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Tampa visits Winnipeg for showdown |
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This is the measuring stick game right? This is the one that will tell Jets fans if the team is a true contender or pretender correct?
Tonight the Jets host the Lightning as number 3 in the league takes on number 1 in a showdown of offense, defense and goaltending.
Goals per game 1st TB vs 4th WPG
Shots per game 8th TB cs 6th WPG
PP% 3rd TB vs 1st WPG
Shooting % 2nd TB vs 6th WPG
Goals against 6th TB vs 5th WPG
SOG against 18th TB vs 22nd WPG
PK% 5th TB vs 10 WPG
Penalty Minutes per game 7th TB vs 30th WPG
The funny thing is that for many Jets fans they seem not to be confident in the abilities of this team. This far in December the Jets have only beat one team in playoff position the 5-4 OT win vs Edmonton. In November the Jets have beat 3 teams Colorado, Buffalo and Washington who are in playoff position. In October they did not beat a team that is now currently in playoff position. Thus of their 21 wins only 4 have come from against teams currently in the top 8 of either conference, that should be concerning.
What should also be concerning is that in some of those games against lesser teams the Jets have struggled and had periods within the games of losing focus and not playing a complete sixty minutes. Think back to the Penguins game, the two meetings with the Maple Leafs, and the 4-2 loss to Minnesota. There is lost opportunity and how that has happened is concerning, it's why many put a significant weight or importance on tonight's game.
Despite the success this team has had so far, it almost seems like they win despite themselves. That's not to say that Mark Scheifele is not having an incredible run, or Blake Wheeler with his near league leading assists or Patrick Laine and his ways of shooting the puck like a howitzer while standing in a phone booth. It's that there are challenges that are hard to ignore.
One challenge has been consistent play of Connor Hellebuyck who seems to have either bad luck or focus problem at times. One thing that is problematic is the defense in front of Hellebuyck, where it's almost a free pass to get in front of him compared to what other teams provide the Jets. It seems the defense is expecting him to be the guy from last year while he seems to need more support from them. Whatever the reason his numbers are not what they were.
The Jets are almost healthy and with Copp coming back icing a complete roster for a bit might be the best thing to fix inconsistency. The defense pairing of Kulikov and Myers seems to have found some steady cohesiveness with Kulikov being the Yin to Myers' Yang. Whatever it is- it works and the results have been good since Kulikov came back.
Take out Lemieux and put Perreault with Appleton and Roslovic and let's see what happens when Copp comes back and that 4th line could be the elixir that makes the Jets even more difficult to play against.
All that being said the over under line tonight is 6.5 goals total and if you are a Jets fan hoping for allowing two or less is you want to see from Hellebuyck. More importantly you want to see the Jets rise to match the best and prove they belong there. This game is about the details, and making sure there are no slips, lapses and errors when comparing to the powerhouse Lightning. That's going to be hard and it's why so many feel this game might reveal if the Jets are contenders or pretenders due to a soft schedule.
Winnipeg Jets Blogger •Winnipeg Jets Writer • 
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