The Winnipeg Jets Handle Business in Their Home Opener

I’m not going to go out and tell you that last night’s home opener was the most exciting game of hockey you’ll ever see, but the Winnipeg Jets dominated play from start to finish.

The Winnipeg Jets were the NHL’s best home team in 2017-2018. And while I know the Kings aren’t going to intimidated by the moment, you assumed Winnipeg had an advantage.

The Kings are a decent team. They’re not anyone’s idea of a top flight contender, but they’re good. Nobody thought they were great when they won the Cup (ugh), so there’s that.

And of course, against his former franchise, Ilya Kovalchuk opens the scoring. It was his first goal with the Kings, and it was a beautiful pass from Drew Doughty through the crowded slot. Really pretty. That was about six minutes in.

Mark Scheifele got his first of the year in less than five minutes later, following a nice pass from Brandon Tanev. Josh Morrissey also picked up an assist.

More from Analysis

• Winnipeg Jets vs. Blackhawks Round 3: 5 Things We learned
• Winnipeg Jets’ Connor Hellebuyck is the Best Goalie of the Last 5 Years
• A Patrik Laine Trade Redux Prior to Winnipeg Jets vs. Columbus
• Winnipeg Jets Doppelgangers: Look-A-Likes PART II
• Can Josh Morrissey of the Winnipeg Jets Actually Win the Norris?

About halfway through the second, the Jets took the lead for good on Kyle Connor‘s third of the year. Good stuff from Connor, even though this was as stolen as a goal as you’ll ever see.

Blake Wheeler pushed the puck toward the net, it redirected off some Kings, and was heading over the goal line when Connor smacked it home. It was already going to be a goal.

He just straight up yanked one away from Wheeler. But hey, Blake Wheeler isn’t on my fantasy team. And I didn’t just write a piece about a Blake Wheeler breakout. And assists are kind of his thing, Connor was just doing him a favor.

And although that was halfway through the second, that was the end of the scoring. Things could’ve gone wild at the end, as the Kings were on a powerplay when they pulled Jack Campbell (more on him later), but the Jets held strong. Good team win.

The score was kept close, but the Winnipeg skaters absolutely dominated the Kings skaters. Puck possession, passing lanes, faceoffs, special teams. Shots by period for LA: Four, five and eight. For Winnipeg: Fourteen, nineteen and six.

Winnipeg killed two penalties and scored on one of three powerplays, which will do nicely. The only thing that kept this from being a blowout was Jack Campbell. The former first rounder was unreal. After stopping 36 of 38 in his first game, he went out and stopped 37 of 39.

Yes, his defense actually handled themselves fairly well despite not being able to get the puck away from the Jets. But he was still out there doing his thing. A really, really good performance.

Connor Hellebuyck stopped 16 of 17 (lol) for a nice little start from him. Unfortunately it was close, but it was a fantastic game by the Jets coming off of that Dallas start. Wipe the slate clean, move on to the next one.

Which is exactly what the Jets will do as they travel to Nashville (or possibly they’ve done so already) for a Western Conference Semifinals rematch. Can’t wait to see the Jets face the Predators. That game is Thursday at 7PM CT. See you there.