THURSDAY COMMENTARY – WHO SHOT J.R.?
(Listen daily for the Rod Pedersen Commentary on Cat Country 98, Rock 98.5 FM & LTD Radio)
The end of this NHL regular season appears to be priming up to have more drama than the TV series Dynasty and Dallas combined!
You wanna talk about plot twists?
The Winnipeg Jets picked a really bad time to go in the tank. Of all the Western teams currently in a playoff position, the Jets have been the worst of late including a 4-2 home loss to Minnesota last night. Winnipeg has just two wins in their past 10 games.
This after a regular season where the Jets’ Rick Bowness was highly touted as a shoo-in for Coach of the Year, and any talk otherwise was scolded by people in the 204 area code.
Now this.
The Jets are clinging to the final playoff spot in the Western Conference after periods of time leading the Central Division, and the West, all year long.
And breathing down their neck is the Calgary Flames whom are doing a Hulk Hogan-like leg twitch on the bottom rope. (Look it up).
Written off for dead by their own fans and media, the Flames are roaring back to life with 17 games to go. This week they posted road wins at Dallas and Minnesota to climb within four points of Winnipeg for 8th and seven back of Edmonton for 7th.
Nothing I say is going to change anybody’s mind. Fans are gonna do what they’re gonna do. But 20 games are A LOT of hockey and things can turn around in a jiff. All the Flames wanted to do was be peaking at the right time. Is it here now?
And should the Jets swoon continue and the Flames sneak in, it’ll be one of the most epic collapses in Winnipeg sports history and they’ve had a few.
This is all to say nothing of what’s going on in the East where the Florida Panthers are in a pack of four teams just a handful of points out of a playoff spot with under 20 games to go.
The Panthers are looking for a third straight win and playing inspired hockey under Paul Maurice. Guess who they host in their next game?
The Winnipeg Jets on Saturday.
Remember how Jets fans were snickering at their former coach, Maurice, all season long?
Isn’t it amazing how things can play out in the end.
That’s today’s Rod Pedersen Commentary
(The Rod Pedersen Show airs daily at 12 pm ET on Game+ TV, YouTube Live, WQEE and iHeartRadio)
Cheveldayoff has to go, the Jets in Winnipeg need to find a competent gm who gets the job done A to Z.
……and whom might that be? There are 32 teams in the NHL and except for Boston many of these franchises resemble either Keystone Cops on one extreme or nonexistent and have been treading water for 30 years on the other end. Does anyone actually think Toronto will make it out of the first round? Winnipeg is a very good team and I have news for you. The NHL is a really tough league to run the table. Boston looks unstoppable well so did Tampa Bay a few years ago with 62 wins. The spring tournament is all that matters and… Read more »