There's a few things to digest from last night's tilt at Madison Square Garden as the Jets opened the season on the road against the Rangers, none of those things will sit well with Winnipeg fans. Making sense of the game in absolute terms about the team seems silly, it's still to early to tell what this team is but one thing is certain- if they score four goals that should be enough to win.

The defensive systems, reads, and pairings were suspect. Certainly this is a defense corps built out of necessity with the injuries to Niku and Beaulieu and the absence of Byfuglien but desperate times require more from players. There's no time for fancy stuff, no time to freewheel, certainly no time to be getting caught but that happened.

Ville Heinola's first NHL game was solid- what was there to complain about from the 18 years old rookie, say in comparison to the veteran Kulikov? He's a bright spot and the fans should be hoping he can stick because if this is the level of play he's going to deliver then there's not much more to ask other than consistency.

Scheifele and Wheeler seemed to start off from where they finished- working well and scoring and having Ehlers with the two of them was certainly helped push play. That move to have Ehlers play LW could be permanent but it might have been because he's been at camp and Connor has not. Seeing how this develops on the top line will be interesting.

Connor and Laine both showed some good and some rust. If that's them with rust then I suspect the two will be just fine but again curious about the line. If and when Little comes back will he be between the two with Connor playing the role of getting the puck and getting back to either Little or Laine? Again, this is a line to watch and see how they interact and what they produce or don't produce.

Finally the bottom six. It's a project right now and while there is hope the roster does not leave a lot to be desired. The team was on the right side of the line for possession and expected goals and scoring chances but a large part of that was because Ehlers, Scheifele and Wheeler were so dominant against their opposition. It would be nice to see Gustafsson in tonight for a bit more creative flair and his is expected to make his debut.

What can be said about the defense? It's Morrissey, Poolman and Heinola trying to carry the others in some ways and expect it to be more difficult eventually. The defense were all in positive territory from an on ice shot share but it does not necessarily mean they were good. The team as a whole pushed the puck towards the Rangers net - outshooting them 35-26 at 5vs5. This is a group that needs Buff as eventually they are going to have to face far more dynamic forwards than New York's.

The biggest heat after the game came for Connor Hellebuyck. Was it deserved? Maybe but the one point that seemed to consistently appear in my Twitter timeline was about his post game comments. As many pointed out he seemed to not be able to accept some sort of responsibility for allowing five goals. Confidence is important but so is humility and some times when your team scores 4 and keeps you in the game the goalie has to do his part. That happened for the Rangers and not for the Jets. Onto New Jersey.

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