A Tuesday evening in Manitoba was the background for the Winnipeg Jets & Colorado Avalanche’s 5th and possibly deciding game of the opening round of the NHL playoffs. The Canada Life Centre was once again filled to the rafters with a ocean of white in the stands, but would it be enough to propel their squad to a big character win?
The Winnipeg Jets started the game with the puck, but when they failed to recover their dump in, the Colorado Avalanche broke out on a 3 on 2 rush to test Hellebuyck early from the high slot. The hometown team quickly countered and the Jets’ top line was circling the offensive zone. The Avalanche lost Connor coming off the bench and he was able to receive a pass for a shot from the left face-off dot on Georgiev. The rebound created a scrum to the side of the net, with Vilardi and Connor poking at the loose puck near the goalie’s pad and eventually the puck crossed the line to give Winnipeg a 1-0 lead just 1:15 into the game. Unfortunately the White Out crowd didn’t enjoy the lead for long, as Colorado countered 2 minutes later when they were able to hit the trailer with a pass high in the zone. Toews opted not to shoot, but rather slid a pass diagonally cross the zone to find Nichushkin for a 1 timer into a wide open net. While the Avs were the better team in the opening period, the Jets were forechecking and keeping their gaps tight so that avoided any prolonged shifts in the defensive zone. The officials continued to be brutal in the series, blatantly ignoring multiple infractions by the Avalanche in the opening period. At least they didn’t flag the Jets for any penalties either and some of the other 1st period highlights included newly inserted Perfetti playing hard on the forecheck & using his body effectively to finish his checks and defenseman Miller being a notable physical force in Winnipeg’s end. MoneyPuck’s data shows Colorado had the edge in dangerous attempts 4 to 2, but overall it was a pretty solid period by the Jets.
First Period MoneyPuck Stats: Score: 1 to 1 tie, shots 13 to 7 for the Avs, 62% Deserve To Win for the Avs, Expected Goals – all situations (1.36-0.59 COL), & 5 on 5 (1.36-0.59 COL)
The 2nd frame began with some back to back play and both squads had decent looks on the opposing goaltenders. The first penalty of the game went against Winnipeg when Pionk stupidly used his stick to cross-check an Avalanche in front of the net when all he had to do was use his body instead. The Jets were able to survive the deadly Avs powerplay by limiting them to two shots on Hellebuyck, but the highlight of the kill was Lowry running over Rantanen. Shortly after the PK, Miller pinches at the opposing blueline and injures Parise with a hit, but it was Colorado who struck next. In the defensive zone, the Jets freed up the puck from the Avalanche and it trickled to Pionk to the right of Hellebuyck. The defender took too long to make a decision, had his stick lifted by Trenin, who then stepped in front of the goal before shelfing one over a butterflied Bucky. Not too long later, Colorado dumped the puck into Winnipeg’s end, but Wood tackled Miller on the forecheck and the officials actually decided to raise their arm to make a call. Even more surprising, the Jets capitalize on the PP when a Morrissey 1 timer beats a screened Georgiev to knot up the game. The Jets were the better team in the 2nd period and continued to push for the go-ahead goal, but Pionk struck again when he intercepted a cross-ice pass in the defensive zone…only to deflect it into his own net. Winnipeg had their chances to tie things up, such as a deflection on a Miller point shot coming close, a Connor wrap around attempt, a Toffoli shot off a Gustafsson face-off win, Scheifele rebound opportunity, a Niederreiter deflection that hit Georgiev’s shoulder, and Monahan absolutely being robbed from the bumper on a PP by a flashing glove save. MoneyPuck’s stats and shot chart agrees that the Winnipeg Jets were the better team in the middle frame, as they caught up in expected goals and were actually slightly ahead in the Deserve to Win meter.
After Two Periods MoneyPuck Stats: Score: 3 to 2 for the Avs, shots 26 to 24 for the Jets, 50.2% Deserve to Win for the Jets, Expected Goals – all situations (2.05-1.88 COL) & 5 on 5 (2.03-1.68 COL)
To give Winnipeg their due, they didn’t give up because of the bad luck (Pionk) they had in the game and they started the 3rd period on the attack. Their efforts paid off 2 minutes in when Ehlers entered the Colorado zone before cutting along the blueline. His path crossed with Toffoli, so the Dane dropped the puck to the winger and that allowed him to take a long wrister that was perfectly placed (just over butterflied pad and under glove). Once again, the Avs quieted the crowd fairly quickly when a cycle shift by their top line saw Toews wrist a shot from the point with 4 players in front of Hellebuyck (2 Jets/2 Avs). With no shot lane, the wrister was sent a bit wide but allowed Rantanen to deflect it from high to low, bouncing into the net to give Colorado the lead with 16 minutes to play. With Winnipeg pushing for offense, the Avalanche were able to counter attack 4 minutes later when a 2 on 1 rush was poorly played by DeMelo (didn’t take away the passing option to allow Bucky to focus on the shooter) and Rantanen was able to tap his 2nd of the game in to pretty much seal Winnipeg’s fate. The Jets did get some chances to try to make the game closer, but Georgiev was able to keep everything out of his net until the Avalanche added an empty netter with 2 seconds to play. Once again, MoneyPuck has Winnipeg leading the Deserve to Win category, despite slightly trailing in the expected goals race.
After Three Periods MoneyPuck Stats: 52.6% Deserve to Win for the Jets, Expected Goals – all situations (3.61-2.89 COL) & 5 on 5 (2.60-2.32 COL)
FINAL SCORE: COLORADO AVALANCHE 6 WINNIPEG JETS 3
SHOTS: WINNIPEG JETS 36 COLORADO AVALANCHE 32
Game Observations:
- Winnipeg played okay in the 1st period, getting out-played a bit but generally doing the right things. The Jets played excellent in the 2nd period, closing the gap in expected goals and taking the lead in shots on net. The 3rd period saw the Jets get quite a few scoring chances, but once again it was Colorado who were able to capitalize on their opportunities. Overall, it was the Winnipeg Jets best game of the series but some weak links in the game were too much to overcome.
- Neal Pionk….penalty early in the 2nd – didn’t end up costing Winnipeg, but it was an unnecessary play. Next mistake – gets stick lifted right beside his own goal, allowing Trenin to walk out front and shelf one. Biggest mistake – removes the middle man this time by intercepting a cross-ice pass & having the puck bounce into an open net. What a horrible game by the defenseman and if it was me, I know I would be reliving all my errors through the long off-season.
- Cole Perfetti had one of the better games I’ve seen him play. The young forward was eager and it showed in an aggressive forecheck that often included him throwing what little weight he has around. Very impressed with the young man’s performance in a big game, but despite that the coaching staff didn’t give him linemates to take advantage of that more on the offensive side (7th on team in expected goals in the game).
- Connor Hellebuyck….I don’t really know why his stats differ so much from the regular season & playoffs. Easier to get traffic in front of him with different officiating? More cross-ice passes? All I know is that Winnipeg needs more timely saves from him in the post-season if they hope to win a series or two. Will probably dive into Bucky’s post-season stats at a later date, but they were not very pretty.
- Winnipeg needed more from many players in the series: Sean Monahan was able to get into good scoring places (led the Jets with 1.7 xG in the playoffs), but he wasn’t able to actually score one. Gabriel Vilardi was 2nd for Winnipeg with 1.6 xG, but also couldn’t find twine in the post-season. Finally, the Jets also needed more from players like Nino Niederreiter (0.9 xG = 0 goals) and Nikolaj Ehlers (0.8 xG = 0 goals).
Got to get started with the day, so I will wrap up with saying that I am glad the Winnipeg Jets played at least one pretty solid game in this year’s playoffs, even if they still ended up losing. Of course, it also frustrates me too, since the series would have been a lot more enjoyable had the Jets played at this level for all 5 matches. In the end, Winnipeg is the 4th franchise eliminated from the post-season and frustratingly another Cup run ends way too close to the starting point.
Enjoy the rest of the playoffs and remember to check back here occasionally to see if there are any new articles. Planning a season review fairly soon, possibly followed by a look at who the Jets may be able to select with their 2nd rounder this off-season. Will probably put my Kevin Cheveldayoff hat on at some point and try to determine what I think he will do this summer, as well as offering some tips of my own.
I would like to thank each and every one of you for your support in my first season as a hockey writer at Arctic Ice Hockey. At times it felt like a bit of a grind, but overall the feedback and interaction I received from the AIH members made all the effort worth it. Would also like to thank all who take the time to comment on the site as your insights and opinions provide a bounty of material for me to include in my articles. Certainly those who make posts during Jets’ games must often see their thoughts mirrored in my recaps, so kudos for chipping in to make this one of the better fan sites on the internet.
Overall, it was a disappointing end to a rather exciting Winnipeg Jets season….though that dominant span of defending now seems so far away. Enjoy the summer all!!
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