The Winnipeg Jets were riding high as they got set to host the Anaheim Ducks just before Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, dropping just a single point out of 8 up for grabs. For the most part, the advanced stats don’t agree with the level of success the True North franchise has had early on….so could they keep on defying the numbers on Friday night??

The Jets would be without their top defenseman, as Josh Morrissey is dealing with a “day to day” injury, which resulted in Haydn Fleury dressing for the first time this season. So how would that impact things??

GAME RECAP

When the puck dropped at the Canada Life Centre in downtown Winnipeg, neither NHL club seemed entirely ready to go. The teams only could combine for a total of 11 shots in the 1st period, yet it was our Jets that were giving up the most high danger attempts, despite only allowing 4 shots on Clay Stevenson. Unfortunately, two of those shots came on a 3 on 2 Anaheim rush up the ice that evolved into a breakaway when defenseman Neal Pionk played it so poorly. Winnipeg’s goalie was able to deny the chance, but when the rebound popped right out front, another Duck skater was there to pop it in while Pionk & Mario Ferraro stood by watching. ANA 1-0.

The True Northers struggled to create offense all night, but did have some prime looks that included a couple of crossbars/posts. The 2nd period continued with the 11 combined shots theme, with the Jets edging the Ducks 6 to 5, but it was once again the visitors that ended up lighting a lamp. This time, another Anaheim rush up the ice (by their 4th line again) ended up becoming a 2 on 1, but the forwards had too much speed for Tyrel Bauer, flying by the defenseman and easily connecting on the cross pass to extend their lead. ANA 2-0.

Trailing 2-0 going into the final frame, Winnipeg’s players definitely did not step up for the challenge. After giving up another odd man rush goal to Anaheim 5 minutes in (ANA 3-0), the Jets finally got on the scoreboard when Mark Scheifele made another amazing pass to Kyle Connor, sending the sniper in all alone for his 6th marker of the season. ANA 3-1. One of only 3 shots from True North skaters in the 3rd period, the clubs once again combined for 11 shots, but less than 5 minutes later Stevenson was beat by a long shot to seal the game. ANA 4-1. That left only an empty netter for the Ducks before the painful to watch performance came to an end.

POST-GAME INFO

Scoring Summary: (courtesy of ESPN)

FINAL SCORE: Anaheim Ducks 5 Winnipeg Jets 1

*****

Game Stats: (courtesy of MoneyPuck)

Expected Goals (all):  ANA 3.76 – WPG 2.34

Expected Goals (5on5): ANA 2.16 – WPG 1.37

The numbers for the top nine forwards looked solid for Winnipeg in this one, while the 4th line put up a horrific stat line. Yet when you dig a bit deeper you find that the Jets’ 1st line played fairly well at both ends of the ice, the 2nd & 3rd units were only able to make a positive impact defensively. The Viggo Bjorck (2.1%) & Adam Lowry (4.4%) lines allowed only miniscule parts of Anaheim’s Expected Goals (xG’s) at 5 on 5, yet they couldn’t really take advantage of that by creating offense at the other end of the ice.

The Vladislav Namestnikov trio got caved in by the Ducks, allowing 98.7% of expected goals to come against the Jets’ net while they were on the ice. And it wasn’t only in the “projected world” that they sucked, since they let Anaheim score 3 goals on Friday night while letting them allow the visitors to get 47.8% of their total game xG’s despite only playing 9.2% of the time at 5 on 5. Talk about being a huge negative every time you step on the ice.

Only the combo of Dylan Samberg & Dylan DeMelo managed to put up a strong performance against the Ducks, with a 74.7% of xG’s that equated to just 9.2% of Anaheim’s game total for 5 on 5 play, even though the “Dylans” played 37.08% of that time.

The other two defensive duos didn’t do as well, with the Mario Ferraro & Neal Pionk pairing having a rough outing. Lost the xG battle by a lot while allowing 55.4% of Anaheim’s even strength offense. They did do an okay job at getting involved in Winnipeg’s offense, but it wasn’t enough to make up for what they allowed (2 actual goals against). The 3rd pairing didn’t do much better, also allowing the Ducks to score a pair of goals.

Not a great statistical night for Clay Stevenson’s 2nd game as a Winnipeg Jet. I didn’t think he played that poorly though, as he allowed 2 high danger goals, 1 middle danger, & 1 low danger. If he could have just gloved that partially screened & wobbling long shot at the end, I think he would have been satisfied with his play despite the .750 sv %.

*****

BOJA POST-GAME THOUGHTS:

I am kind of coming up with a blank here….the entire game was so bland and boring, that not a whole lot of things ended up burning themselves into my brain. I see some more missed scoring chances (see Gabriel Vilardi getting set up for a 1 timer in the low slot and Cole Perfetti beating the tender over their shoulder only to ring the iron), I recall captain Adam Lowry taking it easy on a young Duck during a fight, and then surprisingly for the night the 4th had, I also remember Brad Lambert flashing some puck control skills by weaving around multiple Anaheim skaters before setting up a point shot.

I already talked about how bad the 4th forward & 2nd defensive units were….but the coaching staff desperately needs to find a solution. In my mind, that starts with the veteran Vladislav Namestnikov, who needs to join his teammate Nino Niederreiter in the press box. Yet when you only have 13 forwards on your roster….that is not a possibility. On the defensive side, fortunately Dylan Samberg is good enough defensively to make Neal Pionk a functional 2nd pairing option, so that will be “fixed” when Josh Morrissey returns and the pairings go back to normal.

I will wrap up with a little on rookie Viggo Bjorck’s start to his NHL career. Typically a young prospect’s weakness when making the leap is on the defensive side of things…yet that doesn’t seem like an issue for our 18 yr old Swede. His lines at 5 on 5 tend to give up very little to the opposition, even though they often don’t start with the puck due to face off issues. Offensively, the kid has certainly flashed skill, probably more of the set up variety and I think he has been unlucky that none of his linemates have capitalized on his passes. Viggo has also had a few chances to pocket one of his own over the 5 contests and think it is only a matter of time before he gets on the board. Obviously it would help a ton if GM Kevin Cheveldayoff could manage to get another impact top six winger to help him out.

Well, definitely one of those forgettable contests versus Anaheim. The Winnipeg Jets will get the entire Thanksgiving weekend to regroup before they have a chance to wash that effort from their memories against a rival Central Division franchise. The loss surprisingly hasn’t dropped the True Northers down the standings too much though, as they are tied for 3rd in the NHL with the Edmonton Oilers & Carolina Hurricanes and still holding on to the top of the Central.

MANITOBA MOOSE DROPPINGS:

The Moose put their perfect 2-0-0 record on the line last night when they visited the Grand Rapids Griffins in an AHL Central Division clash. The opposition was the best regular season club in the minors last season, so the Moose would have their work cut out for them against the Detroit Red Wings’ farm team.

The hometown Griffins came out flying in this one, largely outplaying our club in the early part of the game with the shots in their favour (13-9). Grand Rapids was stoned early & often by Manitoba’s Dominic DiVincentiis, yet they were able to score the first goal on the tender late in the frame when a pass found a teammate’s stick right in front of the Moose crease for a deflection through the pads.

Manitoba was able to keep things at 1-0 after that and flipped the switch in the 2nd with a 16-9 shot advantage, yet the increased offense was still not enough to beat goalie Michel Postava. Unfortunately a bit of a misplay by a Moose defender allowed a rushing Griffins’ defenseman to skate around him before tucking it over Dom’s pad short-side. Probably one both Manitoba’s defender & goalie would want back.

The 3rd period evened out, as the Moose barely edged the Griffins in shots (12-11). Five minutes in, the visiting Manitoba squad got some life when Parker Ford created a defensive zone turnover with his forecheck, allowing Noah Gregor to snipe his 3rd goal of the season from the slot. Grand Rapids did a fine job of shutting things down after that, clogging up the neutral zone and even killing off a late holding penalty. A big part of that was goalie Postava, but the entire squad can tighten things up when they have to.

Final Score: Grand Rapids 2 Manitoba Moose 1

A tough match up for the Moose, who will continue their Central Divison streak when they travel to play the Chicago Wolves on Saturday night. That will be the 4th division contest and the 3rd against the Wolves. Thinking Thomas Milic will see the net, but that isn’t due to the play of Dominic DiVincentiis who ended with a .939 sv% on this night (.971 sv% on the year).

UP NEXT: MINNESOTA WILD @ WINNIPEG JETS – TUESDAY, OCT 13TH @ 7:15 PM