Jets 4, Capitals 2
The Capitals opened their home season tonight against the Winnipeg Jets, and the Jets made it quite the unhappy homecoming at the Verizon Center. Jets took their first win of the season with a 4-2 final despite a fullhouse of rapid Cap fans "rockin' the red".
 |
| NHL.com |
The Jets scored the first goals in their first two games, and those would be the only goals of those games. That was not the case tonight. Washington's Matt Hendricks deflected a shot past Ondrej Pavelec just about half way through the first, taking the early lead. The Jets tied it up on the powerplay with a deflection of their own off the stick of Evander Kane just two and half minutes later. Another goal on the powerplay, courtsey of Andrew Ladd, came at 16:26 in the period. And that tally by the Winnipeg captain put the Jets in the lead for good.
Blake Wheeler and Jim Slater also put shots past Cap's goalie Braden Holtby in the second, which would be the final goals for the Jets. But they would be enough.
 |
| NHL.com |
The flatfooted Washington club added a goal late in the third, but it was far too late. Mike Ribeiro of the Capitals didn't help his team as he was charged with a two minute penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct and a game misconduct. At this time, I am uncertain what exactly the penalty was for, but Jets radio seemed to think it was a verbal incident. He was jawing all night about an apparently missed high-sticking call, so that's got my bet at the moment.
Another note related to hockey rules: a Jet was whistled for that aggressive hacking at the wrists the NHL is trying to cut down on. Hitting the hands of a player was once more accepted, but anything around that area is getting called this year, even if the slash doesn't actually hit the hands. Slashes that break the stick are also going to be slashing penalties 9 times out 10 this year, though the officials can use their judgement.
Things certainly went well for the Jets tonight. They stayed relatively discipline, only going to the box four times (plus two for seperate fights involving Chris Thorburn and Slater). This was also the second game in two nights and third in four, and those first two weren't all that good. A loss to open the season at home and a long game against the Bruins last night put this team in prime position to start the season with one point. But the players rallied and dug deep, decisively beating the Southeastern Division foe.
This is especially comforting as it is the second straight away game, and last season the jets struggled away from MTS Centre, and downright sucked on the second game. Without the emotion of the awesome Winnipeg fanbase, the team was void of spirit. That seems to have turned around this year as the only points thus far this season have been earned on the road. Only time will tell. The next opportunity to test the road skils of this hockey club will next Tuesday when the Jets travel to Montreal.
 |
| NHL.com |
The Jets return home on Friday to face the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Oh, and the Jets radio is still screwed up. I tried on their website and that didn't work at all. I tried the Caps feed from their site and it was the St. Louis Blues game in Chicago. The archive was Game 7 of last year's opening round of the playoffs. Luckily, the feeds on NHL.com's GameCenter are working just fine.
