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

[Jet]

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.

I've heard some media hype about Stanley and Chara, and the potential for Stanley to have an offensive component to his game. Maybe it's gone to his head a bit and he's pushing too hard to try and become that player instead of focusing what made him a roster staple. I feel confident that he and the coaches will sort it out.

 

[Jack7222]

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.

I think Cole there might be dynamite. I'd love to see Ehlers with Schief and Perfetti... a guy can dream.

But yeah, I think I'd appreciate Dubois more if Copp wasn't on his line. I actually really like Copp, and he and Ehlers have worked well together, but Dubois and Copp offer some similar things.

 

[Jet]

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.

I don't mind Lowry net front on PP2 if that unit is designed to funnel pucks to the points for shots. Stanley seems to have quite the bomb, maybe he could do some work up there as the top of the umbrella?

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

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.

Jets made Gibson look good with perimeter shots. Helle stunk. That's how we got goalied.

 

[Jack7222]

We all knew wheeler would decline and be overpaid, but its Maurices job to come to terms with that and stop treating him like a superstar and take away some minutes.

This is just it. I love Wheeler and truly don't feel like harping on the guy. He's great. Maurice is really putting him in the line of fire and it's not fair to anybody.

 

[rubikscube]

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

bing-****ing-o.

and guess what, that's how you win in the NHL in playoffs.

 

[Jet]

is it just me or are the Jets never prepared for the season to start? It could just be in my head. I think back to one year when Toronto embarrassed us 6-1. I'm not saying we lose every time, but I haven't once thought, "oh the boys look like they're flying this year."

You didn't think that last night? Odd. That has to be score bias. We could have easily came out of the first period up 3 zip if Gibson and Hellebuyck were average and we'd be having an entirely different conversation.

The Jets globetrottered the Ducks in the first 20, and had a strong second as well. I thought as soon as the Ducks scored that 3rd goal the Jets lost a lot of energy.

 

[WiscoJet]

Couple things, glad to be back reading and posting with my favorite fanbase of any of my teams.

Perfetti, we owe more NHL games to him, we are going to need a guy like Perfetti because if we truly want to be in the top 10 team in this league we will need another point producer on this team to supplement the aging of Wheeler. As others have pointed out was impressed how he protected the puck last night when he created that chance. I just think he deserves more games, he has the second best prospect resume of a player we have drafted behind Laine. And he proved himself in the American League not junior, especially the last two months of last season.

Stanley, come on man. He should have sent that puck to mars on the second penalty kill, instead he can't get the puck out of the zone and the Ducks score shortly after.

PLD, wanted to be frustrated but after reading some of the posts in this thread I am coming around to what you guys saw. I really do hope he has a great season.

Wheeler, can't really add much besides the best thing for his career might be if he plays on the third line. I love what Wheeler did for us for a long time but when a power winger loses a step you really notice. Let that be a cautionary tale on paying a power winger the highest salary on your team into their mid to late thirties. We all knew the aging curve was not going to be pretty.

Copp, should have been put on a milk carton. He did nothing last night.

We can all say it is one game, first game of the season. But there is no reason this team shouldn't get off to a really good start in the month of October and if they can't do that then coaching should be on the hot seat in November.

 

[TommyKillian]

Solid first game. You can see the structure of a very good team lurking beneath the surface. There are some games you will lost no matter how well you play.

Brawlers (those that fought nobly):
-Ehlers: it's evident why they call him Fly, though he did slow down in the 3rd.
-Dubois: he looked a lot like the player we traded for. Created some fantastic opportunities and used his size well.
-Connor: that may be the most engaged I've seen him defensively and he had a few nice looks in the offensive zone.
-Morrissey/Schmidt: Schmidt brings his own inherent value but also the value he adds to Morrissey. Morrissey looked like a bird let out of a cage. I forgot just how skilled he was the last couple of years. His skating in particular was great.

Bawlers (those that made me cry):
-Wheeler: no need to beat a dead horse but he was bad. He's a notorious slow starter so I expect he will bounce back.
-Stanley/Demelo: Stanley really struggled. Demelo didn't clean up for his partners as well as he has in the past.
-Copp: he had a very stale game up until running Gibson, which was a boneheaded play. It's just one game, but I'm not expecting a 50 point pace this year.

Basterds (those that confounded):
-Hellebuyck: hard to really judge his play when a lot of luck was involved in a couple of those goals. But he still didn't fight through traffic, play the puck, or cover it very well.
-Perfetti: a good "feeling out" game for him. He was solid enough defensively that Mo may consider keeping him in for another game or two. He definitely has more to show but playing 1C in the AHL may be the best move for his development, at least for a couple months.
-New Systems: I loved seeing the very active defensemen. This team looks primed to play an exciting brand of hockey. Having said that, there seemed to be a large number of miscues (particularly with the Dillon/Pionk pairing) and it will take some time for them to settle into playing this way. It's a work in progress but should be beautiful once (if?) they have mastered it.
-Scheifele: I wish he was in last night. I have a feeling he is going to be uber motivated this year.

 

[Whileee]

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.

If the Jets had any finishing last night, Dubois might have had 2-3 points. Easily the most encouraging game he's played with the Jets. He was fast, aggressive, and showed really good vision and puck distribution in the offensive zone. I'm not sold on Copp as LW with him and Ehlers, but I think it's fine to give it a few games.

My main issue is that I think Dubois should have gotten a bit more ice-time last night. There's really no rationale for having Stastny over 21 minutes, and Dubois at just over 17. I'd rather see Dubois on the PK late in the game (if you are looking for a spark) than Stastny. At least Dubois has elite speed to create offense short-handed.

 

[surixon]

I don't mind Lowry net front on PP2 if that unit is designed to funnel pucks to the points for shots. Stanley seems to have quite the bomb, maybe he could do some work up there as the top of the umbrella?

Yeah PP2 is designed for that double layer screen shot from up high.

My question with Stanley is if he moves the puck well and quick enough to incorporate the other elements of that unit. I thought unit two was good last night and generated a number of real good looks. I'm liking Morrissey in that one time position, he got a couple of great shots off and opened himself up well for Ehelrs to hit him with the seam pass.

 

[Neuf]

PP1 was run into the ground last night. The first go they had a TON of opportunities, but it would have been nice to see the other unit a bit more, especially since 17 was on in lieu of 55.

 

[surixon]

If the Jets had any finishing last night, Dubois might have had 2-3 points. Easily the most encouraging game he's played with the Jets. He was fast, aggressive, and showed really good vision and puck distribution in the offensive zone. I'm not sold on Copp as LW with him and Ehlers, but I think it's fine to give it a few games.

My main issue is that I think Dubois should have gotten a bit more ice-time last night. There's really no rationale for having Stastny over 21 minutes, and Dubois at just over 17. I'd rather see Dubois on the PK late in the game (if you are looking for a spark) than Stastny. At least Dubois has elite speed to create offense short-handed.

Agreed, no clue why our coach is over reliant on aging players that don't have the foot speed to log huge minutes. We should be using the younger legs more then we do.

 

[hockeyarena]

You didn't think that last night? Odd. That has to be score bias. We could have easily came out of the first period up 3 zip if Gibson and Hellebuyck were average and we'd be having an entirely different conversation.

The Jets globetrottered the Ducks in the first 20, and had a strong second as well. I thought as soon as the Ducks scored that 3rd goal the Jets lost a lot of energy.

I thought the shots were super misleading. We had 2 PP's in a row and most of the shots were Pionk firing muffins into the chest from the point, then the Ducks took a few minutes to flip the momentum as often is the case after a PP. I thought the puck consistently exploded off our player's sticks. I thought our guys (Wheeler especially) were constantly falling over for no apparent reason (something something warm ice I'm sure). We were constantly throwing pucks back to the D who weren't there to receive them. Don't get me wrong, the Jets are a better (mostly more mature) team than the Ducks. But we looked like a team who couldn't string together 2 passes, because we didn't practice together enough at a fast pace, as we always do in game 1.

 

[Jet]

Yeah PP2 is designed for that double layer screen shot from up high.

My question with Stanley is if he moves the puck well and quick enough to incorporate the other elements of that unit. I thought unit two was good last night and generated a number of real good looks. I'm liking Morrissey in that one time position, he got a couple of great shots off and opened himself up well for Ehelrs to hit him with the seam pass.

Good question! I feel like despite our pp success last year we've been missing that lethal shot from the point since Byfuglien left. It opens up so much down low, and generates chances on its own, too

 

[surixon]

Good question! I feel like despite our pp success last year we've been missing that lethal shot from the point since Byfuglien left. It opens up so much down low, and generates chances on its own, too

Yeah a big shot would help no doubt about it. Stanley has one but I'd need to see more of his lateral mobility to open up shooting lanes from up top. Having a cannon is good but you need to be able to get it through.

 

[surixon]

I've heard some media hype about Stanley and Chara, and the potential for Stanley to have an offensive component to his game. Maybe it's gone to his head a bit and he's pushing too hard to try and become that player instead of focusing what made him a roster staple. I feel confident that he and the coaches will sort it out.

Yeah, I thought he was trying to force big plays that weren't there last night and it took him out of his element. His game is about simplicity and making the short breakout passes accurately. He isnt skilled enough to be trying to make the long stretch passes outside the rate time it's available to him.

I think less is more with this player, he'll be successful doing the little things but doing them well.

 

[DRW204]

I'm not worried about this team ... they play like this 9 out of 10 times they win.
I think this is the first Jets loss that I'm not upset.
As far as I'm concern the only negative ... Wheeler is not worth $8.25 million.
You knew it was going to happen after the announcers were talking about how the Ducks PP broken the record for the worst ever PP (9%) and only scoring 3 PP goals all season last year at home ... they score on their first two PP going 2/2 with 2 defections.
One thing that really impressed me and would not mine seeing more of is Connor and Ehlers on the same line. I didn't think it would work but the one shift when they were both on the ice they made the Ducks look like a pee wee team.
I still think the Jets can go 6-1-1 for the month of October.

ehlers and connor are 2 of our best offensive players. no surprise there that they'd look good together. add scheifele as a C, id expect that to be a v good top line.

Personally, I thought this was one of PLD’s strongest games as a Jet.

sure perhaps, but i mean is that saying much? most of his Jets tenure has been heavily disappointing and not good, especially compared to what he showed his first 3 seasons in CBJ.

now, it's only game 1 so not writing him off, didn't write him off after his showing last year+POs. but all i heard from accounts on here is that he's dominating TC and pre-season, and expecting big things... so was hoping to see at least a glimpse of that against a pretty poor/inexperienced Ducks team that had 36 year old getzlaf and a bunch of kids down the middle, & especially with Scheif gone.

it is game 1, nothing as far as season projections changed for this team - still expecting them to finish top 2-3 in the Central. but i mean this is vet-laden team, against one of the youngest teams in the NHL (by average age believe their 0.5 years older than NJD who was the youngest). idk, i guess i was expecting the Jets to dominate the score-board.

 

[Whileee]

Agreed, no clue why our coach is over reliant on aging players that don't have the foot speed to log huge minutes. We should be using the younger legs more then we do.

I have the sense that Maurice still doesn't trust Dubois. I'm not sure if it's related to his play / reads, or if he's skeptical of Dubois' conditioning (as he has been of Ehlers' in the past).

But it's remarkable that he didn't go with Dubois more last night, since Dubois was one of the few Jets that was creating problems for the Ducks with his speed, physical play, and decision-making.

I've said this before - I think that Maurice is somewhat fixated on goal events. He remembers exactly how goals are scored (for and against), and it imprints in his mind. Last night, he probably remembered how Stastny and Wheeler set up the first goal, and was trying to recreate that, even though they were generally passengers on the line with Connor. Meanwhile, Dubois set up a few really good chances, but because they didn't result in goals you wonder if Maurice just wasn't as impressed.

 

[Buffdog]

The major upside I saw last night was less to do with what happened on the ice and more to do with the line-up

It seems like everyone here universally agrees on the personel PoMo deployed. That may have something to do with the fact that Chevy basically put a gun to his head to do it because of cap considerations, but still.

With schief back it'll be interesting to see what happens in the bottom 6 when stats shifts down. Who comes out? I have a feeling it may be perfetti, but we'll see. Maybe he'll get an extended look at 3RW, who knows. I think he'll be moose-bound after the trip (I doubt they fly him home and Toninato out for the next two games).

I also think that Copp at 2LW won't be permanent if that line doesn't click in the first few games. The 1st Pomo line blender move will be him and stats swapping.

 

[surixon]

I have the sense that Maurice still doesn't trust Dubois. I'm not sure if it's related to his play / reads, or if he's skeptical of Dubois' conditioning (as he has been of Ehlers' in the past).

But it's remarkable that he didn't go with Dubois more last night, since Dubois was one of the few Jets that was creating problems for the Ducks with his speed, physical play, and decision-making.

I've said this before - I think that Maurice is somewhat fixated on goal events. He remembers exactly how goals are scored (for and against), and it imprints in his mind. Last night, he probably remembered how Stastny and Wheeler set up the first goal, and was trying to recreate that, even though they were generally passengers on the line with Connor. Meanwhile, Dubois set up a few really good chances, but because they didn't result in goals you wonder if Maurice just wasn't as impressed.

That wouldn't surprise me, he seems to take a while to warm up to and really trust certain players. He's over reliant on players who have got it done for him in the past and doesn't change course easily.

Yeah focusing on goal events wouldn't surprise me.

I guess my issue with that line of thinking is that our second line is more of a shot volume scoring line where they likely have a number gamed like tonight where they generate a number of looks but can't cash. For a line like this you want to put them on the ice for longer as the more minutes you play them the more shots they will generate and the chances are you cash on one. But imo we need a one shot scorer in Copp's slot to really optimize that line. The one shift Conner was on it the line looked even more dangerous. Perhaps Cole grows into that role as he gets more comfortable at the NHL level.

 

[DRW204]

We all knew wheeler would decline and be overpaid, but its Maurices job to come to terms with that and stop treating him like a superstar and take away some minutes.

This is just it. I love Wheeler and truly don't feel like harping on the guy. He's great. Maurice is really putting him in the line of fire and it's not fair to anybody.

we need this.

 

[surixon]

Jets made Gibson look good with perimeter shots. Helle stunk. That's how we got goalied.

Yup. This team still has issues generating high danger shots. Hopefully that sorts itself out as the team figures out the scheme.

When Morrissey has three of your most dangerous shots your forwards aren't doing enough to get good looks.

 

[hockeyarena]

Yup. This team still has issues generating high danger shots. Hopefully that sorts itself out as the team figures out the scheme.

When Morrissey has three of your most dangerous shots your forwards aren't doing enough to get good looks.

have any of us actually figured out what the scheme is?

 

[GreatSaveEssensa]

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.

Or maybe Heinola? A man can dream, right?