NEW YORK — If there’s one thing we’ve learned about the Winnipeg Jets through two games of this young NHL season, it’s that they are an exciting hockey team to watch.
They’re going to score goals with regularity and they’re going to give them up as well.
They’ve got all kinds of offensive talent and they’ve got defensive deficiencies, and while that’s not always a recipe for success, it sure makes for good viewing.
Friday night’s 5-4 shootout win over the New Jersey Devils came 24 hours after a 6-4 loss in New York and, in both games, the offensive firepower was on full display.
There’s also plenty of fight in the group, which includes an 18-year-old rookie defenceman (Ville Heinola), seven new faces on the 23-man roster and six players aged 22 or younger.
Playing in their opponent’s home opener on back-to-back nights, the Jets put up 47 shots and 81 shot attempts in a tough loss Thursday against the Rangers and then, on Friday, they overcame a 4-0 deficit in the final 20 minutes and 10 seconds of the hockey game to beat the Devils.
“In the first period, it was like eating a sand sandwich on toast and maybe it just got way better until no one defended,” Jets coach Paul Maurice said of the win over the Devils. “So it got pretty darn exciting at the end.”
The Jets generated only four shots and eight shot attempts in the first period against the Devils and it wasn’t much better in the second. Tucker Poolman and Anthony Bitetto made unforced errors with the puck to give the Devils a gift first goal by Nikita Gusev. Mark Scheifele and Nikolaj Ehlers did something similar as Blake Coleman made it 2-0.
Backup goalie Laurent Brossoit let in a long point shot from Sami Vatanen and a one-handed, falling-down flip by Coleman that made it look like it just would not be the Jets’ night.
But defenceman Dmitry Kulikov scored his first goal in two seasons with 10 seconds left in the second period and that got the ball rolling and set the stage for the big Winnipeg comeback.
Goals from third/fourth liners Jack Roslovic and Mathieu Perreault got the Jets to within one and defenceman Neal Pionk, acquired in the Jacob Trouba trade, tied the game with 7:25 left after a period of heavy extended pressure by the Jets.
Captain Blake Wheeler scored the shootout winner and Brossoit made 35 saves, plus three more in the shootout to get the win.
It made for a memorable night for this group that is still bonding — how often do NHL teams come back to win when they’re four goals down? — and it’s a victory they all believe they can build upon.
What Maurice saw was calmness, perseverance and positivity maintained on the bench. “If we can just get one, we’ll have a chance,” the players kept saying to each other when they were down by four.
“You handle your day and you handle where you are,” Maurice said. “We got ourselves behind it for sure. It was a big goal by Kulikov to put a little bit of a spin on that going into the third.
“Most times when you’re in a situation like that, you never give yourself a chance. The opposite was true. The bench was right, we put pucks in the net, we got a few breaks that we hadn’t gotten earlier and maybe even (Thursday) night, when we felt we had some pretty good offence and we couldn’t capitalize. But everybody gets a piece of it at that point, from a defenceman scoring the tying goal, to (Brossoit), who was fantastic in the net.”
That, of course, brings up another point.
While Hellebuyck struggled in a game the Jets likely should have won on Thursday, giving up five goals on 31 shots, Brossoit made some big saves on Friday and stopped 35 shots in total.
There are already a lot of fans who are worried about or upset with Hellebuyck’s play and surely those who are vocal on social media will only grow louder after this week’s events.
It’s likely to continue to be a big topic of conversation in the city as this heavy early season stretch continues Sunday in Long Island and Tuesday in Pittsburgh.
It doesn’t look like the Jets goalies are going to have the luxury of a whole lot of clampdown defence in front of them.
Goals are going to be scored and the Jets are going to have to outscore their problems on many nights.
Unless you’re the man between the pipes, it will be a blast to watch.
Twitter.com/Ted_Wyman
Rookie Heinola stands tall in first two NHL appearances
NEW YORK — He’s just 18 years old, he’s a smaller player and he’s only a few months removed from being a 20th overall draft pick by the Winnipeg Jets.
All those things would have suggested that Ville Heinola would not be playing in the NHL this season.
But the young Finn earned at least a nine-game look with his excellent pre-season and his first two NHL games would suggest he’s year to stay.
In Friday’s 5-4 shootout win over the New Jersey Devils, Heinola played 21.01 minutes and recorded his second assist in as many games.
He skates well, makes good decisions with the puck and uses smart body position to handle himself against bigger NHL forwards. Heinola is listed as being 5-foot-11, 178 pounds.
“I’ll keep emphasizing his hockey I.Q.,” Heinola’s defence partner, Neal Pionk said.
Ville Heinola of the Winnipeg Jets skates in his first NHL game against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Thursday in New York City.
“He sticks with guys and he uses his body really well, his positioning. Despite his size, I think you saw he took on (Devils’ forwards) Wayne Simmonds or Miles Wood and he used body positioning to take care of himself. He’s that smart.”
How telling was it that Jets coach Paul Maurice even put Heinola on the ice during the three-on-three overtime.
“He’s a good player,” Maurice said. “At the end or the day, that’s also his time, a place for him to excel. And he can.
“There’s a great amount of confidence, without any arrogance, in his game. He knows when he has time, he knows how to move the puck, he knows how to find the open man and he doesn’t put himself at a deficit to do it.”
There will undoubtedly be growing pains and rougher times for Heinola, but right now he’s doing the Jets a wonderful service. The team lost three key defencemen in the off-season, has to deal with Dustin Byfuglien’s absence while he contemplates retirement and lost veteran Nathan Beaulieu for a month to an injury before the season even began.
Heinola has stepped right into the Jets top-four, and playing with Pionk, has shown aplomb at both ends of the ice.
Leaner-looking Laine contributes despite not scoring
NEW YORK — Patrik Laine didn’t find the back of the net in the Winnipeg Jets’ first two games, but he made his presence felt.
Looking leaner and more fit than in year past, Laine’s skating was strong and he made a couple of tenacious plays that led to goals in Friday night’s 5-4 shootout win over the New Jersey Devils.
Laine played a big role in the Jets third and fourth goals as they erased a 4-0 deficit, scoring three times in the third period.
On the third goal, by Mathieu Perreault, Laine won a puck battled behind the net, allowing centre Andrew Copp to pick it up and feed it to Perreault in the slot. Perreault, replacing Kyle Connor on a line change, buried a low shot past Devils’ replacement goalie Mckenzie Blackwood.
Winnipeg Jets right wing Patrik Laine (29) and New Jersey Devils left wing Nikita Gusev (97) battle for the puck during the overtime period at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
On the fourth goal, the Jets had a couple minutes of extended pressure in the Devils zone and Laine made a great play to knock down a clearing attempt and keep it in. That allowed the Jets to get in a line change, keep circling, keep the puck moving and eventually defenceman Neal Pionk moved into the middle and buried a shot past Blackwood, who was screened by centre Mark Scheifele.
“That keep is the key because we’ve got them in trouble,” Maurice said. “But if they clear that puck, it’s over. At that point, how do we rotate guys off, which is hard to do in first and third periods. Usually, you go until you’re done. But we got a piece of a change in there and then, it was a real nice shot by (Pionk).”
Maurice likes what he sees so far from Laine, who missed all of training camp and the pre-season while negotiating a new contract.
“Perreault’s goal is right off his stick,” Maurice said. “It’s a fantastic pass (from Copp) that makes it happen. Patrik’s got a bunch of assists and the puck is not going in for him, but he’s playing hard and he’s doing good things. For guys like that, they can produce if we can win some games. He’s going to get hot at some point and he’ll help in that way as well.”
from Sports - Latest - Google News https://ift.tt/2LQRBye
via IFTTT
October 05, 2019 at 08:56PM
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar