Opening frame saw the Jets open the scoring quickly when Mathieu Perreault deflected a Josh Morrissey show just 1:59 into the 1st. But Josh Morrissey giveth and he also taketh as he put the puck up the middle in the Jets zone with under a minute remaining in the 1st which the Bolts converted into a goal. 1-1 after 20 minutes.
The middle frame was a bit more even as both teams had chances but the game turned 7:18 into the 2nd when Jack Roslovic finished off a nifty Andrew Copp pass to give the Jets a 2-1 lead. The Bolts would challenge which they lost and which meant not only did the goal stand but that Winnipeg would go on the power play. 21 seconds after it began Nikolaj Ehlers grabbed the puck from the corner skated in front and ripped it past Andrei Vasilevskiy to make it a 3-1 game. Connor Hellebuyck continued to shine making a number of excellent saves to keep it a two-goal game after 40 minutes.
A ho hum final frame saw the Jets and Bolts play fairly evenly for most of the period. With the extra attacker on the ice for the Bolts they scored to make it a one goal game courtesy of Steven Stamkos who scored his 400th NHL goal to make it a 3-2 game with 2:16 left in the 3rd. Kyle Connor helped the Jets re-gain their two goal lead when he put it into the empty net under a minute later but the Bolts refused to give up as just over a minute after that Anthony Cirelli scored to make it a one goal game again but that was as close as it would come.
With the victory the Jets improve to 12-8-1 on the season as they win their fourth straight road game and fourth game in last five contests. They’ve gone 6-1-1- through eight games in November.
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.
Notable:
– Mathieu Perreault up to 5 goals on the season;
– Tucker Poolman has four assists in his last five games.
– Josh Morrissey had 2A;
– Blake Wheeler had 2A;
– Nikolaj Ehlers scored team leading ninth goal of season;
– Luca Sbisa picked up his first point for the Jets;
– Connor Hellebuyck won again.
Audio:
Blake Wheeler
Connor Hellebuyck
Mathieu Perreault
Coach Maurice: On the Jets PK against the best PP in the NHL. Consistency among his penalty killers. What is the group doing to limit quality/quantity of chances? How important has it been to have Hellebuyck making the “big” save? On what makes Stamkos shot so difficult to stop. What has Mathieu Perreault added to the third line? What has he seen from David Gustafsson and his line? Can he afford to be patient with the 4th line?
All audio courtesy of TSN 1290 Winnipeg.
Up next:
The Jets are off on Sunday as they head to Nashville to play the Predators on Tuesday night. You can kick start your Sunday with the Morning Papers which go live at 7 am on illegalcurve.com.
