WINNIPEG -
For the second time in as many meetings, the Dallas Stars knocked off the Winnipeg Jets in the Manitoba capital. Jake Oettinger made 27 saves for the shutout and Dallas won 2-0 to move two points clear of the Jets in the Central Division standings. Connor Hellebuyck saw his personal four game win streak come to an end; he ended the night with 19 saves. Winnipeg will host the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday to continue their four game homestand.
MISSED OPPORTUNITIES
Winnipeg would have not one but two five-on-three man advantages against the Stars and came up empty handed. Winnipeg is 0-for-7 against the Stars penalty kill this season in two head-to- head matchups. Rick Bowness said after the game in a low event game like tonight, you have to find a way to score with those types of opportunities on the power play. The second five-on-three, the Jets were moving a lot more and thus created higher quality scoring chances.
LINE BLENDER
Rick Bowness flipped a couple of his wingers tonight in the second period to try and get some more offence. Winnipeg wasn’t generating much five-on-five in the middle frame, so Bowness put Nikolaj Ehlers with Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor and moved Alex Iafallo with Cole Perfetti and Vladislav Namestnikov.
“We weren’t generating a whole lot in the second period, so we just flip-flopped Alex and Nik. Get Nik with Mark and KC and it worked. They were pushing them back and they had a lot of good looks,” said Bowness.
“Alex did a really good job with Vladdy and Cole, the puck just didn’t go in. It doesn’t mean it didn’t, it worked in terms of generating time in their zone, in terms of generating offence and coming at them more. It worked; puck just didn’t go in.”
PLAYING THE RIGHT WAY
The Jets have now dropped back-to-back games to divisional opponents, but they are playing the game with the right way. Dallas didn’t generate a whole lot this evening and now Winnipeg has held opponents to two goals or less in five of their last six games.
