Facing the Florida Panthers for the second straight game, the Jets were looking to avoid a third consecutive loss. They did just that with a convincing 6-3 win, which improved their record on the season to 16-3-0.
There was plenty to take away from one of the Jets’ best performances of the season against a top opponent.
Jets showcase their ability to bounce back
With the Jets beginning the season with the greatest 15-game start in league history, one area in which they were not tested was their ability to bounce back.
After two straight losses and being embarrassed by a score of 5-0 Saturday evening against the Panthers, the Jets returned home needing a strong game, and they provided just that.
Photo Credit: Colby Spence (Illegal Curve)
“We knew how much better we had to be,” Arniel said. “But the biggest thing was just our players weren’t real happy with what happened. Coming home, that was a long flight home for us from Florida. It started yesterday and in practice today and into the game today, we were determined that we wanted to make sure that the outcome was better.”
In the Jets’ last two playoff series, they won the first game before losing four straight. Their inability to “push back” sparked a viral moment out of Rick Bowness, and it’s games such as this one, facing the same opponent that you got blown out by just three days ago, where the Jets can showcase their ability to push back.
Mark Scheifele records ninth career hat trick
Mark Scheifele and his line struggled on Saturday in the loss, and they bounced back in a big way tonight. Scheifele led the way with a hat trick as the top line of Connor-Scheifele-Vilardi outscored the Panthers 3-0 at five-on-five.
According to Natural Stat Trick, their underlying numbers were also dominant. They out-chanced the Panthers 12-4 and controlled 63 percent of the expected goals.
Photo Credit: Colby Spence (Illegal Curve)
“They have a fantastic team over there,” Scheifele said when asked about bouncing back after Saturday’s loss. “Barkov, Reinhart, those guys play a solid game, and they don’t give you a lot. We, as a team, we wanted to better than we were the other night and we showed that.”
After a slow start to the season, the Jets’ top line has now outscored their opponents 12-3 at five-on-five since October 30th. That is separate from their power play dominance, which came through once again tonight on a gorgeous cross-ice pass from Nikolaj Ehlers to Scheifele, which gave the Jets a 3-0 lead at the time.
After a near-200 minute sample size in 2023-24 of the top line struggling and a rough start to this season, this line has completely turned things around and played one of their best games of the season tonight.
Morgan Barron gets rewarded with two empty net goals
Out of all of the Jets’ forwards who dressed in this game, Morgan Barron was the only one who had yet to score a goal this season. That changed, as he netted two empty net shorthanded goals to ice the game.
It was the first two-goal game of Barron’s career. Even though they were both empty net goals, Barron admitted that the lack of a goal was weighing on him a little bit.
Photo Credit: Colby Spence (Illegal Curve)
“Yeah, more than I probably cared to admit,” Barron said. “You try to just stick to your process and not focus on the results, but at the end of the day, you want to be able to contribute and eventually score a few. I was probably gripping the stick a little bit tighter than I wanted to, but it lets things relax a little bit.”
The fourth line has been solid so far this season, repeatedly spending the majority of their shifts in the opposition’s zone, but it hasn’t always led to results. Barron had ten goals last season, and despite his slow start, it was clear that the process was right and it was only a matter of time.
Up next:
The Jets now hit the road for a six-game road trip, beginning on Friday night against the Pittsburgh Penguins. They’ll face tough competition, as they are set to take on the Vegas Golden Knights before a rematch with the Dallas Stars closes out the six-game road trip.
One big piece of news we received was the near return of Ville Heinola, who underwent ankle surgery before the season and has yet to see any game action. He was assigned to the Manitoba Moose on a conditioning stint, but as Scott Arniel outlined on Tuesday, he will play on Thursday and Saturday before joining the Jets on the road on Sunday.
Look for the 2019 first-round pick to potentially make his season debut for the Jets later on the upcoming road trip.
illegalcurve.com will have you covered on all the latest Jets and Moose news over the coming days.
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