3 Talking Points: Winnipeg Jets Lose 3-0 to Pittsburgh Penguins
The Winnipeg Jets lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-0 at the Canada Life Centre on Saturday night. Here are three talking points from the game.
The Winnipeg Jets faced an intriguing Saturday evening matchup last night as they hosted the Pittsburgh Penguins in game two of the Jets’ three-game homestand.
Winnipeg was looking for back-to-back wins after beating the Anaheim Ducks 3-2 in the first game of the homestand, while the Penguins were looking for their second straight win after starting their road trip on Thursday night with a 6-4 victory over the Wild in Minnesota.
Rick Bowness and the Jets coaching staff did not make any changes from Thursday’s win versus Anaheim for this matchup. Dylan DeMelo was still ruled out, Jansen Harkins and Ville Heinola were both scratched again, and Connor Hellebuyck got his second straight start in net.
Ultimately in this close contest, the Penguins played a strong defensive game en route to beating the Jets 3-0.
Here are three talking points from the Jets’ loss to the Penguins:
3. The Home Winning Streak Comes to an End
Going into last night’s game, the Jets had the second best home winning percentage in the NHL and only lost one of their prior seven games on home ice.
Also, the Jets were unbeaten in their past five home games with their last home loss coming just under a month ago to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Ultimately, it took a great road game by the Penguins to snap this winning streak at the Canada Life Centre for the Jets. Pittsburgh shut the Jets down and were deservedly winners of this one.
2. The Fourth Line’s Ice Time
One major headline regarding the Jets right now is their injury problems, especially on offense. Three forwards from the Jets’ opening night roster are currently out with long-term injuries.
Those players include Morgan Barron (4-5 weeks), Mason Appleton (8-12 weeks), and Nikolaj Ehlers (who will have surgery next week; no timetable indicated).
With all of these injuries, many people are stating that Kevin Cheveldayoff and the Jets’ front office should make a trade, but in the meantime, the Jets have made some call-ups from the Manitoba Moose.
Yesterday, the Winnipeg Jets employed a fourth line of Mikey Eyissmont, David Gustafsson, and Dominic Toninato.
At the end of the game, Eyissmont played a total of 4:06, Toninato had 4:21, and Gustafsson led these three players with 5:14 of ice time. It is worth noting that 1:30 of Gustafsson’s ice time was on the penalty kill.
These stats show that the Jets are a three-line team. The fourth line rarely plays and thus cannot have an impact on the game.
This may be something to watch over the next couple of games: How Bowness manages the fourth line’s time on ice, especially if the Jets do not make any trades or roster moves.
1. Full Credit to the Penguins and Tristian Jarry
Compared to the eleven games last season that it took for the Jets to suffer their first shutout defeat of the season, it took this year’s team sixteen games to get shutout for the first time.
As Bowness indicated after the loss, it was a hard-fought contest but credit must be given when earned:
Rick Bowness trying to pump the brakes on #NHLJets scoring concerns:
— Murat Ates (@WPGMurat) November 20, 2022
"It’s one game where we didn’t score. Again, did we have chances? Yeah, we did. Give their goalie credit, give that team credit. We didn’t give up much, they didn’t give up much. That was a hard-fought game."
Pittsburgh and, goaltender, Tristian Jarry deserve full credit in this one. The Penguins denied the Jets of getting many great scoring opportunities. They limited the Jets’ time on attack and when the Jets had their chances, Jarry stood strong.
Both teams finished with 32 shots on goal, but I think Bowness had a fair and accurate assessment of the game (in the tweet above).
It will be interesting to see how the Jets respond to this defeat as they take on a tough defensive team in their next game. On Monday night the Jets will conclude this homestand with a matchup against the Carolina Hurricanes.
The Hurricanes rank sixth best in the NHL in least amount of goals against per game with an average of 2.67.
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