Game 24: Jets 7 Wild 2 post-game report

Recap:

The contest didn’t start off well for the home side as they found themselves in a 2-0 hole despite carrying most of the play early in this one.  However the best “4th line” in hockey got the crowd and team back into this one when Joel Armia buried a Matt Hendricks redirect of a Josh Morrissey shot.  Minute and a half later Mark Scheifele blasted home his 12th on a nice feed by Blake Wheeler to tie it up at 2-2 after 20 minutes.

The Jets owned the middle frame.  They opened it with a power play and never really looked back.  Jacob Trouba got his second of the season as he was hit by a ridiculous pass of Mark Scheifele after Andrew Copp did some good work to get the puck into the Wild zone.  Mathieu Perreault had missed a chance to make it a 4-2 game a few moments later but then atoned for his miss by burying a Joel Armia past Alex Stalock to make it 4-2 for Winnipeg.  The period would conclude when Matt Hendricks dropped the gloves with Daniel Winnik.

The final frame continued much like the middle frame.  Winnipeg continued to pour on the pressure and they added a couple more.  First it was Blake Wheeler driving the net using his speed to draw the defenders and Alex Stalock which left Kyle Connor alone with the puck to score his seventh of the year to give Winnipeg a 5-2 lead.  Soon thereafter Bryan Little got his fourth on a nice redirect of Ben Chairot shot from the point.  6-2 for the Jets and then pandemonium ensued as everyone on the ice started to fight.  Friendly Manitoba and Minnesota Nice not so much.  Blake Wheeler finished it off on a two on one with Mark Scheifele which banked in off a Wild defender and gave the Jets a 7-2 lead.

The Jets are now 15-6-3 on the season which has them second in the Western Conference and third overall in the NHL.  Connor Hellebuyck is now 13-2-2 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:

– Blake Wheeler played in his 500th career NHL game with the Thrashers/Jets organization;
– Mark Scheifele had a goal (12) and two assists;
– Blake Wheeler had a goal (6) and two assists;
– Kyle Connor had a goal (7) and two assists (tied for 7th in rookie scoring);
– Joel Armia had a goal (4) and assist;
– Mathieu Perreault has five goals in seven games since he returned from injury;
– Connor Hellebuyck picked up win number 13 and is now 13-2-2 on the season.

Jets Audio/Video:

Blake Wheeler

Mathieu Perreault

Coach Maurice:  How did he like the bounce back for his team?  On what is working well for the 4th line.  On the discipline the Jets showed (with Wild having a hot power play).  On not allowing a previous bad game to bleed into the next game.

Wild audio:

Coach Boudreau