Jets Win, Huscroft Scores at Right Time

 

The Winnipeg Jets flew to the sunny state of Florida to take on the Tampa Bay Lightning in a contest between non conference counterparts.  Bobby Orr elected to go with Evgeni Nabokov in the game as the Jets have a few heavy contests coming up in the next couple of games as to give starter Allan Bester a rest.

 

In all fairness, Bester could have likely played and got just as much relaxation as the Lightning were able to muster up just 17 shots on net as Winnipeg would take the contest 5-3 and help improve Nabokov's record to 9-2-1 during his rookie campaign.

 

There have been rumours of late that Orr is getting frustrated with the play of bottom pairing defenseman Jamie Huscroft who is finding himself in the penalty box far too often for a guy that does not get much ice-time.  Huscroft currently leads the team with 136 PIMs this year, nearly 100 more than the next player on the team.  Added to the frustration he has a team low -3 plus/minus rating and is just one of two regular's that are below the even mark while seeing other defenseman (Don Sweeney) with a +34 rating.  

 

The questions came when Paul Stanton was called up and put up a trio of helpers in just two games.  Add in that Huscroft had yet to record a goal through 37 games and he could feel the pressure coming up.  He was able to get a little bit of breathing room when he potted his first goal of the season in the third period of the game.  Be prepared to see Stanton get some action though in the near future to see if he can gain some momentum on taking Huscroft's ice-time.