Game 68: Flyers 2 Jets 1 post-game report

The Jets are now 41-18-9 with the 2-1 loss to the Flyers in their fourth game of this six-game road trip.

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:

Pre-game:
– Jets recalled Tucker Poolman to replace Tobias Enstrom who was ruled out with a lower-body injury.

1st:
– Quick line change to start this one as Matt Hendricks and Andrew Copp switched centre spots;
– Other than that it was a busy opening frame but neither team held a significant edge;
– Shots were 11-9 in Flyers favour.

1st intermission:
Tucker Poolman indicates during 1st intermission chat with Dennis Beyak that he got the call last night that he was returning to the Jets but didn’t find out that he would be in today’s lineup until this morning about an hour before the game.

2nd:
– Flyers captain Claude Giroux opens the scoring on a delayed penalty call against Tyler Myers;
– Two minutes later Hellebuyck appeared to make a save but MacDonald’s shot crossed the line to make it 2-0;
– Mathieu Perreault was bumped up to play with Little and Wheeler;
– Jets finally began a decent push which saw Bryan Little miss an open net off a rebound;
– Shots were 15-11 for the Flyers for an overall edge of 26-20 for the home side.

3rd:
– On the PP Patrik Laine scores his 40th goal on a perfect pass by Blake Wheeler;
– Assists to the aforementioned Wheeler as well as Stastny;
– Jets couldn’t get the equalizer despite a lot of pressure in the dying seconds of the game.

Post-game:

Bryan Little was hobbled by a wicked slash by the Flyers defenceman Brandon Manning as the Jets tried to tie the game late in the 3rd.  This discomfort was evident as he slowly made his way to the bench and continued after the buzzer and as he made his way to the Jets dressing room.

Numbers:
– Patrik Laine hits 40 goals for first time in his career;
– Laine ties his idol Alexander Ovechkin for most goals in the NHL;
– 11 game points streak for Laine who has 15 goals and six assists during that time;
– Paul Stastny has two goals and five assists in his six games since being acquired by Winnipeg;
– Blake Wheeler and the Flyers Jakub Voracek both got an assist and are tied for the league lead with 58;
– Connor Hellebuyck drops to 35-11-8.

Audio:

Patrik Laine

Connor Hellebuyck

Tucker Poolman

Coach Maurice:  Did he see anything change in the middle frame that allowed the Flyers to get those two quick goals.  Did Philadelphia have an edge today?  Trouble getting the legs going?  Update on Enstrom?  Thoughts on Poolman’s game?  Thoughts on Laine hitting the 40 goal mark.  Did he get what he was looking for when he switched the lines?  On the lack of secondary scoring with Laine scoring so much.  What went through his mind when the buzzer went off (on the Flyers second goal)?

Audio courtesy of TSN 1290 Winnipeg.

Health Update:

Somewhat unexpectedly Tobias Enstrom was not on the ice for the Jets and prior to puck drop the word was he was out with a lower-body injury.  Following the game coach Maurice indicated “He’s been running the same thing for three months….There’s a point where I don’t want this thing keep grinding on him.  We were off the ice with him yesterday.  We were hoping that there would be a 24 hour improvement and there wasn’t.  So he’s kind of status quo from the day before, so I held him out.”

Also worth noting via Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Sun about Jack Roslovic “blocked a shot off the left leg in the third period and had a noticeable limp as he left the rink today. Something to monitor leading up to Monday’s game vs #Caps”.