Post-Game Talk: Undermanned Jets lose 3-2

[Mortimer Snerd]

Their goalie was better than ours, simple as that.

Their goalie was good but the 3 that got past Helle were breakdowns in front of him. I don't blame him for any of them. Edmonton's shooters are too good to give them those opportunities. Smith was very good too, but I don't think the difference in this game was goalies. It was Special Teams.

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

We couldn't match up...

Simple as that...

We won everything except special teams. We dominated the 2nd period and much of the 3rd. Even the 1st, we won except for 1 long shift of the Scheifele line hemmed into the D zone and the PP.

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

I thought they played an excellent game and could have easily won.

They keep playing like this and they'll make the playoffs

Agree they played an excellent game. They've been playing much like this for at least the last 4-5 games. They have lost ground in the PO race though. Playing almost well enough to win isn't going to be enough.

It was a very entertaining game, in spite of the result. Jets worked hard for 60 minutes. They played as well as they can. I can respect and enjoy that even if we lose.

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

Gotta appreciate the effort. The boys fought hard. Won the battle at even strength easily but lost the special teams battle. Our PK has been great lately but the dam broke against the best PP in the league and against arguably the two best players in the league. Amazing how well we played at ES with that line up.

This x10.

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

Had a lot of great chances and played a pretty solid game, but just couldn't get enough to lift off.

Its the weight of that thing on the back preventing liftoff.
Is that Buff? Maurice? Or just the injuries?

 

[LowLefty]

Agree they played an excellent game. They've been playing much like this for at least the last 4-5 games. They have lost ground in the PO race though. Playing almost well enough to win isn't going to be enough.

It was an very entertaining game, in spite of the result. Jets worked hard for 60 minutes. They played as well as they can. I can respect and enjoy that even if we lose.

I think they played well enough to win - sometimes that's not enough not because of the effort, but more due to the unpredictable nature of the game.
Sometimes you out shoot and outplay the other team and still lose -
If they play as well as they did last game, they should win more than they lose - but that isn't necessarily how things work out.
But that is all you can really ask for.

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

I give the Jets credit for the effort, but, we need defensemen who can get the puck and make an accurate first pass to get the puck out.

I thought our D played very well last night, all things considered. We held the team with McD & Drai to 22 shots, a lot of them on the PP. Someone was getting the puck out because we managed 41 SOG ourselves.

 

[KingBogo]

Chariot is the guy we needed to sign. Tanev as well. We could have signed them and matched any offer sheet for Laine and Connor. Just needed some creative thinking from our GM.

No we couldn't unless we were using our prospects and picks to grease a trade for someone to take on our less desirable contracts. If trading the 2020 1st like Dubas did was being creative, I guess Chevy probably could have cleared the space. But holy s*** people would be screaming now if we didn't have our 1st available going into this year's draft. We had our 2 star RFA's still holding out going into camp with just enough money under the cap to guard against offer sheets. Last summer Buff was also assumed to be a player which left us next to no space. I lot of good posters floated projected possible lineups and most of them had us losing our UFA's due to a lack of cap space. Maybe you posted a possible plan on how we could have negotiated the cap space differently, I can't remember. But if you did just re-post it to support your position.

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

I think they played well enough to win - sometimes that's not enough not because of the effort, but more due to the unpredictable nature of the game.
Sometimes you out shoot and outplay the other team and still lose -
If they play as well as they did last game, they should win more than they lose - but that isn't necessarily how things work out.
But that is all you can really ask for.

I agree with this 100%. Except I no longer believe it will be enough to get us into the PO. It could still happen, but it looks like a high hill to climb and there are not enough games left. We need 2 of 3, Flames, Minny and Preds to falter to give us an opening - plus we need to keep playing like these last 3 games.

We play just 5 games over the next 2 weeks. By then the other teams games in hand should be gone. We should know by then whether we are (probably) going to make it or not.

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

That was a royal piss off. We deserved better tonight. Needed to finish on the numerous should have been goal chances we had.

The kid line made one mistake on the walls and it cost us the game. Too bad as they were playing well otherwise. Good learning experience playing against an all world player.

Scheifele couldn't buy a goal tonight but he played really well as did Wheeler and Connor.

DeMelo and Beau had a nice night but I thought the rest of the defense was rather meh in our end

Hopefully JoMo and Morrissey are available next.

That really stung as we really needed at least a point tonight

Yeah, if we can get both JoMo and Morrissey back we should be in fine shape.

 

[Adam da bomb]

Yeah, if we can get both JoMo and Morrissey back we should be in fine shape.

Our new 1st pairing.

 

[Atoyot]

Pastrnak 32 games
Matthews 32 games
Ovechkin 35 games
Draisaitl 35 games

Connor's scoring consistency is acceptable, I included him for completeness. Although for a guy with such sweet hands, he has kacked on quite a few Grade AAA+ chances. And honestly, I don't even expect that much from Old Man Wheeler any more. It's those middle 3 whose disappearing acts get most on my nerves. Ehlers especially in the playoffs.

And no @Jets 31, I don't put all of this on Maurice's offensive strategies. I think maybe our transmission is stuck in low gear because we don't have a clutch.

All those examples are saying is that you want our 30-40 goal scorers to be 50-60 goal scorers. Compare a 30 goal scorer with a 30 goal scorer to support your premise, not a 40-50 goal scorer.

 

[Vinther]

All those examples are saying is that you want our 30-40 goal scorers to be 50-60 goal scorers. Compare a 30 goal scorer with a 30 goal scorer to support your premise, not a 40-50 goal scorer.

In a way they are standing in the way for each other regarding this, I am fairly sure a few of the goals the top 5 have scored this season could have been assist to one of the other in the top 5. That would just lead to a different distribution and not more goals. I find that is alright that we don't have a top 7 goalscorer (both overall and at even strength), when we have the 8th, and 2 more in the top 30 and the last 2 from the top 5 are in the top 60

 

[Tommigun]

The Jets should have won this. 9 times out of 10 they will. Such a shame on the lost points.

 

[nobody imp0rtant]

All those examples are saying is that you want our 30-40 goal scorers to be 50-60 goal scorers. Compare a 30 goal scorer with a 30 goal scorer to support your premise, not a 40-50 goal scorer.

Well duh, of course I want them all scoring more goals. Think of all the close games where a goal instead of a miss could have spelled the difference between winning and losing. Laine should be a 40-50 goal scorer. If he alone is reaching his potential, we're probably close to 2017-18 again.

 

[PaulPooley]

Well duh, of course I want them all scoring more goals. Think of all the close games where a goal instead of a miss could have spelled the difference between winning and losing. Laine should be a 40-50 goal scorer. If he alone is reaching his potential, we're probably close to 2017-18 again.

During the deep playoff run of 2017-18 we had a clutch goal scorer we could count on when we needed a big goal: Mark Scheifele. We really don’t seem to have that clutch goal scorer at the moment. Laine was supposed to be the guy, but he’s more of a 30 goal guy than a 50 goal guy.
Pity.

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

Meant Laine for one lol

Figured as much - but your was was funnier.

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

Our depleted team with hardly any good players should have beat this 1 line Oiler team.

What a total garbage game to watch.
Smith saved the Oilers ass.

Wow! That's your take on that game?

Smith was good. Maybe he saved it for them. Maybe the Jets just made another goalie look good. But it was a fast paced, well played hockey game that wasn't decided until the final seconds.

I don't expect you to like the result, but it was far from being a garbage game.

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

2 years ago we were a solid powerhouse team from top to bottom and legit playoff contenders.

This current Jets team has regressed so much and is so inconsistent that it is scary.

What alternate plan did you have the day before Buff 'retired'?

With over 360 man games lost to injury (counting Buff) how much better could this have gone? Is a team regressing because it is that badly injured?

I bet you wouldn't have been too happy trading Laine in order to be able to afford 6 mil for Myers + 3.5 mil for Chiarot and maybe another 3.5 for Tanev. We had to move Trouba anyway and Buff wasn't going to play, as it turned out.

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

It’s a game where someone on the Jets - Ehlers, Scheifele, Wheeler or even Roslovic- could have stepped forward and willed the team to at least a shot in overtime.
No one did.

Yup. That's it. They lost due to a lack of will.

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

We were so stacked even last year.

Holy f*** did we lose a lot of good players and what is left are all injured or gone fishing.

That is true.
We are not the team we were 2 years ago. Need to rebuild the D corps and get better top 6 C. Not news.
Doing the best we can with what we have.

 

[Whileee]

What alternate plan did you have the day before Buff 'retired'?

With over 360 man games lost to injury (counting Buff) how much better could this have gone? Is a team regressing because it is that badly injured?

I bet you wouldn't have been too happy trading Laine in order to be able to afford 6 mil for Myers + 3.5 mil for Chiarot and maybe another 3.5 for Tanev. We had to move Trouba anyway and Buff wasn't going to play as it turned out.

Yup. I'm still amazed at people who say that injuries are an irrelevant "excuse", then go on and on about poor lineup decisions and ways the team should acquire better players. If a hunch bunch of your important players are gone for long stretches and you have to replace them with lesser players, it's more difficult to win. Period. This year, the Jets have had a really tough situation with Buff and all the other injuries.

 

[Whileee]

That is true.
We are not the team we were 2 years ago. Need to rebuild the D corps and get better top 6 C. Not news.
Doing the best we can with what we have.

On the other hand, a few players have really improved... Ehlers. Laine. Appleton. Roslovic. Harkins. If the Jets can fill a few holes created by Buff and injuries, they can bounce back quickly.

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

Winnipeg ownership right there. Chevy wasting a pick by pointlessly getting Hayes for a sub par team. Letting both Myers and Chiarot walk for nothing and getting Sbisa and Bitetto. Then wasting an entire season by not making a decision on the Buff situation and letting it drag on.

Refusing to cut their losses and having problems linger is this managements signature motto. And they have the gall to wonder whey this year they're struggling to retain season ticket holders lmao.

A lot of truth there, IMO. Sigh.

Taking a short term view, there wasn't much that could have been done once Buff did whatever that was.

1st rd picks could have been retained. Some players could have been traded earlier to at least start the task of replacing them.

I think that being able to recognize the time "to cut their losses" is a big part of what separates the best GM's from the run of the mill GM's.

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

On the other hand, a few players have really improved... Ehlers. Laine. Appleton. Roslovic. Harkins. If the Jets can fill a few holes created by Buff and injuries, they can bounce back quickly.

Yes. I think that is a big IF though if we are talking about a quick rebound, as in next year. I think we need to be smart and lucky and still expect it to take at least 2 years. It will be a bit of 2 steps forward, 1 step back for a while.