Jets Chase Campbell

 

The Winnipeg Jets were on game 2 of their back-to-back set and were looking to continue their winning ways against Toronto as they had beaten the Ottawa the night before. Connor Hellebuyck would be in goal for Winnipeg and Jack Campbell would be in goal for the Leafs and he would be looking to get back into the win column after picking up his first loss against Montreal the other night.

The first period started out great for the host Leafs as they would be the teams aggressive on the forecheck and applying early pressure and the early start paid off as the new look first line of Alex Galchenyuk, John Tavares, and Mitch Marner would come streaking into the Winnipeg zone and Galchenyuk send the puck into the roof of the net for the early 1-0 lead with his 3^rd goal on the season his 2md as a Maple Leaf. On this goal Mitch would collect his 40^th assist on the season giving him 5 straight seasons with at least 40 assists and he also collected his 345^th career point in the process. It is also worth noting that the reason for the new look first line is because yesterday morning it was announced that Auston Matthews who has dealt with injury issues throughout the season was once again sidelined day to day with an undisclosed injury.

 

With the Leafs leading 1-0 things looked positive as Toronto would then have a 5 on 3 power play giving Toronto a huge chance to grab total control of the game. Unfortunately, Toronto’s power play would remain ice cold as they fail to score on the power play, and it was at this point the game took a complete turn. Zach Bogosian would be called for interference and the Winnipeg Jets would go on to score three goals in a three-minute span. The first goal would come just seconds into the powerplay after the Jets won the draw and Nikolaj Ehlers would fire a shot that would sneak through Campbell to even the game at a goal apiece. A minute later while on a 2 on 1 after Justin Holl pinched and was beaten by the breaking forward Kyle Connor would collect his 20^th of the year scoring a goal off the left wing and passed Campbell to put the Jets ahead 2-1. Mark Scheifle would add a third goal his 17^th on a breakaway after yet another failed pinch by the Toronto defense. After what looked to be a positive first period ended on a sour note as Winnipeg would be leading 3-1. The third Winnipeg goal would chase Campbell from the net meaning David Rittich would step into the Leafs net.

The second period saw Toronto once again playing with a spark as they would continue to press for goals to get back into this contest. Toronto would spend more time in the Jets end of the ice and collecting more and more scoring chances. The Leafs would find their way back into the game as during a line change John Tavares would jump into the play and receive a beautiful pass from veteran Jason Spezza and Tavares who has seen his production heat up recently would score his 14^th goal of the year chipping the puck passed Winnipeg’s Hellebuyck. Toronto’s year of milestones would continue as young Forward Nick Robertson who made an impact last season in the playoff bubble scoring a big goal for the Leafs collected his first regular season point with an assist on the Tavares goal. The Leafs strong play would continue but time would run out and Winnipeg would continue to lead after 40 minutes but this time by a score of 3-2.

The third period would start on a positive as Toronto would open the period on the power play because at the end of period 2 Peirre-Luc Dubois would be assessed a penalty for an illegal check to the head. Once again though Toronto failed to capitalize on the power play opportunity, and they would remain trailing 3-2. After a neutral zone faceoff due to a blown icing call Winnipeg would double their lead as Mitch Marner would be forced back into his end of the ice due to Nikolaj Ehlers applying overwhelming pressure. He would in fact cause Marner to turn the puck over and as Rittich went to shovel the puck away Ehlers would poke the lose puck into the goal and Toronto would see Winnipeg’s lead grow to 4-2. It was at this point frustration would begin to boil over as Zach Hyman would be called for high sticking as he was battling in front of the Jets goal with a Winnipeg player who had chopped Hyman in the back of the leg Hyman however would then turn around swinging his stick catching Jets defender Neal Pionk in the face. As I was writing this article in fact it was announced that Hyman’s bank account took a hit as he has been fined $5000 for the high sticking incident. With the game now out of reach the Jets would rub salt in the wound adding an empty net goal to win the game by a score of 5-2.

 

With this loss Toronto’s North Division lead shrinks to just three points next week Toronto has a three-game series in Manitoba that will likely decide who wins top spot in this division. Toronto’s next matchup as of right now is scheduled to be Saturday in Vancouver but due to the Canucks still recovering from their Covid 19 outbreak it is believed Saturday’s Vancouver Toronto matchup will be rescheduled although that has not officially been announced. When there is an official update on Saturday’s game, I will post the announcement on my Facebook page as well as update this blog.

UPDATE:

Chris Johnston from Sportsnet reported Tomorrow's Leafs Canucks game is now moved to Sunday with some games next week also expected to be shuffled around.

Thanks as always for reading.