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Jets get 3/4 points over the weekend |
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The Winnipeg Jets played back to back games at the Canada Life Centre over the weekend against two playoff bound teams. It was a great test for the Jets to see how they stack up against some of the heavyweights in the Western Conference. The Jets managed to pick up 3 out of 4 possible standing points against the Los Angeles Kings and the Colorado Avalanche.
First, on Friday night the Jets were defeated 2-1 by the Kings in OT in a game that was very tightly contested. Connor Hellebuyck received a very nice video tribute pre-game to celebrate his 300th win. Very classy gesture from the Jets organization. The video tribute included messages from present and past teammates. The loudest ovation was for Dustin Byfuglien. A notable omission from the video was long time Jets captain Blake Wheeler.
The game itself felt like a playoff game. The Kings limited the Jets to 19 total shots on goal while putting up 23 themselves. The game was scoreless until there were about 5 minutes left in the 2nd period when Alex Turcotte tipped in an Adrian Kempe shot to give the Kings a 1-0 lead heading into the 2nd intermission. The Jets had produced 9 total shots on goal up until this point.
When it was looking like the Jets would be shut out, they finally scored on their second PP of the period. Although the Kings penalty killers were doing a good job smothering the Jets players with the puck on the PP, Gabe Vilardi managed to get that extra pass over to Mark Scheifele who scored into what was basically an open net to tie the game at 1 with 10 minutes left in the final period. Regulation would end with the game tied at 1.
In OT, despite having a few chances, the Scheifele/Connor duo was unable to get the winning goal and were stuck on the ice for too long as the Kings went back the other way and Kempe scored for the Kings on a 2 on 1 to win the game. Eric Comrie took his 7th straight loss in this game which is unfortunate as he has played really well despite not getting the results.
It was a quick turnaround for the Jets as they hosted the Avalanche less than 24 hours later.
Hellebuyck made the start for the Jets in this game and picked up his league leading 6th shutout of the season as the Jets defeated the Avalanche 3-0.
Nikolaj Ehlers got the ice-breaker for the Jets just a minute into the game when he took a feed from Dylan Samberg, skated through the Avalanche defencemen and scored top shelf on Mackenzie Blackwood. That would be the only goal of the 1st period.
The only goal in the 2nd period came off the stick of Scheifele when he fired in a pass from Kyle Connor to put the Jets up 2-0 heading into the second intermission. It was Scheifele’s team leading 25th goal of the season. Prior to the goal, Connor was stopped on a breakaway and rang a shot off the post. He seems to be a little snake bitten at the moment.
In the final period, despite some chances both ways, the only goal was an empty net goal by Ehlers to seal the win for the Jets. This game was more wide open than the one the previous night. The Jets put up 29 shots while limiting the Avalanche attack to only 22 shots.
The Jets are now off until Tuesday night when they continue their season long homestand against the Vancouver Canucks.
Thanks for reading. Go Jets Go!
Winnipeg Jets Blogger • 
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