A night after a gritty effort in Tampa Bay that saw the team outlast and outscore the Lightning, the Jets decided to go a bit of an easier route with a more complete game that saw balanced effort from all four lines, continued great play from the likes of Ehlers, Laine and Trouba and maybe most important of all a very solid effort in goal from Connor Hellebuyck who proved he has what it takes to go in both games of a back to back.

Two games in 2017. Two wins in 2017. It’s tempting to petition the NHL to keep the Jets playing in Florida for the rest of the year but that likely won’t go over well with anyone. Could you blame us for wanting to though?

GAME THOUGHTS

All I’ve personally heard for the past week or so is how great the Maple Leafs rookies are. Yes, Toronto has a fine group of rookie players this season and they have a few more gems coming down the pipeline there, but let’s not take away from the fact that the Jets have a top line of very young players (ages 20, 18 and 23 respectively in that tweet.. I’ll get to Little in a minute) and they are the Jets undisputed top line right now. All three of them had goals tonight, the line has looked dangerous every time it’s been on the ice for the last two games.

The Jets kids are all right and that’s just the start of it. Joel Armia continues to be a constant ball of motion every game and arguably the team’s best penalty killer.

I think it’s fair to say Jacob Trouba has been the Jets best defenseman if not the last couple of weeks, then certainly the last couple of games. His wheel around the Panthers net and pass to set up Scheifele on the team’s fourth goal was the kind of rush Byfuglien had been known to do in years past. There were also two plays tonight that went virtually unnoticed by most where he calmly cleared away Hellbuyck rebounds that had been deflected into high scoring areas just waiting for a Panther to cash in on. He’s been great at both ends of the ice and is proving why playing on the right side of the ice mattered so much to him. He’s simply better on that side. (Although give some credit to Tobias Enstrom who is a major upgrade from previous partners Trouba has had)

Now quick, think of who your pick for Jets MVP is this season? Laine? Scheifele? Maybe it should be Bryan Little. Two more assists tonight with the second being an impressive display of driving deep into the offensive zone, winning a puck battle in a corner and zipping a pass to an open man – It was a perfect Bryan Little play and sums up what is so good about him on a nightly basis. It was kind of nice to see on a nationally broadcast game.

Also nice to see was the game Connor Hellebuyck had. 31 saves on 32 shots a night after he maybe didn’t have his strongest game in a winning effort. He had to have such a game because Roberto Luongo was his typical self for the Panthers and kept the game from being a 4 or 5 goal deficit for Florida. The most encouraging part was that Helle did so on the second night of a personal back to back, so hopefully this has given him and Paul Maurice a boost of confidence.

The only downsides to the game? Ben Chiarot continues to make baffling decisions with the puck. Drew Stafford just doesn’t have the speed to keep up with the rest of this team. It would sure be nice if Adam Lowry had just a bit more offensive finish to make that third line of him, Matthias and Armia really sing.