After a lackluster showing against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday night, the Winnipeg Jets responded in a big way and absolutely demolished the Boston Bruins 8-1 Tuesday night at the Canada Life Centre. Connor Hellebuyck got the win for the Jets. Nikita Chibrikov made his season debut after Brad Lambert was re-assigned to the Moose.
First Period:
The game started off very even. Both teams had some quality chances. Hellebuyck made some early timely saves for the Jets. After Brandon Carlo received a double minor for high sticking Kyle Connor, Vlad Namestnikov scored on the PP just after the 12 minute mark of the period to get the ice-breaker for the Jets. Then, with under 2 minutes left in the period, Mark Scheifele gave the Jets a 2-0 lead when he was left all alone in front of Jeremy Swayman and buried the feed from Kyle Connor. The period would end with the Jets leading 2-0.
Second Period:
Scheifele struck again 7 minutes into the 2nd period on the PP to give the Jets a 3-0 lead. David Pastrnak would get the Bruins on the board with a bomb of his own on the PP to cut the Jets lead to 3-1 heading into the 2nd intermission.
Third Period:
The final period was all Jets. First, Connor and Gabe Vilardi scored goals 4 minutes apart to give the Jets a 5-1 lead. After Charlie McAvoy took a penalty for checking Cole Perfetti in the head, Alex Iafallo tipped in a Neal Pionk point shot to make the score 6-1 in favor of the Jets. Tempers flared after that. Trent Frederic of the Bruins fought and knocked out David Gustafsson quickly. The Jets were visibly very upset with this fight as Frederic has many fights under his belt while Gustafsson has never fought before. Immediately after Gustafsson was helped off the ice, Logan Stanley fought Mark Kastelic. Both players received game misconducts for the tilt. On the next face-off, Adam Lowry fought Nikita Zadorov. Coach Scott Arniel was also screaming at Bruins coach Joe Sacco. The Jets would add insult to injury as Mason Appleton would score a bad angle goal and to top it off, Nikita Chibrikov would score off of a broken play to make the final score 8-1.
Some take-aways from the game:
After a dud of a game against the Blue Jackets, the Jets showed quite the response in this game. Their top line combined for 8 points. Scheifele and Connor are now tied for the team lead in goals with 16 each. The Jets PP, which had been ice cold since the Nikolaj Ehlers injury, went 3 for 6 in this game.
Speaking of Ehlers, he still isn't skating. Furthermore, with Ehlers being a free agent at season's end, this a very crucial time for the Jets coaching staff and management to see what the team looks like in his absence. Brad Lambert received a 4 game audition as the teams 2nd line Centre, his natural position. He failed to put up any points and was rightfully sent back down to the Moose for further seasoning. Now, it's Chibrikov's turn. In his first game, he scored a goal and added an assist. If he can keep contributing offensively while not being a liability defensively, it will be very hard for the Jets to send him back down.
The Jets continue their homestand Thursday night versus the Vegas Golden Knights on South Asian Heritage night at the Canada Life Centre.
Thanks for reading. Go Jets Go!
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