Game 26: Jets 3 Ducks 0 post-game recap

A scoreless opening frame between the Jets and Ducks for a rare weekday afternoon contest due to it being a holiday in the States.  The most notable thing that happened was Dmitry Kulikov leaving the game after being on the receiving end of a big hit.  Shots were a riveting 4-4 after 20 minutes.

The Jets would open the scoring in the middle frame when Neal Pionk took a shot from the point on the power play off a nice feed from Blake Wheeler.  Kyle Connor with a solid screen on Ducks goalie John Gibson.  Approaching the mid point of the 2nd period Nikolaj Ehlers finished off a nifty passing sequence by the Jets as he roofed it on Gibson to make it 2-0 for Winnipeg.

Early in the 3rd period Mark Scheifele drove deep into the Ducks zone and then fed a pass to Kyle Connor who scored his 10th goal of the season to make it 3-0 for Winnipeg.  And the guy who picked up the secondary assist on the third Jets goal was Luca Sbisa who was originally supposed to sign with Anaheim this season.  The remainder of the period was a bit of a dud with Winnipeg holding on for the win.

With the victory the Jets improve to 16-9-1 on the season which is their third win in a row.  They improve to 10-2-1 in November.  Been quite a month for the NHL squad.

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:

– Dmitry Kulikov left the game in the 1st period and didn’t return;
– Neal Pionk leads all Jets D men in goals (3);
– Nikolaj Ehlers scored his team leading 12th goal;
– Blake Wheeler had 2A;
– Wheeler has 1G 7A in his last six games;
– Kyle Connor joined Ehlers in double digits for goals with his 10th;
– Connor Hellebuyck with his second shutout of the season;
– Hellebuyck improves to 13-7-1 on the season.

Audio:

Connor Hellebuyck

Blake Wheeler

Coach Maurice:  Holding the Ducks to 24 shots.  Status of Dmitry Kulikov.  What can he say about Morrissey/Pionk?  Redemption trip so far given how it went for them last time in California? Play of Blake Wheeler/finding the offence.  Are the Jets developing a bit of a killer instinct?  On the Jets not changing the way they play regardless of score.  The Jets having a little more bite to their game.  Thoughts on the power play.  Pionk’s shot on the power play.  Wheeler/Scheifele faceoffs.  On David Gustafsson missing shifts.

All audio courtesy of TSN 1290 Winnipeg.

Health Update:

With Dmitry Kulikov leaving in the 1st period coach Maurice was asked about his status “Dmitry, I won’t have anything more until we get him looked at tomorrow.”

Up next:

The Jets will wrap up this three-game road trip tomorrow night in L.A. against the Kings.  You can kick start your day with the Morning Papers which go live tomorrow at 7 am on illegalcurve.com and which will be followed by the Illegal Curve Hockey Show on TSN 1290 Winnipeg starting at 9 am.