The Winnipeg Jets beat the Edmonton Oilers 5-1 in their second preseason game of 2021. Below are three talking points from the Jets win.
The Winnipeg Jets played their second game of the preseason last night as they hosted the Edmonton Oilers at the Canada Life Centre.
The Jets’ coaching staff decided to dress more of a balanced lineup against Edmonton in terms of veterans and prospects on forward. The forward lines for the Jets were: 1) Blake Wheeler-Mark Schiefele-Kyle Connor 2) Paul Stastny-Adam Lowry-Kristian Vesalainen 3) Jansen Harkins-Cole Perfetti-Evgeny Svechnikov; and 4) Mike Eyssimont-David Gustafsson-Austin Poganski on the fourth line.
Winnipeg also had the same balance on defense as they had Josh Morrissey, Nate Schmidt, and Dylan DeMelo along with younger players, Logan Stanley, Ville Heinola, and Johnathan Kovacevic. Connor Hellebuyck made his preseason debut and got the start in goal.
In contrast, the Oilers lineup was much younger, in terms of NHL experience, compared to the Jets. Edmonton was coming into this game after playing the night before and had two different rosters for each game. The Oilers dressed more of an NHL roster for the first game and the likes of Connor McDavid, Leon Draisatil, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Zach Hyman, Tyson Barrie, Darnell Nurse, Mike Smith, and, Mikko Koskinen did not play in last night’s second game of the back-to-back against the Jets.
Ultimately the Jets took advantage of their strengths and dominated the game en route to a 5-1 win over the Oilers.
Here are three talking points from yesterday’s game:
3. The Jets Controlled the Game
As expected when the lineups were released, the Jets were projected to win this game. But as we know the game is not played on paper and, especially in the preseason, any player can steal the show.
Last night the Jets dictated the majority of the game. Winnipeg was the first to loose pucks, spent most of the game in the offensive zone, and limited Edmonton’s offensive opportunities to one-off shots. The Jets moved the puck extremely well around the offensive zone and were extremely effective in cycling the puck.
In total, the Jets outshot the Oilers 28-18. Sometimes shots are not the best indication of how a game transpired, but for this game, these stats are a good indication of what happened on the ice. The Jets were by far the better team in this game and deserved the victory.