Game 15: Jets 5 Avalanche 2 post-game recap

The Jets and Avs played a close affair for the most part but Winnipeg took over in the 3rd, their power play continues to be lethal and ultimately they won 5-2 to improve to 9-5-1 on the season.

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.

Notable:

– Kyle Connor scored his 7th of the season eight seconds into a Jets PP to open the scoring;
– Mark Scheifele finished off a nice passing sequence by Wheeler & Morrissey for his 7th to make it 2-0;
– Dmitry Kulikov left the game in the 1st period with what looked like a shoulder injury;
– Jets announced during 1st intermission that Kulikov was done for the game;
– No goals in the middle frame but some entertaining back and forth play;
– Avs got one back early in the 3rd as the Jets gave Erik Johnson a clean path to the net;
– Blake Wheeler made a great intercept at Avs blueline to set up Ehlers to make it a 3-1 Jets lead;
– Patrik Laine scored his team leading eighth of the season on the PP to make it a 4-2 lead;
– Blake Wheeler finished off a milestone night with an empty netter.

Numbers:

– Blake Wheeler had one goal and four assists (up to 21 points in 15 games);
– Mark Scheifele had a goal and two assists.

Record:

– Blake Wheeler had the first 5 point night of his career;
– Wheeler’s third assist of four on the night was the 400th of his NHL career.

Audio:

Blake Wheeler

Mark Scheifele

Josh Morrissey

Coach Maurice:   Update on Kulikov?  His thoughts on the performance by Blake Wheeler?  On how the team played given the time away from gameplay.  Can he explain Wheeler’s elite passing?  Shutting down the Avs top line.  On how engaged Byfuglien was physically.

Health update:

Coach Maurice was asked for an update on Dmitry Kulikov who left in the 1st but he didn’t have much to add saying “I’ve got nothing for you right now.  He couldn’t return.  It might be precautionary but we’ll get him to test it out tomorrow and then we’ll know.”

Up next:

Jets are scheduled to practice at 12 pm noon at Bell MTS Place as they prepare to face the Devils on Sunday.