from Justi Bourne of Sportsnet,
By the raw boxcar stats, Jesse Puljujarvi is not setting the world on fire in the month of March. He’s scored twice and added an assist, largely on the back of a one-and-one performance against the Flames on Wednesday night, and that wouldn’t be enough to raise even an eyebrow of a fan from any of the league’s other 30 teams.
But if you’ve been watching the Oilers enough, big No. 13 seems to have moment after moment where you go “Huh … it really feels like there’s something here with that kid.”
Edmonton’s game Thursday night against the Winnipeg Jets was a game where both teams were on the second half of a back-to-back and had travelled, with both landing in Edmonton close to 1 a.m. And boy, did the play reflect that. It looked like most players were stuck in mud, with offensive zone possessions largely consisting of high-to-low passes with two forwards standing near the front of the net, a shot, and no second chance opportunities. But there was Puljujarvi, just about the only player with some pop in his step, hunting the puck with a verve not normally reserved for your average mid-season slog.
His ice time reflected it.
Puljujarvi’s TOI season-high at even strength going into Thursday was 17:40. Head coach Dave Tippett added a full 1:21 on to that, with the big Finn surpassing the 19-minute mark for the first time all season. His total of 19:31 was the second most he’s played in any game over the past three seasons.
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