it 3-0 for the Jets.

In the dying handful of minutes in the first period, the Canes’ rookie Andrei Svechnikov takes a penalty for tripping Adam Lowry.  The next two minutes were a text book display of a failing power play absolutely that doesn’t get to see much offensive zone play and nearly costs them a goal.

With 1 minute remaining, Kevin Hayes returns the favor for Nik Ehlers’ earlier set up on the first goal, and Ehlers pops another goal behind McElhinney making it 4-0 for the Jets.

With four goals allowed in the first period, does Canes’ coach Rod Brind’Amour keep McElhinney in net for the second period?

The Canes opt to keep McElhinney in net for the second, and we start this frame with an appearance from the Canes game that we would come to expect: pucks on net all day.  It seems they’ve played a little bit of “Line Blender” during the intermission to see if they can get anything started.  Ultimately, the Jets defensive lines are on the ball and quickly temper their efforts to resume the well-rounded game they had brought in the second.

Trouba takes a tripping penalty, and puts the Canes on the power play. While on the power play, Myers blocks a Teravainen shot to the wrist and takes off to the bench to ice his hand. The Jets power play successfully handles the two minute infraction and despite being down a defenseman continues on however with a slower pace. While the Canes have definitely dominated when it comes to possession, this doesn’t seem to budge the score in their favor.

Unwilling to go scoreless in the second period Roslovic throws the puck to the net, it doesn’t go in but it sets Andrew Copp up for a perfect rebound goal marking the fifth goal of the game.

Don’t worry, Tyler Myers is back out there by the end of the period, there will be no more injured defensemen tonight!

The Canes continue with “Line Blender” again for the third, putting out a Svechnikov-Staal-Williams line to see if they can get absolutely anything past Brossoit. Kulikov sends Ferland to the dressing room with a clean hit, which is a huge loss for the Canes.

After some defensive zone scrambles just before the midway point of the period, Tyler Myers makes an attempt to get Canes scoring happening by going five hole on an out of position Brossoit. However, the puck doesn’t actually cross the line thanks to both Kulikov and Brossoit.

The Jets go back onto the penalty kill after we see Lowry take a penalty for high sticking on Sebastian Aho. The Canes manage one shot on the power play, but they mark their first goal as Lowry is skating from the box. McKegg redirects a shot from DeHaan past Brossoit, ending the shutout with 10 minutes left in the third.

Laine, who’s had a terrific physical game gets a little too rough and takes a penalty for high-sticking on Maenalanen, giving the Canes another opportunity to work on their power play. And while this saw some terrific attempts from the canes PP1 unit, ultimately no goals were scored. Keeping the game at 5-1 with just over seven minutes in regulation.

A tripping penalty comes for Carolina as Svechnikov takes out Brandon Tanev, the Jets go on the power play hoping to pocket one more before the end of the game. And sure enough, after a few missed connections between Kyle Connor and Blake Wheeler, Connor succeeds with a nice little wrist shot, marking his 26th of the season.

At one minute left in the game, the Jets take advantage of a Canes turnover making it 7-1. Any Canes fans still in the building now make their way towards the nearest exit.

To add insult to injury at this point, Chiarot tips the puck off of Lowry and gives the Jets a final score of 8-1.

There was no storm surge tonight in Raleigh.