Post-Game Talk: Young Ducks beat Jets 4-1

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BoneDocUK

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Right? We know he leaves a lot to be desired in his own zone, but I don't think I've ever seen him to that. I think he had something like 3 takeaways to break up plays before it reached our zone.

Yes, he was excellent. I feel like I've read more than once recently that his defensive play improves away from Wheeler, perhaps because his role and routes change? Anyway, he was really committed last night, closer to the player I remember watching way back in his college days. Very strong game from him.

Think most has been covered already -- did notice that the Ducks PK set up a bit like the Jets -- allowing shots from the perimeter and not much from close in, although they worked hard to clear when they could.

PLD showed some real creativity, as in the pass out front to Wheeler alone in the left slot. I think he is a nice match with Ehlers -- just need to shift Copp off that line maybe. Think the other lines are likely to gel more once 55 returns and they can build up some playing time together. Also think Ves may be a better fit with the Lowry line -- they were good together earlier.

Anyway, good to see hockey back. Onward and hopefully upward!
 

BoneDocUK

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The years left at 8.25M is gonna hurt. It’s just sad how quickly his speed/power game has diminished.

He's definitely slowed down, and playing more tentatively, but I wonder how much of those weaknesses might be mitigated with a different place in the lineup. At some point, the team needs to look hard at where Wheeler's brains and skill set are best utilized, as opposed to where tenure, seniority and influential teammates would prefer him to play.

He has said over and over that he will play wherever the greatest team benefit lies, and he's gone out and showed that on multiple occasions. Maybe he and the coaching staff will sit down and hash it out if this run of play continues, and his traditional slow start doesn't turn into his former dominance.
 

Jet

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Quick thoughts....

81-25-26 Connor had a strong game. Was really the driver on this line. Stastny was okay, but played too much. Wheeler looked like he has broken ribs, or something. A lot of bad plays, and awkward with and without the puck.

9-80-27 I really liked a lot of Dubois' game. I thought he deserved more ice-time. He was fast and aggressive and showed good vision. Ehlers was really strong early, but was less effective as the game went later. Still one of the better Jets. Copp was pedestrian. Didn't really add much anywhere.

12-17-91 This line was fine, but nothing special. Harkins was probably the most dynamic, with some good quickness and vision. Lowry isn't going to provide offense. Perfetti was okay, but needs to play with higher quality linemates.

71-20-93 Didn't play much. Didn't do much when they did.

44-88 Really liked Morrissey's game - quick and aggressive. He continues to show signs of a bounceback season with a well-suited partner and less of a load. Schmidt moved the puck well, and gave Morrissey time and space to make plays.

5-4 Generally okay, but an occasional missed assignment by Pionk. Liked Dillon's physical play and gap control.

64-2 Awful game for Stanley. Very erratic. Just tossing hand grenades instead of making crisp passes. He needs to be much more composed. DeMelo was fine, I guess.

Hellebuyck looked shaky. Certainly outplayed by Gibson.

Overall, the Jets had the better of the play, but just didn't have any polish to their game offensively, and a but too loose on the PK. Looking forward to seeing a charged up Scheifele, and other players back to better roles. I think Maurice needs to lean on Dubois more. He looks fast and aggressive.
Can always depend on you for a solid assessment of the game
 
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BoneDocUK

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I thought there were also major issues in how we deployed our 1st PP unit tonight and given how many pp's we got it likely played a big role in ourack of offense.

It seems to me the plan is to run the exact same scheme as last year where the major points of attack are through a Conner one timer either through seam pass or point pass or the slot shot to Dubois through down low or half board pass. Our top unit is not set up to utilize a point shot with a double layer screen so I found it absolutely baffling that Lowry was out there. He served zero purpose and his lack of skill negated our ability to our down low to slot shot play (Pretty much our second most used play on that unit last year)

Another thing if we are trying to tee up Conner we need a LS at the point to make that pass easier. As it was we spent too much time teeing up RS Wheeler and well he has pee shooter of a shot now and isn't beating any goalie with his one timer.

I get Mark was out of the lineup but it just seems Moe defaulted to seniority instead of actually putting any thought into utilizing the best prices in order to have the unit accomplish what you wanted it to accomplish.

Really Perfetti should have been in for Lowry and Perfetti should have been on the HB position with Wheeler down low like last year. Having it set up like that allows for the down low to slot pass that Blake was good at last year. Perfetti shredded the AHL from that HB spot on the PP last year and knows how to open the seam/slot pass as well as he has a great shot that he can walk in and use.

I just thought that was an area of poor coaching/player utilization last night.

Agree about utilization. I sometimes wonder if Maurice pays any attention to how our prospects are played in the A. Perfetti is a wizard from that spot, and Ves is constantly dangerous from the wall (as Svetch also has been, apparently). Lowry has been a terrifically useful player in his role, but he seems to freeze at times on the PP. Decent movement without much danger, our youngest kid complained, and I tend to agree.
 
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surixon

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This is the take I agree with the most.

People were praising Dubois like crazy this game but I'm not sure about him. He's fast, physical, aggressive, knows where to be offensively, good on boards... but I can't understand how a guy who went 3rd overall and had great numbers the past 3 years can look like he has poor stickhandling. The number of times the guy pushes the puck too far in front of himself or looks like he loses control of what he's doing is just... weird. Hoping for improvement from him as the season goes on.

Very happy to see Connor looking good and Morrissey looking good.

Schmidt looks awesome offensively but definitely has a few warts in the d zone. Maybe he'll iron that out.

Edit: and re: 2nd line, I feel that with Dubois there to play the fast and physical game with Ehlers, Copp is really a third wheel there. I'd love to see more speed and scoring to add to that line. Dubois and Copp together just doesn't seem to work.

Dubois has never been much of a dangler, he's a use his size and speed to shield the the puck and create separation that way kind. Just a different type of top 6 player then what we have had lately.

I liked his game a lot, opened himself up well to get the puck in good spots and created some good looks as well.

I also agree that Copp is really redundant on that line. That line needs a pure triggerman like Conner to really put it over the top.

Maybe try Cole there once he gets up to speed.
 

rubikscube

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Dubois has never been much of a dangler, he's a use his size and speed to shield the the puck and create separation that way kind. Just a different type of top 6 player then what we have had lately.

I liked his game a lot, opened himself up well to get the puck in good spots and created some good looks as well.

I also agree that Copp is really redundant on that line. That line needs a pure triggerman like Conner to really put it over the top.

Maybe try Cole there once he gets up to speed.
Dubois busted through for a breakaway, and fed Ehlers in the slot for an A+ chance, then did a sick dish to Wheeler who has a muffin shot who did nothing with it.

All in the first 10 minutes. Any of those plays go in and everyone is talking about how sick of a play it was by Dubois.

People are biased against the guy
 

Weezeric

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Yeah, not a lot of thought by our coaches there last night. I get that Mark is likely operating in that spot but if he's not available then you need to bring in the next best man for the job, not put your captain with a muffin of a shot there and expect decent results...

Who’s the right hand shot forward that fills that spot?
 

BoneDocUK

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Player utilization has long been a weak point of Maurice. One only has to look back to injured top pairing Beaulieu last season to see that.

I see all the time that Maurice was "outcoached". No he isn't. He's not usually losing because the other team is doing something creative while he has no answer for it. Tonight he wasn't "outcoached" by Dallas Eakins, he just got his combos wrong and it led to an ineffective PP, which combined with a poor 1st period from Hellebuyck, sapped any momentum the strong 1st period had.

Excellent post and some key points. We sometimes look at roster makeup and player utilization and ask if it really matters where inconsequential Player A fits in, etc. But where players play can often determine how they play -- as yesterday's PP and PK setups seems to demonstrate.

Players aren't simple parts in a game as fast and dynamic as ice hockey -- attention needs to be paid to the players they actually are and the skills and assets (and weaknesses) they actually possess. I sometimes feel that Maurice is someone who has a fixed idea and then populates it with the pieces he thinks he as as opposed to looking carefully at those pieces and then building flexibility into that overarching idea.

But it's game 1. The real philosophizing can wait another 9, I guess.
 
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PhilJets

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Its good to see North America is moving forward and onward.

I don't think Jets have won many 1st game of the season.

Hopefully this will be a good year.
May expectation is a playoff team.

Go Jets Go
 
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Jet

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Dubois busted through for a breakaway, and fed Ehlers in the slot for an A+ chance, then did a sick dish to Wheeler who has a muffin shot who did nothing with it.

All in the first 10 minutes. Any of those plays go in and everyone is talking about how sick of a play it was by Dubois.

People are biased against the guy
They're comparing him to first 2 seasons Laine (who doesn't exist anymore)

He's a different player and if he plays like he did last night all year he's going to be a 25-60 centre who wears down the opposition d. You can see why he's such an effective playoff guy.

Very excited about him again after game 1
 

Whileee

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Listened to Maurice's post-game presser. Noted that he called out the dumb icing by Stanley just before the Ducks' first goal. It was the kind of play I've seen too much from Stanley in the later part of the pre-season and in game 1. It almost looks like he's trying to make faster plays with the puck, and is making bad decisions and passes. He made a bunch of inaccurate or ill-advised stretch passes, leading to icing or turnovers. He needs to settle down his game, or we might see Beaulieu sooner than any of us want to.
 
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surixon

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Agree about utilization. I sometimes wonder if Maurice pays any attention to how our prospects are played in the A. Perfetti is a wizard from that spot, and Ves is constantly dangerous from the wall (as Svetch also has been, apparently). Lowry has been a terrifically useful player in his role, but he seems to freeze at times on the PP. Decent movement without much danger, our youngest kid complained, and I tend to agree.

Lowry shouldn't be on a pp period. I like the player but we know exactly what he is and that is a good physical defensive C that has trouble putting up points. No idea why our coach seems to make poor reads on players he should know intrictly well by now.
 

DannyGallivan

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Dillon/Pionk needed another couple of minutes off of Morrissey/Schmidt, but I don't think our top 4 was bad. Weak links were Copp, Wheeler aside from the assist, and the 4th line. Could've used a Hellebuyck save, but we also didnt even play that bad - got goalied.
Morrissey could have had a hattrick. He's picked up where he left off in pre-season and looked awesome in my view. Dillon laid about five bone-crushing hits. Pionk was a mixed bag... looked great on some plays and awful in others. Schmidt, after seeing him in the pre-season and now one game in the regular season, still has a bit of rust. However, Morrissey seems to love being paired with him.
 
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surixon

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Who’s the right hand shot forward that fills that spot?

You don't need a right hand shot there. As mentioned Cole was great from that exact position in the AHL last year as a left shot. As @JetsUK mentioned you have to wonder just how much tape Moe has seen of Cole in the AHL.
 

DannyGallivan

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Stanley was atrocious. Had like 3 turnovers at one point in a 20 second sequence. Need him to be better.

Lowry and PLD were completely uninvolved in PP1. Only Wheeler, Pionk, Connor touched the puck on that unit.

Really good game by Connor even ignoring the goal. The ducks broadcast was praising his backchecks.

Corsi will be misleading for this game, the Jets were no way near as dominant as their Corsi would make them look. Too many shots from the outside, not enough going to the dirty areas. While what Copp did running Gibson was not very smart, it was still the right idea to go to the scoring areas.

Morrissey/Schmidt pairing looked good.

PLD had 5 games without Scheifele and anyone who was saying that he would supplant Scheif as our 1 C by March of this year can safely put that notion to rest. I would be glad if he can hit 50 points, I am not confident he can even do that.
PLD is one of those players who looks like he's floating when he's not. For extreme examples, I recall Howe and Lemieux... the difference was in production. In other words, I think Dubois actually had a decent game last night. Like the rest of the Jets, his points will come.
 

BoneDocUK

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He also blew a tire about four or five times last night without being touched. You'd think that at that stage in their hockey life they'd know when their skates needed sharpening!

... Cue Howie Meeker tearjerker about how Ace Baily and Hap Day won the Cup singlehanded putting up double-digit goal totals while playing as Rover and Goal-keep-outer while using a stick made from toughened horse sinew and maple syrup, on home-made blades their GrandMama fashioned out of old sheep shears they had lying 'bout the farm...

Come on Wheeler! Spring for one of those rough-smooth pocket whetstones already!
 
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DannyGallivan

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first game of the season, but... that's the way she goes, boys.




giphy.gif
Not gonna panic after this one. If Gibson was as sloppy as Hellebuyck, it could have been 8-4 Jets. There's still plenty of rust to shake off, and no Scheifele to boot. Now, if we don't take care of the Sharks (another game we should definitely win)...
 

DannyGallivan

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... Cue Howie Meeker tearjerker about how Ace Baily and Hap Day won the Cup singlehanded putting up double-digit goal totals while playing as Rover and Goal-keep-outer while using a stick made from toughened horse sinew and maple syrup, on home-made blades their GrandMama fashioned out of old sheep shears they had lying 'bout the farm...

Come on Wheeler! Spring for one of those rough-smooth pocket whetstones already!
Paul Coffey could skate on mega-dull skate blades. Blake, you are no Paul Coffey.

... or his ankles are going.
 

surixon

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Morrissey could have had a hattrick. He's picked up where he left off in pre-season and looked awesome in my view. Dillon laid about five bone-crushing hits. Pionk was a mixed bag... looked great on some plays and awful in others. Schmidt, after seeing him in the pre-season and now one game in the regular season, still has a bit of rust. However, Morrissey seems to love being paired with him.

Morrissey has always played well with a player who likes to rush the puck and can do it effectively. It allows him to play his more cerebral brand of hockey where he is able to pick his spots and not have to worry about trying to do everything on the ice.
 

Huffer

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Trying not to look too much into it as it was game 1, but that was extremely frustrating to watch.

Wheeler - Looked terrible from start to finish. I know he is a slow starter, but that was beyond a slow start. He was hot garbage, and looked disengaged.
Helle - I have all the faith in the world he will rebound and be our MVP, but letting in early softies has become a trend IMO. He needs to be better obviously for this team to have a chance.
Stanley - Needs to use his feet better and his brain. Stop looking for home run full ice breakout passes and get the puck to someone in stride.

Perfetti - One of the bright spots IMO. Normally I'm 100% on getting a guy tons of minutes in the AHL, but he could probably be on the 2nd line and move Copp back with Lowry. Unless they really want him to get minutes in the AHL at C.
Morrissey - Thought he continued to look good, and easily could have had a goal.

The shots made it look like we dominated, but after 2 periods the scoring chances were 11 - 11, and the high danger chances were 7-2 for the Ducks. It's the same story over and over. Seems like there have been no changes to either get players to change, or implement systems to increase their own high danger chances, and more importantly, reduce the high danger chances for the other team. We've been terrible at it for years.

Only 1 game, but the special teams were horrible as well.
 

Joe Hallenback

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Some quick thoughts

A very dominate start. If we can get the PP going we are probably up in that game early and the Ducks would have to open it up. Even over the course of the game when we were chasing we were still the better team by far.

Maurice is still Maurice. Still relies on guys that need more rest. Should have been playing Dubois/Ehlers over Statsny/Wheeler as the game went along but he just can't change his spots. The only positive is that should change once Schief is back but it also means he goes back to Scheif/Wheeler when he is down

Stats/Wheeler/Connor. I think they were ok for the most part. They try to get too pretty and get the puck to Connor seems like a good idea it just means that teams will focus on that. This line missed Schief for sure because he can and will shoot effectively and he can hold the puck down low a lot better. They were ok on the defensive side but that may be due to the D being much better at transitioning the puck forward

Dubois/Ehlers/Copp. I thought they were pretty good especially early. Ehlers might have 3 goals but I think he either shot the puck right at Gibson or he shot it wide. The whole line had 6 or 7 grade A chances. Copp is the weak link for sure but I don't see a better option yet.

Lowry/Harkins/Perfetti. Didn't seem to have it all night. Lowry looked way off I thought. Not physcial and he was lumbering around behind the play. Harkins was ok but he still has the mentality that he only takes 20 second shifts. The Ducks really targeted Perfetti physical all night but he played well I thought.

Nash/Vesa/Svech. I can see why they signed Nash. He is pretty safe defensively but limited offensively. Ves and Svech had no flow for the most part and they didn't manage to generate enough offense or cycle. They didn't get scored on though


Schmidt/Morrissey - They were good. They moved the puck quickly. I think they need to get in the play even more then they did last night to give another option in the O zone.

Pionk/Dillon. Just ok. Pionk struggled a bit I thought. The puck seemed to bounce on him and I think he should just get the greenlight more to join the play especially with a partner like Dillon. Dillon as the game went along got more physical which was a good thing

Stanley/Demelo. The moved the puck well and didn't get hemmed in. I think Stanley's problem was he was caught being to safe and trying to make things happen. Either you find the middle ground or you play one way or another. But its early

Helly. He is going to have to get used to not seeing shots for long periods. That first goal as much as it was seeing eye shot has to be stopped. Such a back breaker after a strong start for team

Powerplay - It was good for the most part. They got the puck on net but couldn't get any bounces. Still we need to score when we get this many

PK - Atrocious. Way too passive and no one could win a draw to save there lives. Once they play passive teams just put a guy in the high and low slot and start flinging pucks at the net. The result is two goals against.
 
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