reSports Recap – Jets vs Panthers Feb 5, 2013

FINAL SCORE
Winnipeg Jets (4-4-1) 3 Florida Panthers (3-5-1) 2 (OT)

OVERALL ANALYSIS
Defensively tight game. Thrill to watch for hockey purists. Either team deserved to win. If this was scored like a boxing match, Panthers won the first and third while the Jets won the second and OT. Even in the first and third though, Jets played so well defensively and got rewarded with a chance to win in overtime where they converted. Game highlights players like Mark Stuart, James Wright, and Ron Hainsey for such tight play making little to no mistakes. Burmistrov had a strong game, constantly hustling and always wanting to get the puck when he didn’t have it. I’ve said it before, reminds me of a poor man’s Pavel Datsyuk and I’ll take that. Zach Redmond impresses, may be a reason to keep him playing when Byfuglien/Bogosian come back. He made some rookie mistakes but you can see the potential in his play as a future Top 4 guy. Postma looking great on PP and defensively. Some tough decisions when our top defenseman come back. Toby Enstrom showed some sand paper in his game too along with his offensive prowess. Next game is Thursday, in Winnipeg, against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

FIRST PERIOD
- Great defensive hockey by both teams
- Jets don’t get shot until 14 minutes into period
- Jets hit the posts a couple times
- Panthers score on the one real big defensive mishap by the Jets (0-1, 18:12)
- Jets seemed fires up after Panthers scored first, unfortunate trend for these Jets
- Jets with only 3 shots on net, missed net 5 times
- Jets won 9/10 faceoffs, that is something to be positive about!

SECOND PERIOD
- Enstrom continues point streak to 7 games with assist to Wheeler, as much as I’ve been harping his defensive mistakes, he’s scoring a whole hell of a lot. Leads the league in points by a defenseman (1-1, 2:28)
- Pavelec screened, lets in Fleischmann’s point shot (1-2, 3:52)
- Burmistrov is playing solid, making lots of hustle plays
- Jets finally get rewarded with a Stuart point shot (2-2, 12:21) Play the result of Burmistrov once again making great hustle plays and a Ladd screen
- Jets heavily out playing Panthers now, more shots, more hits, more faceoff wins
- Jets with the possession and pressure that whole period, Panthers lucky it is a tie game
- Jets have lost games a plenty when they dominate the second period but come out flat in third, let’s see what happens

THIRD PERIOD
- Excellent defensive play again by both teams here
- Jets not breaking down or turnover the puck
- Some might be concerned the Jets aren’t doing anything offensively but really its just been two teams playing solid defensively
- That being said, a few more shots would be nice as the Jets only had two

OVERTIME
- Kane draws a penalty with a great rush to the net, that’s what I like to see!
- Little with an excellent snipe with time winding down (3-2, 4:44)