Three games, two shootouts for the Jets. After beating the Oilers in a tight 2-1 game off a Perfetti shootout winner, the team fell at home on Wednesday to the Flames 3-2. However unlike the top tier Oilers, Calgary is a team the Jets don’t want to be dropping matches to. Can the stats reveal why the Jets continue to fly past regulation and into overtime?
The most obvious problem the Jets have had is getting shots on goal. They only managed 21 shots through the full game against Calgary and 26 in their shootout win over Edmonton. Even when routing the Oilers 5-0, the Jets barely broke 30 shots. This could be seen as a symptom of the preseason, but the alarms begin to sound when seeing how badly the Jets are being outshot: 33-21 Flames, 37-26 Oilers, and 30-26 Jets in the 5-0 win. These figures simply are not good enough, and the team is going to have to find a way to mitigate the number of shots fired at target.
Beyond the problems getting shots off, the real scare Wednesday took the form of a dirty hit. Cole Perfetti took a cheap shot to the head from Martin Pospisil in the dying seconds of the second period. Perfetti got up under his own power and according to coach Rick Bowness, did not suffer a concussion, but Perfetti did not return to the ice. Pospisil got a game misconduct, possibly a light sentence for a headshot in a preseason game.
It’s also a scenario that hits harder for Jets fans who know Perfetti’s abilities and his injury-riddled past. Logan Stanley didn’t wait long to drop the gloves and retaliate, and players from both teams were trying to get involved. Keep an eye on this matchup next time the two square off on October 2nd for another preseason game, but the real fireworks will come on October 11th, when both teams will kick off the regular season in Calgary.
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