Winnipeg-Boston Jan. 21 Corsi
11 years ago
Losses aren’t all created equal, and after a sluggish display Saturday, the Jets almost resembled a hockey team this afternoon in Boston. I’m quite sure what it is about playing the Bruins, but Winnipeg 2.0 hasn’t looked as overmatched against the Bs as they have against the other top Eastern teams. They could have used the extra point, obviously, but at least at EV, they weren’t run out of the rink.
As with yesterday’s game, I broke out the spreadsheet for a look at the underlying EV numbers, and considering how good Boston looked in dispatching the Rangers on opening night, the Jets acquitted themselves reasonably well. Unlike yesterday’s installment, friends of Mark Scheifele needn’t avert their eyes for this one:
| WPG | SF | SA | MF | MA | BF | BA | Corsi | Fenwick | ZS O/D | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player # | ||||||||||
| 8 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 7–1 | |
| 9 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 5–6 | |
| 12 | 6 | 9 | 7 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5–7 | |
| 13 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 5 | 6–6 | |
| 16 | 8 | 10 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 2 | -2 | -6 | 5–3 | |
| 18 | 4 | 11 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 2 | -7 | -12 | 2–2 | |
| 19 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 3–11 | |
| 22 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 2–5 | |
| 23 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 7–6 | |
| 26 | 7 | 9 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 4 | -1 | -3 | 6–5 | |
| 55 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 8 | 3 | 3–3 | |
| 80 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 10–2 | |
| 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 8–0 | |
| 5 | 7 | 9 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 8 | -8 | -5 | 5–8 | |
| 6 | 9 | 10 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 8 | -5 | -3 | 5–7 | |
| 24 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 8–2 | |
| 33 | 12 | 15 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 7 | -2 | -3 | 8–11 | |
| 39 | 12 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 8–11 | |
| TEAM | 25 | 24 | 11 | 12 | 18 | 15 | 3 | 0 |
Buff was a bit more high event in this one, needless to say. That’s going to happen to him against good players away from MTS Centre from time to time, and he played most of his minutes against Boston’s top six, but his play wasn’t nearly as sharp as what we saw on Saturday afternoon. The minutes played without his pint-sized security blanket were especially problematic, going -6 Corsi with a variety of partners other than Enstrom.
On the other hand, considering the workload they’ve been stuck with, Hainsey and Stuart managed about as well as could be expected, and as a result, Noel was able to shelter Clitsome and Postma to a greater degree than in the opener. That latter duo is one way traffic in their own end, so giving them the high ground is the only course worth considering at the moment.
As for the forwards, Noel chose to split his lines in the third, and given how poorly Ladd, Little and Wheeler were going up until that split, correctly so. Little’s underlying numbers look the worst, but Wheeler and Ladd didn’t appear to play with any more fluidity, at least until Wheeler got his legs going at the very end of the game. I’m not convinced leaving Antropov at center is a long term solution, so we’ll see if that experiment survives the flight to Washington.
It also appears as if Noel might have realized he can’t bury Mark Scheifele without consequence, choosing instead to spot the youngster, and his improved results befit someone that got a bit softer go of things. Slater and Thorburn usually got a different linemate for the D zone draws, but no matter who they lined up with, they did a very good job of moving the rock uphill. Slater was particularly good given the hole he was placed in, and while I’m not a fan of burying him in the manner Noel did last season, the guy has real value as a 10th forward and extra center late in games.
Outside of the EV stuff, the powerplay is having a terrible time generating anything, mostly due to the team’s inability to enter the zone with any cohesion. The Jets managed 1 shot in 7 1/2 minutes on the PP, and accomplished nothing at all while having about half the OT to work 4v3. For reference purposes, a top PP averages just about 1 shot a minute. That area of the Jets’ game just has to get better, because it’s one thing to get stoned by a good goalie, but it’s entirely another, more vexing, problem to not even muster any attack at all. Winnipeg wasn’t very good at getting shots on goal on the PP last year either, finishing with the 10th worst rate 5v4, so Perry Pearn might have his work cut out for him to fix this mess.
All in all, though, things could have gone a lot worse than playing the Bruins break even and losing in the skills competition. Next up is a game in DC, and considering how terrible the Caps looked in their own end in their first game, maybe we’ll see the offence get things going tomorrow.
Recent articles from Robert Cleave
