Kyle Connor’s HAT TRICK Couldn’t Prevent A Winnipeg Jets Loss To The Dallas Stars

Kyle Connor’s HAT TRICK Couldn’t Prevent A Winnipeg Jets Loss To The Dallas Stars

Despite a valiant comeback attempt, the Jets fell 5 to four in their home opener to the Dallas Stars. The defense got exposed. Find out why on tonight’s episode of Locked On Winnipeg Jets. Your Locked On Jets, your daily podcast on the Winnipeg Jets, part of the Locked On Network, your team every day. Hey friends and welcome to tonight’s episode of Locked On Winnipeg Jets, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. I’m your host Harrison Lee, an avid Winnipeg Jets fan and an online blogger. You can follow me on Twitter at hliving logo at l winnipeg jets. Thanks for making Lockdown Jets your first listen of the day every day. If you like what you’re hearing, be sure to like, follow, and subscribe on all of your favorite podcasting platforms and YouTube. Doing so, of course, is always free of charge and ensures you never miss another episode. Most of all though, we just love and appreciate your support, especially as we are starting a brand new season. Game one is now in the books. Um, Jets had a bit of a tougher one, right? You know, obviously the the loss is going to stick out. Uh, Winnipeg did try a very valiant comeback, but unfortunately it did fall short and I think a lot of us were kind of hoping that, well, you know, maybe things would be um a little bit different to start the season. uh you know it didn’t quite go Winnipeg’s way and I think we saw some of what made the Jets potentially a little bit more borderline than last year. Um and also some of the moments where you know maybe there’s some some signs and growth for optimism. So we’ll talk we’ll talk all about that. We’ll talk about you know the Jets strengths, the weaknesses that we saw in the first game and kind of talk a little bit about tomorrow night’s lineup. Um as obviously the Jets are going to be facing the Kings this weekend and LA has had their own issues. But uh before we dive into all the fun stuff tonight, did want to let you know that today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Download the FanDuel app now by visiting FanDuel.com and you could win $300 in bonus bets if your first $5 bet wins. Now, let’s chat about the Jets last night because uh the score line I think in some ways is a little flattering, right? Uh I don’t want to like you know t talk bad about the team for the whole night because I don’t think that that was uh entirely you know a 100% accurate reflection but I think it’s very clear the Jets were not very good last night. Um and there’s no real getting around it. Winnipeg especially after the first 10 minutes or so um really just struggled. Uh the middle six had to be rearrange rearranged a bit. Uh the Jets defense in particular I think got badly badly exposed. You see that is a talking point that Chevy kind of needs to do some surgery here. Right now though, uh the surgery maybe could be internal a bit. Uh I don’t know that there’s a lot that Arneal is going to be able to do to fix this other than what call um some some well marginal adjustments, right? You know, the Jets blue line is it’s rough. And I think a lot of what we saw last night kind of manifested out of, you know, not only the lack of foot speed with the forward group, but also the the Jets blue line. Like Winnipeg was taking a lot of penalties, a lot of stuff where guys were, you know, getting themselves in stick trouble because the opposing skaters from Dallas got the inside step and were able to blow past them and so they stick the, you know, the the the stick blade out and it leads to some really dumb infractions, things that you just don’t want to see happen. And you know, to be fair, like some of the calls were not great. I think and causing more penalties. So, you know, not everything within Winnipeg’s control, but at the end of the day, you have to deal with what you’ve got, right? Uh you can’t sit there and complain about it. It just is what it is. And I think for the Jets, that’s kind of the the sum take away from this game is it is what it is. We knew coming into this this season, especially for the next 6 to 8 weeks, uh, no Dylan Samberg, no Adam Lowry, now no Cole Perfetti, it could be a little hard. Uh, but, you know, a lot of you are probably wondering how Taves did in his first official NHL game in like a couple of years. Believe it was something around 9001 days. Uh, I saw on Twitter. Um, well, he was fine. Uh, I think the the bigger suggestion that I have is he’s going to be your 3C and I would not put a ton of of pressure to expect a lot from him. I think he’ll do some really good setup plays. I think power play two had some really good puck movement with him there. Uh, but the defensive zone work could be, you know, a bit of a what I’ll call a work in progress. And I would probably keep him mostly to 5v5 and 5v4 play. I think if you ask him to do any other situation, you might not like um his his foot speed in those situations. So, uh you know, he was fine, right? And I think that that’s the main takeaway. He was fine. Uh you know, he he didn’t have an exceptionally great night. He didn’t have an exceptionally terrible one. Just kind of down the middle. And I think he would probably say, as he did in preseason, some good, some bad. Uh if there was a guy who really showed off, you know, this was Kyle Connor’s evening. The top line for a little bit was quiet. had a couple of good early shifts most of the game in the middle period they didn’t exactly have you know a lot of explosiveness but then uh once Dallas was up by a good bit you know we started seeing more of those power pen penalty kills and Connor you know helped uh you know chip in a short-handed goal so did Morgan Baron and from then on you know KFC kind of did KFC things he had already had a goal earlier in the game to tie it and then completed the hat-tick in the third period which was pretty cool right you know we just signed a big $12 million contract. He’s playing against another dude who got another $12 million contract. Um so, uh yeah, he had himself a night. Uh it’s a shame that it didn’t end in a victory. Um I think I had said something along the lines of a 43 overtime win for the Jets. Uh either on a previous episode or on another social media platform. Uh 56 win was potentially still on the cards last night. Um just didn’t happen that way. So unfortunately, you know, the Jets, uh, I think the biggest story line is going to be that blue line, right? Uh, Flurry and and Pian and Stanley Shen, you know, that’s not going to be good enough if the Jets really do want to make the playoffs and do well. Um, you know, I think for the next few weeks, we’re just going to have to accept that the Jets blue line is going to have some issues. U, this is not super shocking. Um, we all kind of understood that losing Samberg was going to be a lot more painful than expected. Um, I think we understood that, you know, this team could have some lean moments. And, you know, it is going to be what it is, right? You’re you’re going to be facing not as many elite teams. I think this was probably one of the hardest teams in October the Jets are likely to deal with. Dallas is good. Uh, they’ll have Utah in about a week and a half or so. Uh Utah, one of the few teams I think that’ll put the Jets under a lot of stress, but thankfully, you know, the rest of this October is not as bad. So, uh will we see adjustments? I don’t know. Um I’m going to talk about tomorrow’s lineup. Winnipeg is sticking with one change, but keeping some other things the same. And I’m not so sure I feel convinced of that plan as of right now. So, yeah, I know it’s just game one. uh you know, you don’t want to overreact too early from 60 minutes of hockey. I think there’s a lot to take away from this. Uh but what I will say the sum total from this game is this, right? We knew coming into the season the Jets were going to have a couple of differences from last year. We knew that, you know, if there were injuries, the Jets would be put under a lot of stress and already the Jets have a very critical injury, uh a modestly critical one, and you know, a really big uh you know, middle six depth piece out as well. So, it’s just it’s going to be a tough one, right? For the next few weeks, Winnipeg’s going to have to figure out how to scrap out victories. They’re going to have to ask Hella to be, you know, stupendously good. And while Heluk tried his best in this game, it just wasn’t enough. So, uh, tough road ahead. Could be, you know, a bit of a lean couple of weeks until the Jets can get healthy again. And this is where I do think maybe Chevy needs to be aggressive and figure something out. you don’t have a lot of cap space right now to work with, but maybe more towards uh December, early January, maybe you can find some reinforcements on the market. We’ll chat about uh how the Jets are are kind of, you know, have to think about the blue line in particular and what they could even do to try and fix it. But before we do, we wanted to shout out our friends and partners at FanDuel. The NFL season is here and FanDuel has an offer you don’t want to miss. Right now, new customers can bet just $5 and get $300 in bonus bets if you win. That’s right. Pick a bet, put down five bucks, and if it hits, you’ll unlock $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. FanDuel makes every game watch more exciting. You can bet on everything from yardage to maybe who’s going to score the most touchdowns, which teams you think are going to pull out a big victory. Uh, I’m not putting a lot of stock in the Ravens right now, but maybe Tyler Huntley has a big surprise for me. No matter what though, no matter which team you root for, FanDuel is the only way to get in on the action and make it even more fun, especially if you’re somebody who loves diving into the weeds and getting into all your favorite football stats. So, what are you waiting for? Visit fando.com to download the FanDuel app today and get started. Hey friends, welcome back to this episode of Locked on Winnipeg Jets, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. Every day, thank you so much for rejoining us as we are chatting about uh some takeaways from the Jets. Uh obviously yesterday’s game against the Stars did not go according to plan. Uh a bit of a tougher first game for the Jets. They did almost come back and they got close. Uh you know, Dallas score effects kind of sitting back a little bit. Um and and Winnipeg kind of game came close but unfortunately just couldn’t finish out the deal, couldn’t close the gap, and uh you know, it is what it is, right? One game down, 80 81 games remaining. Uh do you hit the panic button? So, um I’m of two mindsets, right? Overall, no. Uh I still think the Jets are are going to make the playoffs. Might be a little more challenging than I thought, but I do think Winnipeg will still make it. However, I think if I was to press the big red panic button on anything, it’d be the defense. The blue line was horrendous. Uh Stanley and and Shen were not awful awful. Um but I think that pairing definitely lacks mobility. I really think you need to bring Stanley uh another partner, right? Miller in this case, I think might offset some of those issues. You know, Stanley Miller is okay. It’s not going to be a perfect pairing, but considering what we’re working with right now, it might be the best shot you have. As it is, Miller might be your third or fourth best defenseman on the team, especially given the injuries right now. So, if that’s the case, uh the Jets need to think about making some adjustments here. Um the pairing though that really got exposed was Flurry Peock. uh Flurry is just, you know, unfortunately he’s being asked to do, you know, top three u top four blue line duties and you’re asking that of a guy who’s more of like a six or seven. And I think that’s kind of a lot for him. Um he does skate well and he can be very fast and big, but in terms of, you know, what he’s been able to accomplish and how much he defends, uh that part has been a bit of a challenge. So, um, unfortunately, last night that pairing got absolutely eviscerated, and if the Jets don’t really have a lot of internal options, which they don’t right now, uh, you might need to think about exploring the trade market. Um, it is a little early in the season to be doing this. Uh, we did see a rumor that the Jets may be thinking about it already because they sort of understand no Samberg is not ideal, but you know, the the options out there are probably pretty limited. Uh, if you’re talking about like Dreamland scenario, obviously Douggee Hamilton would be transformative, not just for the present, but also for potentially in the next couple of seasons. Hamilton’s probably about as good as you’re going to get with this D market, especially u given the fact that he is like a a quality number two, right? He’s a pretty top- end defender. So, um other than that, I mean, you might be looking at a Ryan Graves. Uh Graves got waved by the Pens recently and, you know, he could be available on the trade market. Uh otherwise, I mean, there’s just not a lot out there. So, the Jets options are are kind of limited. Um, you could try something internal if maybe you go with an IANSON call up. Um, I like IAS and I think he could really do a good job, but you know, this is again a lot for a rookie and especially with what the Jets probably need immediately from him. So, um, this will be a very interesting next few weeks, but so far Arnneal doesn’t really seem to be making that adjustment. uh today’s practice lines ahead of the Kings game are the same uh in terms of the deep pairings. So clearly he doesn’t feel like that was at least right now um as big of an issue naturally with so few options for the Jets. Obviously it’s going to be um icy affair for the next few weeks. Uh you know not a lot internally, not a lot externally and the Jets are just going to have to weather it, right? Uh, this is where I think, you know, if you’re Chevy and you’re thinking about how to fix this, uh, you might just have to see where the team is in about 6 to 8 weeks. Sounds a little bit dumb. Um, you’ve got Miller on on the bench. You can probably pull him into a game. Uh, you’ve got Salammonson with the moose. I mean, there’s other choices. Maybe you call up Hanola. Uh, but, you know, I I just I think Winnipeg is kind of stuck, right? There’s not a ton of cap space to bring in immediate help. Um, not many teams are looking to offload defensemen right now, so it’s the start of the season. You might just want to wait and see. And if the Jets, you know, pending the position that they’re in over the next few weeks, if they’re not really in a firm playoff spot, how many resources do you realistically give up? You know, how much do you want to put into this team? Um, and really spend on it. And I know that sounds kind of crazy when we’re talking about this uh three-year competitive window, but I I look at this year and I I’m not really feeling so far yet that this is a season where the Jets are going to be able to fix a lot at either the trade deadline or before, right? So, um again, you might just have to kind of play this out and see what happens. If the team’s in a better spot in a few weeks, maybe we feel better and maybe you put out for a bigger player. But, uh, unless there’s something that’s really great out there for the Jets to go after, we might be a bit stuck. Um, and I I I think that, you know, internally at least, uh, the Jets have not many solutions. I think that’s there’s got to be something better than what they’re doing right now. Um, I would probably switch Flurry and and Stanley if you’re going to have both of them in. Uh, Flurry and and Shen, you know, not a great pairing either. Stanley Pian has its own warts, but they’ve been slightly better together. Um, again, this is all pretty marginal. I think in ideal world, you’d have uh Miller at least in one of these spots, but I know call defenders, they don’t seem to really want to get away from that. Um, and so it just uh it is what it is, right? Uh down on the farm with the moose, you know, unless you’re thinking Han or Salammonson can solve something for you, you’re probably not going to be leaning on either. uh handle his own camp in preseason were just okay. Probably better than what we’re seeing right now um in terms of what he would do, you know, alongside maybe a Shen or something. But I mean, again, it’s all very relative. Uh at the end of the day, the Jets just don’t have a lot of blueline solutions that really move the needle until Samberg comes back. And that’s that’s that’s a harder place to be. So, um, in the meantime, I would say for the next few weeks, just really hope that, you know, the opponents that we’re facing continue to not be that great, you know, after this really tough game against the Stars. Like I said, in terms of the rest of our opponents, we don’t really have a ton of like elite elite competition ahead, but certainly no slouches either. So, uh, as the Jets get through this portion of the schedule and really this month, you know, can they come out of this on the stronger side? you know, will this be kind of the pressure that forges a diamond? You know, we’ll see, right? Out of adversity sometimes comes, you know, a really strong unit and the Jets dealt with a lot of some of that stuff last year. Uh how they’ll handle it this year, I I don’t know. I don’t think we have quite the same depth and reserves that we did last season. Uh it’s why I was so adamant that last year, you know, the trade deadline was something you really had to hit out of the park and it was a missed opportunity. So, what the Jets do now will be fascinating, right? And if things really do start to slip here over the next few weeks, and I I don’t think that they will, but if they do, you know, do you start thinking a little bit ahead of what you want the rest of the season to be? You know, how competitive do you feel the Jets will be? All that stuff. Last night was kind of a worst case scenario and I don’t think that’s going to be the norm for the season. But will the norm be better enough to where you feel you can put a lot of resources into this team? You can really spend to to to bring in some real big assets. You know, what flexibility do you think you really have and how do you take advant Um, you know, I don’t want to read too much into it just yet and and sort of overreact. Uh, but again, you know, the more that we see of this team coming out of preseason till now, um, and sort of reading some of the tea leaves on how the Jets have been and what they’re likely to be this season, you know, this this for me just doesn’t feel like the year to go allin. Uh, I I’m still feeling like, you know, I want to see more from this squad before I have a lot of confidence in it. I need to see this blue line do more before I have a lot of confidence in it. And for that reason, I’m just kind of, you know, taking it game by game. Uh, we’ll see where the Jets are in about a month, right? If they’re in a good spot, you know, I’m feeling pretty good. If they can survive this stretch, they can survive pretty much anything this season, right? Uh, knock on knock on wood or whatever. Uh, I think this is probably going to be one of the hardest stretches of of the season, uh, barring any other unforeseen circumstances and things that could really shift the needle. Let’s hope that, you know, anything that does shift the needle is something positive for the Jets, right? You know, if you’re looking for some excitement, obviously the Moose are about to get their season underway tonight. And I think for a lot of us, we’re looking at some of the kids down there to see maybe if there’s somebody who might even provide a boost this season. You know, there’s nothing ruling that out from happening, uh, other than how the Jets usually operate. But if things get to a point where maybe you need to bring in an internal boost because somebody down there is doing something that’s so good that it’s undeniable, maybe, you know, uh, some of our conversations have a different tenor in a few months. Uh, we don’t know yet. This is why it’s the start of the season and there is a lot of hockey to go as we get through. But of course, uh, speaking of, you know, tomorrow’s game, obviously the Jets put out, uh, some practice lines already and not a lot looks super different just yet. Uh, we’ll find out how that is and and you know, whether the Jets are in a good spot with this group or whether, you know, Winnipeg might really need to rethink some of these combinations. Um, you know me, I just spent some time talking about the defense. What about the offense, right? How was that going to look tomorrow? We’ll chat about all of that coming right up. Hey friends, and welcome back to these closing thoughts on tonight’s episode of Locked on Winnipeg Jets, part of the Locked on Podcast Network. Your team every day, every day. Thank you so much for rejoining us as we are chatting a little bit about the Jets ahead of the King game against the Kings tomorrow. Um Winnipeg is mostly rolling with the same lineup that they started with yesterday. Uh but with one tweak that did pop up during the game and I think it was a smart tweak. Uh the middle six saw I follow Taves and Chibberov United and then the third line is now the three end line of Netherrider, Nemesikov and Nyquist. Say that five times fast. Probably not as easy as you think. Fourth line still Pearson, Baron, and Kepki. And then on defense, it’s exactly the same as it was against the Stars. Um, so first off, middle six change I think is smart. Uh, I think Ayafalo works better with Taves and Chibberov. Um, and I think Nita Rider, Nestnikov, and Nyquist will be a fine third line. This gets Nyquist in a spot that I think more suits him. I think when you’re asking him to be a top six guy, less sold on that. Uh Ayafalo has shown that he can actually keep pace with some of your higherend players and he’s a nice defensive valve. Taves and Chipperov seemed like they were starting to find a little bit of chemistry yesterday. Taves again will take some time to really warm up. Chipperov is going to have some rookie issues I think every now and then. Uh so we’ll have to see how he goes. Um the one thought that I do have is that Connor Schiffley Valardi might need to be broken up. Not because they’ve been bad, uh, but because I think you might want to spread the wealth a little. The Jets offense right now is kind of one line. Uh, unless the second line can really break out, uh, and and we sort of knew this coming into it. You know, the Jets offense might struggle to finish uh, on some of these opportunities. And if you can maybe get a little bit more um, of a top nine look, maybe you squeeze more offense out of it. Uh, Pearson looked all right. And of course, Baron scored a goal. Um, but just not a ton of uh upfront help immediately available to the Jets. So, um, against the Kings, I don’t know how much of this is going to be a problem. We’ll have to wait and see. Um, but looking at, you know, how the the LA squad’s done so far and where the Jets are, um, could be a tricky situation over the next couple of games, right? Uh, Winnipeg is going to have to feel this out. I I think Winnipeg is trying some combinations that are they’re hoping to to get a little more juice out of this team. Uh but you know, I told you at the start of the season, uh you know, in preseason and over the summer. Um you know, the offense might not have as much punch, uh as we’ve seen from other years. So, how this pans out, we’ll have to wait and see. Um my own personal feeling is, you know, tomorrow should be a win for the Jets, right? I I do think that’s going to be the case. Um, I think what we saw in the first game is not going to happen again. I could be wrong. Maybe I look stupid in a few hours. Um, but I I just feel like, you know, the Stars are one of the best teams the Jets are likely to play throughout this whole season. Um, they’re fast, they’re skilled. Uh, they let off the gas and almost blew it, but at least leading up to that moment, they were still very dangerous and they had several power plays that they could have really punished the Jets even more. So, um, you know, the Kings not exactly on the same level of form, but they did beat the Knights. So, uh, I don’t want to sit here and say it’s a foregone conclusion that the Jets are going to win. The Kings have always given the Jets a lot of trouble. Um, they’re not an easy opponent. So, um, bear that in mind as we go through this. Uh, it’s going to be an interesting couple of weeks. And I I don’t know if I have quite a clear feeling which way any of it’s going to go yet. Um I have some suspicions. I have some feelings about it. Uh I wouldn’t be shocked if things are maybe a little rockier than anticipated. Um but for the Jets, you know, uh all I can say is you’ve you’ve gone through worse at times. You’ve had tougher outings. How do you kind of learn from the mistakes that happened in the first game? How do you win those battles that maybe you weren’t winning as much of last game? and you know what can you do to grow from uh the first game um and certainly some of the injuries that you’re already dealing with. You’ve got plenty of opportunities to pick yourselves up off the off the ice and kind of get back to what you do. Uh I’m sure Arneal was not thrilled with performances and said we lost too many battles, you know, after the game. And I think that that’s certainly true. Um now it’s on the coaching staff and the players to kind of work together to figure out how to get past this. you know, maybe experiment with some of these combinations that they’re already running. Uh I already see another couple of tweaks that I think would make a lot of sense for the Jets. Um but I know Winnipeg is probably feeling uh some level of pressure to try and uh write the ship after a rocky first game. So, we’ll just have to wait and see. Um if I’m going to do a a bold score prediction for the Jets, uh I’ve got Winnipeg winning maybe 3-2 tomorrow. Uh I don’t know if I entirely trust that just yet. Um, but we’ll have to wait and see and hope that Winnipeg can kind of rally after a tough first game and come back for a big second one. But drop your score predictions below. Let me know your observations from the first game and what you think you’re going to see going forward. Um, give me your thoughts about how the defense looked and how you think the forwards are doing in the comments below or at my social medias at hliving loco and at llo Winnipeg Jets. For tonight’s episode though, that’s going to be all the time that we have. I thank you so much for listening and making Lockdown Jets your first listen of the day every day. We will see you back here tomorrow uh with some coverage of Winnipeg versus LA. Maybe even some thoughts on uh tonight’s Moose game. I’m expecting a really good one. This is maybe one of the best Moose teams that we’ve ever seen. Uh excited to see some of the prospects, some of the newcomers like Chase Yoder, uh who had a really good preseason. Maybe he’ll have a really big camp um and a really strong start for the Moose. Maybe he even earns himself uh at some point an an NHL deal sometime in the next couple of seasons. So, lots to be excited about there. Looking forward to it. Follow along with me uh later this evening, 8:00 p.m. Eastern. But for tonight’s episode, that’s going to be all the time that we have. Thanks for listening. Have a great night. And as always, go Jets go.

The season opener for the Winnipeg Jets was always going to be a bit of a tricky scenario. With the Jets facing a vaunted Dallas Stars team while missing 3 important players, the battle was uphill. I’m still not sure anyone was prepared for how uphill the battle was, with Winnipeg enduring penalty troubles and poor defending throughout the game. What went right and wrong for the Jets? Was Toews able to make a noticeable impact? What will Winnipeg do about this troublesome blueline? Are there any changes ahead of Saturday’s game against LA?

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