Look, I know they had that hiccup in the second game in Helsinki. It was bad timing, and yes, partly the fault of their token grinder.
But the Winnipeg Jets have still alternated wins and losses for seven games. That’s not a great recipe for success.
I just feel as though the Winnipeg Jets are climbing closer to being who we thought they were. They don’t look ready to catch fire.
They just look ready to settle into some wins. They have three more home games coming up next week. One against New Jersey, Washington and Buffalo apiece.
If the Jets don’t win two of those games, it’s a problem. It’s a mixed bag. One bad team, one good team and one mid-level squad.
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If the Jets can manage to beat Washington, it’s a great stretch and four straight wins heading into a four game road trip. If they lose to Washington and Buffalo, it’s a problem. If New Jersey comes into Manitoba and leaves with two points, you’ve got yourself a real problem.
But the Jets need to start stringing some wins together to get to the top of this division. Even that may not be enough, with Nashville up top. But you gotta win a bunch of games to get to try.
All these home games have really helped the team in the early going. There are three more winnable ones, sitting right in front of them. They would be wise to take it. I need to see more out of Connor Hellebuyck.
He was solid against the Avs, and it seemed like he was going to let the game slip away again, as he has done so often this year. But he didn’t, the team buckled down. Oh, and they scored five goals for the first time since Nov 22, the OT win against St. Louis.
Blake Wheeler is on a big point streak, and while he hasn’t been great at 5 on 5 this year, but he did just have a five point game. Another empty-netter, I know, but the four assists he had before that are still great.
Oh, and he has only gone three games this season without a point. And they were all in the first six games of the year. Nine straight with at least one point, and 17 in those nine games. Great stretch.
Kyle Connor scored again after cooling off a bit. Nikolaj Ehlers scored, which is nice. Patrik Laine, too, who now has five goals in his past three games. Those guys catching fire is giving me hope.
The big guys carry the burden and the others pick up the slack and chip in here and there. And when you have three big scorers and a litany of bit players, you should be scoring more. And the Jets are starting to.
We forget this is projected to be one of the top offensive teams in the league. Maybe they’ll start playing like it. Sure seems like it, which is good to see.