It seems the St. Louis Blues always bring out the best of the Winnipeg Jets. Sure, their record against them as of late is not very good, but the Jets always play strong. Blues Head Coach Ken Hitchcock said last season that if these teams met in the playoffs, each team “would probably need 30 players”. That’s the kind of physical presence these two teams carry. Both have an abundance of terrorizing threats. Get Dustin Byfuglien in the right mood, and your best bet is avoiding him altogether. Chris Thorburn has would never think twice to fight anyone, even Ryan Reaves, the Winnipeg native.
Ryan is one of the Blues who always elevates his game against his childhood city. Reaves brings a energetic approach to the game, and always finds a way to get in the other teams heads. Either of the two enforcers unhappy with his teams play, and they look for the other one. The 224 lb giant may only have two goals this season, but his physicality, and presence overturn that.
The Jets gave up a franchise record 25 shots in the second period, and Ondrej Pavelec single-handedly guarded their one-goal lead. He made countless saves point-blank, and on the powerplay. Their response in the third was nothing short of impressive. Three straight goals from the Jets top six were all team efforts, including Mark Scheifele’s team high 21st of the season, to realistically put the game away.
What concerned us from the game was once again penalty trouble, and their sub-60 minute effort. All four Jets penalties were “lazy” stick infractiosn, one for hooking, two for slashing, and another for tripping. Against a powerplay as lethal as the St. Louis Blues, that’s something that can’t happen. Letting Steen, Tarasenko, and Shattenkirk pass the puck around for two minutes will never result in anything good. We also experienced a minor breakdown, as the Jets four goal lead was decreased to two. Should the Blues have an experienced goaltender in net, perhaps he could’ve kept them in the game longer, and that could’ve meant big trouble for the Jets.
Bryan Little’s two powerplay goals highlighted lots of bright spots for the Jets. Mathieu Perreault once again elevated his game. Whether Ondrej Pavelec’s presence has anything to do with his strong play is undetermined, but definitely something to watch. Andrew Copp played real well with Mark Scheifele and Nikolaj Ehlers in the third period, as he got extra ice-time after Drew Stafford left the game with a lower-body injury.
Ondrej Pavelec was once again incredibly solid for the Jets in net, and despite sporting a deceiving 3.00 GAA in his two games, he has two wins. Going back to last season, Pavelec hasn’t lost a game in regulation for nine consecutive. The Jets extended the Blues streak of five straight loses allowing five goals, and unfortunately for them, North Pole native, Pheonix Copley’s magic wasn’t enough to end that.