A big 5-2 win by the Jets over the Blue Jackets to start the road trip off on the right skate as they improve to 39-22-4 on the season. Wheeler with 4 goals and Hellebuyck with 40 saves.
For those who would like to take a deeper dive into the advanced stats here are the results from tonight’s game via Natural Stat Trick.
Gameplay:
– Sami Niku got things going with a seeing eye shot from the point early in the 1st;
– Jackets got it back on the power play when Foligno buried a rebound past Hellebuyck;
– After 20 it was all tied at 1 with shots favouring the home side 13-10.
– Just 34 seconds into the middle frame, after a good pinch by Kulikov, saw Blake Wheeler tip home a shot to make it 2-1;
– Kulikov dropped the gloves with Foligno after the Jackets captain took out Scheifele (at time looked like he hurt his knee);
– 17 minutes of penalties for the Russian D man who got big applause from the Jets on the bench;
– The Jets couldn’t clear the puck, took an icing and eventually the Jackets tied it with 2:29 left in the 2nd;
– Another period down ends with the score tied (2-2) and shots are 26-18 for Columbus.
– Blake Wheeler scored his second goal of the game as he tipped home the Beaulieu shot to give the Jets a 3-2 lead;
– But the captain wasn’t done as Patrik Laine fed him a perfect back hand pass which he converted into for the hat trick, 4-2 Jets;
– And the memorable night* would continue as Wheeler scored his fourth goal of the game to make it 5-2.
*It was also memorable for Wanda Nabess of Thompson Manitoba who won $101,000.00 as a result of Wheeler’s four goals courtesy of Safeway Score and Win.
Notable:
– Blake Wheeler with a four goal night (first hat trick since October 2017 and third of his career);
– With his four goals in the game Wheeler hits the 80 point mark (17G 63A) for the second straight season;
– The Jets have 19 hat tricks since they returned to the NHL and tonight was their seventh of the season (leads NHL);
– Mark Scheifele had three assists on the night;
– Sami Niku scored his first goal of the season;
– Nathan Beaulieu picked up his first and second points as a member of the Jets;
– Coming off the flu Connor Hellebuyck was excellent making 40 saves on the night.
Audio:
Blake Wheeler
Connor Hellebuyck
Nathan Beaulieu
Coach Maurice: What did he think of his top line? On the team not sagging after the Jackets tied the game twice. When does it say when Dmitry Kulikov stepped up for Mark Scheifele? What has allowed Nathan Beaulieu to come in and have an impact? On the second goal against by Columbus. Play of Jacob Trouba. Good to remind the NHL that Wheeler is also a goal scorer? On Connor Hellebuyck getting the start in net. What does it mean to win the Nashville game and then start off the road trip in this manner?
All audio courtesy of TSN 1290 Winnipeg.
Up Next:
The Jets are scheduled to practice at 2 pm (Tampa time) at Amalie Arena tomorrow afternoon as they prepare for the Lightning on Tuesday night. Kick start your day with the AM Jets papers which go live at 7 am on illegalcurve.com.
