Jets vs. Anaheim: Five takes

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/04/2016 (3501 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Five takes on the Winnipeg Jets the morning after their 2-1 OT victory over the Anaheim Ducks a few blocks from Disneyland…

1. THE TANK COMMANDERS WON’T… be happy, but Tuesday’s victory over the Anaheim Ducks featured a lot of elements that had to have Jets brass beaming.

This wasn’t a NHL softie the Jets rallied to beat on home ice, but one of the league’s powerhouses and a legit Stanley-Cup contender. But with another new face in the lineup — Brandon Tanev made his pro debut — the Jets managed to end an 10-game winless streak (0-6-4) against the Ducks that dates back to Jan. 21, 2014 and includes last spring’s playoff sweep by Anaheim.

Both Blake Wheeler and Mark Scheifele kept point streaks alive on Wheeler’s OT winner — Wheeler now has points in nine straight games (five goals, six assists), while Scheifele has an eight-game streak of his own (four goals, seven assists). That line, with Nikolaj Ehlers on the left side, continues to be dynamic even matched up against some of the league’s top trios and/or best defenders.

2. NOW, HERE’S WHERE… the folks who have their eyes on the draft lottery will be left cursing: the win gives Winnipeg 74 points and moved them past both Calgary — the Flames blew a late 4-3 lead to Los Angeles and fell 5-4 in OT — and Vancouver, which has won three straight.

Jets fans who are still dreaming about landing Auston Matthews, Patrik Laine and Jesse Puljujarvi can crank up their frustrations by playing two different draft lottery simulators:

http://www.tankathon.com/nhl

http://nhllotterysimulator.com/

3. NOBODY ASKED ME, BUT… I didn’t mind Tanev’s first game. In fact, the former Providence College star showed enough to make yours truly wanting to see more. He came exactly as advertised: hard on the puck, good skater, finishes checks.

“He’s on the puck, he got to pucks first, he’s smart and made good decisions,” Maurice told reporters after the game. “He can play at a high rate of speed and that’s highly valued in the league right now.”

His stat line had him playing 11 minutes and 51 seconds, including 2:26 on the penalty kill, while recording one hit, one shot on goal and a blocked shot. The complete box score can be found here.

Kudos, as well, to Marko Dano for his work on the night. Frankly, from this perch he’s been just OK since being a key component in the Andrew Ladd trade, but he continues to go to the “hard areas” — that’s a term that’s become a hockey cliché, but fits here. Dano now has four goals and three assists in 19 games as a Jet.

Just by comparison, Ladd — who had two goals in Chicago’s win over Arizona Tuesday — now has eight goals and four assists in 17 games with the Hawks.

4. JUST WONDERING WHAT LAST NIGHT’S GAME DOES… for Michael Hutchinson, if anything, in terms of his spot in the Jets organizational depth chart.

He’s now 9-15-3 with a .907 save percentage and a goals-against average of 2.84. He’s 2-2-1 in his last five with a .920 save percentage and game’s like Tuesday night are reminiscent of his work when he first started challenging Ondrej Pavelec for the No. 1 chores last season.

But with both Connor Hellebuyck and Eric Comrie pegged as the goaltenders of the future for the franchise, with Pavelec entering the final year of his contract next season and Hutchinson a restricted free agent this summer, where does that leave the 26-year-old?

5. AND, FINALLY… regardless of what happens in the last two games, the Jets will finish with their lowest point total since relocation. They have 74 now, the most they could finish with is 78. It will be the fewest points for the franchise since 2008-09 when the Atlanta Thrashers finished with 76.

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We bring this up after Bodog.ca updated their Stanley Cup odds on Tuesday — Washington is the favourite at 9-to-2; L.A is 11-to-1; Chicago is 5-to-1. The Jets, FYI, were 500-to-1 on Feb. 2 and, obviously, are off the board now.

That’s a long way from where the team was this time a year ago when it absolutely owned this town.

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPEdTait

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