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Winnipeg Jets Defeat Edmonton Oilers 5-2, Offensive Powerhouse Matchup

November 16, 2021, 11:16 PM ET [30 Comments]
Jacob Billington
Winnipeg Jets Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The Winnipeg Jets (9-3-3) defeated the Edmonton Oilers (11-4-0) by a score of 5-2. The Jets offense certainly came to play, in a game with all eyes on the Oilers and their two superstars. Pierre-Luc Dubois, Nikolaj Ehlers, Kyle Connor, you name it, they were all buzzing Tuesday night. Defensively, the Jets played a very physical, and much tighter game than we have seen so far this season.

Oh, and Connor Hellebuyck is still an elite goalie in case you forgot. Stopping 32 of 34 shots, including a handful of brilliant saves most goalies wouldn't have stopped. Currently riding a 5-0-1 record at home (6-2-3 on the season) and carrying a .914 save%, Connor Hellebuyck is off to a fantastic start to the season.

The production from the offense started early in this one, as Adam Lowry nets his second goal of the season on the first Winnipeg shot of the game. I am sure that Mikko Koskinen is wishing for a re-do on this one, as the puck just barely crosses the line after trickling through and rolling behing the goaltender.

After this goal, it really felt like it was going to be a battle-of-the-goalies kind of game. With lots of back and forth action, and great plays and saves at both ends of the ice, it was sure to be a low scoring game. That all changed when the second period rolled around though.

The Jets get an early powerplay, which is cut-off by a penalty of their own. This tripping call on Ehlers was a blessing in disguise for Winnipeg. Copp and Lowry head out to kill the powerplay, and do a fantastic job of it. With crazy back-and-forth with breakaways, odd-man rush's, and great saves, you wouldn't even begin to think that this was t second-last penalty kill percentage in the league. But this is where Winnipeg really took over. After the penalty kill, Nikolaj Ehlers takes a pass up the ice, and with room, skates over the blue line and rifles a slap-shot on net and puts it past Koskinen to make it 2-0.

Just three minutes later, Pierre-Luc Dubois makes it 3-0 on a perfect re-direction, from a perfect pass by Josh Morrissey. Dubois' third powerplay goal, and ninth goal of the season couldn't have been set up any better as the wide-open Morrissey picks up a pass from Nate Schmidt and instead of taking the shot, looks over to Dubois open and makes the play. At the end of the period, with just 38 seconds to go, Logan Stanley takes a shot on net that is tipped by Mark Scheifele for his second goal of the season.

Now, the start of the third period is what everybody was waiting for. The entire hockey world is looking at updates to see how Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl are doing, and to see them going into the third period without a point? We all knew that was going to change, no matter how good anybody plays.

After Copp gets sent to the box for tripping, Logan Stanley gets set to join him on a boarding call. Stanley one-hundred-percent cross-checked Leon Draisaitl into the boards, but it sure looked like Draisaitl went down a lot harder than he was pushed. This led to a lengthy 5-on-3 that, guess who, Leon Draisaitl scores two goals on, just one minute and sixteen seconds apart, making his NHL-leading goal total 17 now. McDavid had an assist on the two goals, giving him 29 points on the year, only second to Draisaitl's 33.

All was comfortable from here on out. The two Oiler stars were getting tons of ice time, but the Jets defending was so tight, and coordinated tonight that they were able to shut down these two, as well as the rest of the team. Of course, Hellebuyck had to make a few big saves, but that's what he is there for. Josh Morrissey had one of his best games as a Jet, and arguably would have even without his two assists. Making great decisions when away from the puck as well as making the breakout and transition plays he did, the two assists are just the cherry on top.

Dillon, Stanley and Pionk were also fantastic. Dillon and Pionk registered five hits each, and they were all very noticable and were a part of defending, not just going for the hit. Stanley wasn't credited with any hits, but was very physical along the boards and in front of the net. Overall, every defenseman played a great game tonight, and now that we are 15 games into the season and everyone is settled in, look to see more performances like this.

As always, let me know your thoughts in the comments, not much to complain about, Wheeler was a good fit on line two, defense played good, goaltending was great, and offense was even better. Thank you for reading, have a great night!

By Jacob Billington
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