With a boisterous crowd, the Winnipeg Jets kicked off their 41-game home schedule against the Los Angeles Kings. Now in the Western Conference (where they belong), the Jets looked to follow on the momentum of a strong win over the Edmonton Oilers earlier in the week.
The Jets did live up to the momentum wave through two periods, first keeping the score knotted 1-1 after the first period, then going ahead in the second 2-1. Mark Scheifele continued his strong play while Evand3er Kane got his first goal and first fight of the season in the first two frames.
The Winnipeg Jets dominance would continue in the third as they would be up 4-1 at one point; but with Jacob Trouba in the box (one of the rare times he took some time off the ice) the Kings crawled back courtesy of Jeff Carter to make it 4-2
Starting Lineups:
Winnipeg Jets - Jokinen, Tangradi, Frolik, Enstrom, Byfuglien, Pavelec
Los Angeles Kings - Richards, Frattin, Carter, Regher, Doughty, Quick
Game Notes:
Before the game started, the opening lineup for the Jets was introduced. Jacob Trouba, an undoubted fan favorite, go one of the loudest reactions. Andrew Ladd, Ondrej Pavelec, Dustin Byfuglien, Zach Bogosian and Mark Scheifele were also big crowd pleasers.
1st Period:
- Winnipeg Jets fans start chanting "Jonathan" at Jonathan Quick. Nothing creative... yet.
- Big hit by Evander Kane on Jake Muzzin early. Mark Scheifele and Devon Setoguchi are on the same line as him. Thor's an interesting inclusion, no doubt.
- Bryan Little with a missed opportunity roughly five minutes in.
- Blake Wheeler has a mini break 7 minutes in but elects to attempt a pass to Andrew Ladd. Result? No go.
- Evander Kane goes off for roughing at 8:41 for two minutes. Doughty hears the boobirds as he looks to setup a play.
- Dustin Brown, LA Kings captain, heads off shortly thereafter for two minutes due to interference. Los Angeles gets one shot on its powerplay.
- Jets get two shots on their end of the layered powerplay but no goals come from the man advantages.
- Shortly after the Los Angeles Kings powerplay expires, Paul Postma gets two for tripping.
- Jacob Trouba is out on the penalty kill and leads a good offensive rush with Evander Kane.
- Kings break the goose egg courtesy of a Matt Greene slapshot from the point. 1-0 Kings
- Wind now seems to be out of the sales of the Jets faithful. With five minutes to go in the period, Jets are down in shots 12-5, in goals 1-0.
- Evander Kane surprises the fans with 4:15 left as he pots a long shot from just inside the blue line. Mark Scheifele gets the first assist to extend his point streak to two games. Devon Setoguchi gets the second A. 1-1
- Jets continue the prewssure as the period winds down. Kane nearly gets #2 with Jonathan Quick sprawled, but no dice. Period ends in a draw.
Score: Winnipeg Jets 1 Los Angeles Kings 1.
Second Period
- Quickly the sin bin opens with a hooking minor for Dustin Byfuglien.
- Jets kill the penalty effectively
- Fight breaks out between Eveander Kane and Colin Fraser. Fraser gets the fall but loses his helmet. 5 for fighting.
- Kane's fight seems to spark the Jets as they start to amount more offence.
- Hooking penalty on Dwight King puts the Jets on the powerplay again. Eric Tangradi sees some time on the man advantage this time around, interesting test.
- Jets appear take advantage of the powerplay as Blake Wheeler unleashes a true rocket, but the goal is called back as review shows that the net was off its moorings before the puck hit.
- Jets down in shots 25-11 midway through the game.
- Period continues pretty slowly. Early Kiss Cam catches everyone by surprise.
- Olli Jokinen jumps on the board with a chipshot that beats Jonathan Quick. Michal Frolik and Toby Enstrom draw the assists. 2-1 Jets
- Matt Greene goes off for Hooking with 6:10 left.
- No powerplay goal but the Jets are still pouring on the pressure. Now up to 18 shots, Los Angeles Kings have 26.
- Jets continue down press as the period winds down and remain on top.
Winnipeg Jets 2 Los Angeles Kings 1
3rd Period
- Jets come out flying as Jokinen nearly pots #2 of the night.
- Greene heads back to the sin bin on a holding call with 17:51 left.
- Seconds later, Evander Kane pops off a snap shot on the powerplay. That's two tonight for the newly engaged Kaner. 3-1 Jets
- Not long after, Devon Setoguchi scores from Evander Kane and Olli Jokinen. Beautiful wraparound play by Seto. 4-1 Jets
- Ben Scirvens replaces Jonathan Quick after the goal.
- Mike Richards then heads off for hooking 1ith 14:32 left. Long period for LA. Jets have just about equalled up the shots by the way.
- Scirvens is standing up well in the net as play gets chippy. Jets move ahead in shots with nine minutes left to play.
- Jacob Trouba goes off at 10:55 for Tripping and the Los Angeles Kings take the opportunity to pot one on a long shot by Jeff Carter. 4-2 Jets
- Boos fill the MTS Centre as Kane is called for highsticking with 6:12 left. Los Angeles Capitalizes as Justin Wiliams pots a rebound off a Matt Frattin shot. Willie Mitchell also draws an assist. 4-3 Jets.
- Soon after the play, Robyn Regher goes off for two minutes on a tripping call.
- As soon as the powerplay ends, Scirvens goes off and the Kings attack.
- Bryan Little gets his marker off an Andrew Ladd pass. 5-3 Jets
FINAL SCORE - WINNIPEG JETS 5 LOS ANGELES KINGS 3
Quotable: Evander Kane on playing with Devin Setoguchi and Mark Scheifele: When you enjoy the guys you are playing with it makes it much easier. Me and Seto have some really good chemistry and Scheif hs done a good job up the middle.
