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Jets Home Opener- Turkey hangover?

October 8, 2018, 9:57 PM ET [23 Comments]
Peter Tessier
Winnipeg Jets Blogger •Winnipeg Jets Writer • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The Jets had their Thanksgiving easy as they delivered a turkey on Saturday night in Dallas. Maybe with a side of goat as for many fans Tyler Myers was the target of their abuse. The top players were not very good either even though the Jets outshot the Stars. Wheeler, Morrissey, Connor and Scheifele were all under the even line for the CF% and that's not going to cut it especially when taking penalties and letting the Stars heavyweights go to work.

Back to Myers though who was on the ice for 4 goals against, 2 at even strength and 2 power play goals. To be fair Little and Laine were brutal too and had some suspect coverage for two goals each but nothing compared to the Myers debacle.

To be fair you cannot single out Myers, he's paired with Morrow and this like another situation in the forwards is not working. M&M is a pairing no wants to see yet there seems to be no solution on the horizon. The problem is that Myers does not have a definitive role in that pairing and it would seem he wants to be everything while achieving almost nothing. It sounds harsh but that's reality.

The lone highlight for the Jets, if you take away the near sucker punch from Scheifele on Pitlick, was Kyle Connor and his snipe. #gingerpower is a real thing and this kid could perhaps rival Laine with goals.

So what happens now?

It would seem that Lowry said it best after the game when talking about their play and more- 'it has to be better and they know it'. One can get more quotes to frame the problem as the players see it but to summarize in the most basic sense- you have to match or exceed what your opposition is doing and the Stars were doing most of the work, at least the kind that gets you wins. The Jets almost had the reverse game of their one in St. Louis, they woke up in the third and tried to get back into it but to know avail and Bishop was giving up nothing.

So what happens now, on Tuesday night for the home opener? Does the team correct itself much like it did last year after two troubling games? That's what the record said but if you go back in history you will see that it was Hellebuyck who kept them afloat before the team righted it's shot differential and figured out how to start dictating play.

The big difference this year is no one is taking the Jets lightly. A year ago most had them low in the west for the finish and not even close to the playoffs. Had they reversed one win against Nashville, the winnable game in Statsny's debut, they would have won the President's trophy. No other team in the league is taking them lightly with Wheeler, Scheifele, Laine, Connor and Ehlers up front. Everyone is bringing their 'A' game against the Jets.

So now they have been home for two days and had some turkey, maybe a little extra stuffing and the comforts of home, what comes out tomorrow? If you saw the lines in practice they had Ehlers back up with Little and Laine- we're going try this again are we? The problem is that Maurice can't get Ehlers enough time playing with Roslovic and Vesalainen. Perhaps Lemieux slots in this game instead of the press box because 'grit' is missing?

That's the troubling part here and one that got overlooked during the summer, the Jets had some losses of personnel this year and only replaced from within and maybe the effect has been understated? Yeah, Enstrom did more than people thought but perhaps the depth to move players around and try different combinations was something that was a strength. The other part is Jack Roslovic might not be able to shoulder a line as a centre yet particularly with a rookie to the NA game in Vesalainen. Maybe give Dano a shot and let the rookie see the game a bit differently. Maybe not.

Nothing is lost in the first 3 games of the season but a team can not realize where problems are and that's one of the worries for the Jets, especially when every other team is looking to exploit them now more so than ever.
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