The Jets got off to their best start of the young 2020 – 2021 season tonight which concluded with a Nikolaj Ehlers goal after a nice zone entry and drop pass from Andrew Copp. The middle frame was even better for Winnipeg as they scored three goals in nine minutes (Scheifele, Lowry, Wheeler) in the 2nd period to give them a 4-0 lead after 40 minutes. The final frame was fairly uneventful aside from Brady Tkachuk trying to find a dance partner which eventually had Nathan Beaulieu oblige. Connor Hellebuyck’s shutout bid was broken late in the 3rd but Winnipeg would hold on for the 4-1 win and improve to 3-1-0 on the season.
For those who would like to take a deeper dive into the advanced stats here are the results from the game via Natural Stat Trick.
Game Highlights:
Notable:
First time this season (four games) the Jets scored first.
Nate Thompson suffered a lower-body injury in the 1st period and did not return.
Trevor Lewis picked up his first point as a member of the Jets.
With his goal in the second period, Blake Wheeler is now up to 216 regular season goals with the Jets franchise which puts him one back of Bryan Little in 2nd spot.
Derek Forbort now has three assists in four games with Winnipeg (he had one assist in 20 games last season between the Kings and Flames).
Adam Lowry scored in back to back games to give him two goals in four games (he had four goals in 49 games last season).
Ville Heinola looked very smooth in his first game of the season.
Connor Hellebuyck picked up his 150th win for the organization.
Points:
Mark Scheifele 1G 1A
Nikolaj Ehlers 1G 1A
Player interviews:
Coach availability:
Topics:
1. Assessing the game.
2. Thoughts on Ville Heinola’s first game.
3. Was this a win that everyone got a piece of?
4. Play of Adam Lowry.
5. Josh Morrissey’s game tonight.
6. Getting clean breakouts.
7. Scrum at the end, product of score or the mini-series aspect.
8. Denying the Sens zone exits.
9. Status of Nate Thompson.
Up next:
The Jets have a practice scheduled for Friday in Winnipeg as they look to conclude this three game series against these same Senators at Bell MTS Place on Saturday night. You can kick start your Friday with the Morning Papers which go live at 7 am on illegalcurve.com.
