Connor Hellebuyck made 31 saves in the Jets win, including multiple game-changing saves. Nikolaj Ehlers registered a 3-point night, while Kyle Connor, Pierre-Luc Dubois, and Paul Stastny all recorded 2 points each.

Jets Mailbag

This coming weekend, I will be releasing the first mailbag for the Jets on HockeyBuzz. Leave your questions in the comment box below, identifying that it is a mailbag question. The more creative/in depth the better!

Top End Talent Producing

With Blake Wheeler remaining out of Sunday night's game, the Jets offense was already at a disadvantage. What was also a big loss, was Mark Scheifele receiving a big hit from Parker Kelly, and it looked like Scheifele was favouring his right shoulder while skating off of the ice, almost as if it was popped out of place. This appeared to be the same shoulder that held Scheifele out for 6 weeks at the beginning of 2018.

Missing two of their top guys in the lineup, the Jets new top-six was looking like:

Ehlers-Stastny-Barron
Connor-Dubois-Svechnikov

All 9 points by forwards were registered with these 6 players, plus Scheifele's one assist. The production was there, and Morgan Barron really impressed me. He didn't do anything too flashy, but was more than able to keep up with the pace. Svechnikov, again, looked great on that second line as well. Connor and Dubois looked fantastic again, especially on the 4th Jets goal. Ehlers looked as comfortable as ever, and Paul Stastny is giving Jets fans a reason to want him to stick around this summer.

The bottom-six was, fine. Sanford took an unnecessary penalty by slashing Mathieu Joseph across the shins 80 feet away from the puck, and Mason Appleton took a holding penalty against Connor Brown, which was a weird call. It looked like it should've been a penalty the way he took him down, but there isn't really a penalty for that, but holding fits the bill enough.

Jets Defenders

Three very clear things to talk about for this part.

Josh Morrissey did a fantastic job Sunday. He was breaking up 2-on-1's left and right, he was being a positive impact on the offense, and returned to the game after briefly going down the tunnel with an apparent right arm or rib injury. He quickly returned and was still just as impactful. Fantastic night for not only Josh Morrissey, but Morrissey-DeMelo both together.

Neal Pionk looked good as well, while not being as noticeable as Morrissey, at either end of the ice, everyone definitely saw him when he earned his Delay of Game penalty. While it is easy to harp on a player for such a play that is unnecessarily a penalty, no player is ever trying to do it. It just...happens.

And finally, Dylan Samberg looked great. He kept up with a lot of the play, and was very physical, which was a huge asset against an Ottawa team that thrives on it's physical play. He only had 1 registered hit, but he spent a lot of time angling players off, and winning board battles.

Brief Breakdown

1-0 OTT

Josh Norris buries his 32nd of the season, on a nice pass from Brady Tkachuk from below the goal line. Hard one for Hellebuyck to expect, and prepare for, but one of those saves you're hoping Hellebuyck can make.

1-1 Tie

Nikolaj Ehlers gets the Jets on the board, as he was coming in down the wing, throws a pass out front, and deflects off of Victor Mete's stick on his attempt to defend. Mads Søgaard was caught sliding to the other post, and it beats him.

2-1 WPG

On the powerplay to start the 2nd period, the Jets did a fantastic job keeping the cycle going, and eventually Kyle Connor ended up with the puck on his stick, and see's Dubois standing the the crease, who accepts the great pass and directs the puck in. It was a simple, yet beautiful pass but Connor, and Dubois does a great job doing what he does best.

3-1 WPG

Paul Stastny and Nikolaj Ehlers do a fantastic job bringing the puck up ice, and once in the o-zone, Ehlers feeds Stastny with a cross-ice pass that then beats Søgaard. Not much of a chance for the young goaltender, and Paul Stastny looked really, really good on that play. (As did Ehlers, of course)

3-2 WPG

Brady Tkachuk, doing the same thing as Dubois on his goal, manages to pick up the rebound while standing in the crease to cause some chaos. The rebound ends up right on Tkachuk's stick, and in the net.

4-2 WPG

Kyle Connor is left wide open at the top of the circle, and not much coverage on the seam pass, and PLD takes advantage by sliding it through, and Connor puts away his 42nd of the year.

An interesting note on this, Kyle Connor now only trails Patrik Laine by 2 goals for the Jets 2.0 Franchise record in goals.

4-3 WPG

Brady Tkachuk begins celebrating the fact that baseball is back, by showing off his skills. After the puck was popped way up in the air, Tkachuk bats it out of the air after waiting for it to fall below the bar. It was a beautiful, hilarious goal that Connor Hellebuyck had no chance on.

The biggest issue, is that from every single angle I saw, the stick was above the crossbar. As entertaining as a goal-against can be while watching your favourite team can be, this was a good one, but shouldn't have counted, in my opinion. I know the NHL has their own cameras, not on the broadcasts, and I would like to see the angle, but to me, from what I saw, that is a high stick.

It didn't matter though, as that would be the end of the scoring. The Senators did a great job keeping possession with the net empty, keeping Jets defenders on for well over 2 minutes, just completely gassed.

Overall, it was a pretty even, physical, and entertaining game. Let me know your thoughts in the comment box, and I hope you all have a great day!

Jacob

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