Mcdavid, draisaitl do nothing but jets can't score
The Winnipeg Jets still can’t score and as a result, they still can’t win.
Monday night in front of a full-house at Canada Life Centre, the Jets outshot the visiting Edmonton Oilers 42-21 and lost 3-1.
Winnipeg controlled every aspect of the game except the scoreboard. The puck was in Edmonton’s end most of the night, the Jets peppered Oilers goalie Calvin Pickard – a St. Paul’s Collegiate grad – with shot after shot and yet they simply couldn’t score.
With the loss, their second straight at home and sixth in a row (three in overtime), the Jets fell to 15-18-4 and the playoffs now appear to be little more than a pipe-dream.
On Monday, the first period was scoreless but should not have been. The Jets dominated and outshot the Oilers 15-9. However, this franchise that has spent so many millions of dollars on goal scorers just can’t score. They made Winnipeg netminder Calvin Pickard look like Georges Vezina himself.
The most interesting moment was a rather drawn-out fight between two welterweights, Neal Pionk and Nugent-Hopkins. It was the fifth fight of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins’ 14-year NHL career.
In the second period, the Oilers opened the scoring at the eight-minute mark when Jets defenceman Logan Stanley laid a perfect pass onto the stick of Edmonton’s Max Jones, who just happened to be standing alongside the Jets crease. Jones tucked it behind Connor Hellebuyck for his first goal of the season.
At that point, the Jets had outshot Edmonton 19-10, but this season, Winnipeg couldn’t score on a soccer net.
The Oilers made it 2-0 on the power play at 12:49 as former Jets’ first-round draft pick Jack Roslovic ripped a rebound for his 11th of the season. Roslovic is a player nobody in the NHL wanted, so the Oilers signed him for $1 million just after the start of the season. He has 11 goals and 19 points in just 26 games, and he’d be the Jets fifth-leading scorer today.
Regardless, at that point, it was over. The Jets had half-a-dozen Grade A opportunities before the end of the period and either Pickard got in the way or they shot wide. Winnipeg outshot Edmonton 11-4 (the Oilers scored twice on four shots) in the second period and had outshot the Oilers 26-13 after 40 minutes, but simply could not score.
The Jets made a game out of it at 5:46 of the third period when captain Adam Lowry banged a rebound between Pickard’s legs to make it 2-1. It was Lowry’s second goal of the season – that’s two goals in 25 games -- his first point in 11 games and his first goal since Nov. 18.
That, sadly, was as close as the Jets would get. Despite completely controlling the game, the Jets couldn’t beat Pickard and Zach Hyman scored an empty-netter at 18:37 to put a lock on it.
The Jets outshot Edmonton 15-8 in the third period and 42-21 overall and could not win.
Perhaps it’s time the Jets brass considered a major trade, a few outright releases or just a move to the best talent on the Manitoba Moose because this dependence on old, slow forwards just isn’t working.
The Jets play again Wednesday night in Detroit. The game against the Red Wings begins at 5:30 p.m. CST.
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