They almost had it. The Winnipeg Jets saved some energy in their win against Detroit, and then had the game in hand against the Maple Leafs. Then they thought 55 minutes was good enough.
The Winnipeg Jets went all Los Angeles Dodgers on us. The Dodgers lost the first two games of the World Series, and looked overmatched in the process.
Then they won the longest WS game of all time, in thrillingly boring fashion and seemed to have some momentum. Yasiel Puig hit a three run homer to put the Dodgers up by four. It seemed like they would tie the series and give themselves a real chance.
The Winnipeg Jets went up against Toronto, 2-0. They lost their first game against their biggest Canadian competition. Then they came out last night and looked like they wanted it.
They scored a nifty powerplay goal, Mark Scheifele made a great breakaway play to give them the lead. They gave one back early in the third, but people were feeling good. Kyle Connor scored yet again.
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Connor Hellebuyck looked really great. Then, about 55 minutes into the game, Winnipeg decided to daydream about the plane ride to Finland that would follow. And Hellebuyck allowed 3 goals in 11 shots in the third, the last two coming just :26 ticks apart.
It’s not the World Series, but the Jets were ready to take off and gain some real momentum (and a meaningful win, or as meaningful as they come in NHL October), and then they just fell flat and allowed a good team to make a comeback.
The Jets went from feeling great in their bye week to feeling worse than before. They snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.
And before you ask, no, I’m not panicking yet. That was just a brutal loss to take. The sunshine was right there. And the cloud came and covered it up. And the cloud was self-inflicted. How does one self-inflict a cloud? I don’t know. I just kind of wandered into that sentence and didn’t know where to go.
A wise friend once told me, “If you’re still looking for a playoff spot and it’s Christmas, you might be screwed”. And I’m sticking to that. If Winnipeg hasn’t figured something out by then, we’re in trouble.
Either way, the Jets are in Finland for the NHL Global Series. They play two games in Helsinki, Nov 1 and 2, against the Florida Panthers. The Panthers are bad, which is nice.
Oh, and the Winnipeg Jets finished the first month of the season at 7-4-1, which is…adequate. Mark Scheifele leads the team with six goals and 12 points, tied with Connor for the goals lead.
Wheeler has two goals and nine assists. Typical Blake Wheeler. Anyway, we’ll catch up more later.