Pre-Game Talk: Jets vs Leafs - Saturday, Feb 21 6pm CST

[Jets4Life]

If we can't beat Toronto, we may as well pack it in, and bring out the golf clubs. We have to work on avoiding the penalty box Ladd, Scheif, and Wheeler have been horrible at this. On the other hand, Lowry has been great. Maurice has got to drill it into their heads not to take stupid penalties.

 

[Romang67]

Lolz.
Hi friend.
Trying to get us made MODs.
Limited success.

Nothing yet? I'm sure it will come.

Did you tell them that we would be ruthless and over the top?

 

[Johnny HFBOARDS]

Well good news is, Leafs are not a play off team, so Jets will lose in OT, yay 1 point.

 

[wpgsilver]

Nothing yet? I'm sure it will come.

Did you tell them that we would be ruthless and over the top?

I said one of use would be ruthless and over the top.
One of us would drink scotch and act like an adult.

You wanna be Jet or Gin?

 

[Markus250]

Sorry Ducky, I didn't actually hit the multi quote button that time so I'm not sure why those got included. Only meant to include the last quote by blue.

As I've said in the past, I understand it's highly unrealistic to win every game

The point is the games we have lost to weaker teams that really grinds my gears is because they did so in a spectacular fashion. It wasn't because we came across a hot goalie. It wasn't because of puck luck. Or such things like that. It was because they **** the bed, it's that simple.

And I do believe there is a correlation between games like that and how we fair against evenly matched and/or better teams. Worse case with that thought process, Jets are still just a bubble team that isn't having as great a year as Calgary. There's a chance we make it in, but even bigger chance we're out in the first round.

At the end of any team's season, you can point to a couple awful games, some season series lost to teams lower on the standings, that's just the way it is. Last night's game was awful, the few post all star break were awful, the loss to Arizona was awful but we've had far less of these than years gone by and we also put up more good games than we ever did. You can point to 4 of 6 points against Arizona and demand we should be upset but there are 29 season series and it's very easy to hand pick one or two bad ones. Last year we lost back to back against Edmonton/Buffalo and the only thing that got us out of that tailspin was firing Noel. The year before it was the back to back against Washington when we got dropped from 3rd to 9th and never recovered. We've given up only 7 of the 42 points on the table to the bottom 10 and I doubt any team would look back at that after missing the playoffs and lay the blame there. If we don't make the playoffs, knowing what we know now, I'd predict the only three major factors to blame are too many penalties, not enough forward depth and insisting on playing Pavelec as often as we did beyond mid November when he began struggling and Hutch was on fire.

Of those bottom 10, the only team we've taken less than half the points from is Phili. One out of 10 isn't bad. The amount of points we gave the other teams out of 42 is irrelevant. I'd gladly have that number be 21 if it meant we got 42. What's going to hurt us more at the end of the season is 0/4 against both Calgary and San Jose, that's 16 points worth of 4 point games. We took half or more points against LA (2/4), Vancouver (1/2) and Minni (5/8) but we gave them 11 points in the process and only took 8. These are the 5 season series that will haunt us if we don't make the playoffs, not Arizona or even Philli.

 

[KCjetsfan]

More like 7 but okay, glad we're seeing the same horizon now.

Think of it this way [mod]

If not giving just away points, we're letting them take points from us. Everyone should have a problem with that.



If expectations before season began weren't different, I'd agree with you.

but it's 7 out of a possible 42. If we are getting some 83% of points against the terrible teams, I'd say that's pretty reasonable (and a big improvement I'd imagine over previous years) and I'd imagine compares well to other teams in the hunt.

It'll stink if we miss the playoffs, and it's easier to point to one of those games as a missed opportunity, but realistically you are not going to come out with points at a much higher clip than we had against the bottom feeders.

You could also probably do the opposite and find how many points we 'stole' from the elite teams...

 

[Romang67]

I said one of use would be ruthless and over the top.
One of us would drink scotch and act like an adult.

You wanna be Jet or Gin?

Damn, had me laughing out loud.

 

[Aavco Cup]

@WiebeSunSports: Michael Hutchinson will get the start in goal for #NHLJets on Sat and expects to have 50 friends and family members in attendance at ACC

 

[ICdave]

Coach Maurice scrum from TO: Update on the guys who didn’t skate today. Further reflection on last night’s game. Factors on whether Byfuglien will be forward or defence. What have Myers and Stafford brought to this team? On Chiarot’s development. Has his team been good at ‘parking it’. Experience with the media pressure (Toronto specific).

To listen click here.

 

[Markus250]

To put things in perspective, here are some stats from the other teams in the playoff bubble with us. (7-10 place)

Minni lost both games to Columbus and is 0/4 total against Columbus/Ottawa/New Jersey. 10 points given up to bottom 10 including a loss to Phili in a series split.

LA lost both games to Phili and one against Carolina, Buffalo, Toronto, New Jersey, Edmonton and Arizona. 4 of those games were in OT but that's still 12 points to bottom 10 teams.

SJ lost both games to Columbus and Buffalo, lost 2/3 to Edmonton (one in OT), a loss to Jersey and Carolina in regulation and to Arizona in OT. 16 points to bottom 10 teams.

 

[Jimby]

Other than last night Scheif's last penalty was a month ago against Chicago. He has been one of the better players at avoiding penalties. Perreault takes a lot of penalties.

If we can't beat Toronto, we may as well pack it in, and bring out the golf clubs. We have to work on avoiding the penalty box Ladd, Scheif, and Wheeler have been horrible at this. On the other hand, Lowry has been great. Maurice has got to drill it into their heads not to take stupid penalties.

 

[ps241]

Was on a flight last night and missed the game. Saw the highlights and that seemed like one of those "worst 5 games of the season" nights. Remedy.....hit ignore on the PGT......Team flushes the toilet in Washington then flies to Toronto......hit the reset button. Getting into crunch time now as we come down the stretch so emotions are obviously getting higher.

 

[sully1410]

Actually its not incor...

I mean, yeah **** the Laffs!

I actually thought it would be ps thay would jump on that...

 

[ps241]

I actually thought it would be ps thay would jump on that...

I feel out of the loop.....actually working at the day job today for a change? What did I miss or was it another ps?

 

[citizenmundane]

Was on a flight last night and missed the game. Saw the highlights and that seemed like one of those "worst 5 games of the season" nights. Remedy.....hit ignore on the PGT......Team flushes the toilet in Washington then flies to Toronto......hit the reset button. Getting into crunch time now as we come down the stretch so emotions are obviously getting higher.

Thanks. I feel better. I hope the team does too.

 

[Soble]

i was offered tickets to this game.
$320 for a pair of balcony seats.

think i'll just watch in on teevee

That is not a good price. I spent not much more than that for dead centre ice, 15 rows up. Keep on the lookout tomorrow, prices usually drop the closer game time is.

 

[bluefan]

At the end of any team's season, you can point to a couple awful games, some season series lost to teams lower on the standings, that's just the way it is. Last night's game was awful, the few post all star break were awful, the loss to Arizona was awful but we've had far less of these than years gone by and we also put up more good games than we ever did. You can point to 4 of 6 points against Arizona and demand we should be upset but there are 29 season series and it's very easy to hand pick one or two bad ones. Last year we lost back to back against Edmonton/Buffalo and the only thing that got us out of that tailspin was firing Noel. The year before it was the back to back against Washington when we got dropped from 3rd to 9th and never recovered. We've given up only 7 of the 42 points on the table to the bottom 10 and I doubt any team would look back at that after missing the playoffs and lay the blame there. If we don't make the playoffs, knowing what we know now, I'd predict the only three major factors to blame are too many penalties, not enough forward depth and insisting on playing Pavelec as often as we did beyond mid November when he began struggling and Hutch was on fire.

Of those bottom 10, the only team we've taken less than half the points from is Phili. One out of 10 isn't bad. The amount of points we gave the other teams out of 42 is irrelevant. I'd gladly have that number be 21 if it meant we got 42. What's going to hurt us more at the end of the season is 0/4 against both Calgary and San Jose, that's 16 points worth of 4 point games. We took half or more points against LA (2/4), Vancouver (1/2) and Minni (5/8) but we gave them 11 points in the process and only took 8. These are the 5 season series that will haunt us if we don't make the playoffs, not Arizona or even Philli.

but it's 7 out of a possible 42. If we are getting some 83% of points against the terrible teams, I'd say that's pretty reasonable (and a big improvement I'd imagine over previous years) and I'd imagine compares well to other teams in the hunt.

It'll stink if we miss the playoffs, and it's easier to point to one of those games as a missed opportunity, but realistically you are not going to come out with points at a much higher clip than we had against the bottom feeders.

You could also probably do the opposite and find how many points we 'stole' from the elite teams...

I know what you guys are arguing, but I still think you're missing specifically what I'm getting at.

We've had more games than we should've had, IMO, where they not only gave away points, they let other teams take them without a fight. It's a matter of how we lost/let them have points. Losing points, even that extra one, to bottom feeders is a foreshadowing to a bigger problem. And now it's biting us hard.

It's the reason why, IMO, that teams like the Canadiens and Sharks aren't hoisting the cup. They just have too many bad...habits, I guess you can say, against bottom feeder teams. The Wild and Kings record against bottom teams this year I'm going to ignore. We all know they're much better than that and both are looking back in form. Hell, if the Kings were 50% like us in OT/SO, we'd be the ones looking outside in.

 

[Jetz]

If we can't beat Toronto, we may as well pack it in, and bring out the golf clubs. We have to work on avoiding the penalty box Ladd, Scheif, and Wheeler have been horrible at this. On the other hand, Lowry has been great. Maurice has got to drill it into their heads not to take stupid penalties.

I think you are mistaken on Scheif as he has only had one penalty in his last five games and 10 minors all season. I think you meant Buff.

Here are the top 5 penalty leaders:

1. Buff 107 PIM
2. Thor 70 PIM
3. Peluso 69 PIM
4. Wheeler 67 PIM
5. Ladd 62 PIM

 

[Soble]

Reimer in the pipes tonight so we're virtually a lock to get Bernier.

 

[Aavco Cup]

Reimer in the pipes tonight so we're virtually a lock to get Bernier.

I think the whole league is scouting that game.

 

[flyingkiwi]

[mod]

Time to lay it on and make more jerseys hit the ice.

 

[Ducky10]

Remember when we played spoiler last year against the Leafs?........yeah, about that Jets.

Losing to the Leafs at this stage would be almost unbearable, but we're not going to.

But I'm watching the game alone and with the sound off just in case.


And without any projectiles readily available.

 

[Jet]

At the start of the season I said no.

Debatable since post all star.

Are you being serious?

Do you know what tanking is?

Aside from the fact that tanking doesn't involve being in a PLAYOFF SPOT for basically the entire year, the fact that we are 3-5-2 and picked up points in half our games is hardly tank worthy.

Yeah, we've sucked lately but the tank comment is utter nonsense.

 

[Cleatus]

As a fan of both teams, the Jets winning this game will make me very happy... Jets closer to playoffs, Leafs closer to staying in bottom 5 of the draft.

 

[Jet]

Trouba needs a real talking to.