Game 2 Vs. LA: Pavelec and Entries

10 years ago

Photo By Michael Miller (Via WikiMedia)

Well lookie here folks! The Jets are 2-0-0! Who actually remembers the last time that happened?

The Jets turned a few heads on Friday night, taking their first home opener since their return in 2011 against a worthy adversary in the Los ~~Santos~~ Angeles Kings. (Sorry, too much GTA V lately)

Zone Entry Data

	Player	Successful Entries	Shots	Shots/Entry	Controlled Entries	Shots (Controlled Entries)	% of entries with control	Percent of carry-ins that fail
4	Postma	0	0	0	0	0	N/A	N/A
5	Stuart	2	0	0.00	0	0	0%	N/A
8	Trouba	1	1	1.00	1	1	100%	50.0%
9	Kane	9	6	0.67	5	3	56%	16.7%
12	Jokinen	4	3	0.75	1	1	25%	0.0%
16	Ladd	7	2	0.29	4	2	57%	0.0%
17	Wright	5	1	0.20	2	0	40%	0.0%
18	Little	4	1	0.25	2	1	50%	0.0%
19	Slater	3	0	0.00	1	0	33%	0.0%
22	Thorburn	2	1	0.50	1	1	50%	0.0%
26	Wheeler	5	1	0.20	2	0	40%	50.0%
27	Tangradi	8	8	1.00	4	6	50%	20.0%
33	Byfuglien	0	0	0	0	0	N/A	100.0%
39	Enstrom	0	0	0	0	0	N/A	N/A
40	Setoguchi	3	1	0.33	1	1	33%	0.0%
44	Bogosian	2	0	0.00	0	0	0%	N/A
55	Scheifele	3	4	1.33	1	1	33%	0.0%
67	Frolik	3	1	0.33	0	0	0%	N/A
	Team	61	30	0.49	25	17	41%	19.4%
	Opp	59	29	0.49	19	13	32%	36.7%
	OZF	11	5	0.45
	DXF	14	2	0.14

Observations

Paul Postma seemed to really struggle this game. Understandably a defenseman isn’t going to have a plethora of entries, Postma’s “offensive abilities” really didn’t make up for any defensive miscues tonight.
How about that second line? Kane was absolutely electric and very aggressive casing down the puck, Setoguchi managed to pot a pair of goals, and Scheifele continued to be very efficient with his entries. I know it’s early, but it is very hard to not be excited by what we’ve seen early on from this lineup.
Not zone entry related, but I want to point out how strong both Scheifele and Trouba looked out there again tonight. The fear today was that Trouba was going to be overpowered in today’s game, and I for one did not see that happening. He made a couple mistakes, but stayed relaxed and held his ground against a tough team.
The Ladd Little & Wheeler line once again managed to get the puck into the zone a lot, but was unable to really create anything at all from it. The pessimist would look at this as a huge problem, as the line that has carried the Jets for the past two years needs to get going if any success wants to continue. The optimist looks at this and thinks how nice it would be if they turned it around and only added to the offense currently being produced elsewhere. (Bet you never thought I would be saying that)
Even though the Jets gave up three goals Friday night, I still think it was an overall decent defensive performance. After a slow start, there was a long stretch of time through the second and into the third that saw the Kings practically unable to carry a puck into the Jets zone. This resulted in many failed entries and dump-ins, that either resulted in perimeter shots or a quick clear out. (I have the Kings recording with only 1 scoring chance from the start of the 2nd to the 6:40 mark of the third)

Pavelec Performance

Pavelec had a very strong game against the Kings. In fact, there is a good reason to believe that if not for his play in the first period, this game could have gone the other way quickly. Before the Jets managed to get their game together and really shut down the Kings, Pav held things in check quite well.

Goal	Situation	Reason It Went In	Where It Went
1	Turnover	Deflection	Blocker
2	Penalty Kill	Deflection/Traffic	Five-Hole
3	Penalty Kill	Rebound	Blocker

Quick Explanations

Absolutely impossible to put the first goal on Pavelec. The puck took a ridiculous bounce off of Byfuglien (it was going about 5-10 feet wide) after Postma was unable to recover to his point, and found a way into the net.

I don’t want to put the second goal of Pavelec either. Even with replay it’s pretty damn hard to see how that one got through, and he had boatloads of traffic in front. I’m pretty sure it managed to go five-hole, but regardless for probably the first time ever I’m going to cut Pavelec a break tonight. Lame penalty, faceoff guy was waived out, probably the only time the PK looked passive all night (blame that on the lead?), so this one will go on the team.

The Kings final goal is another one that’s hard to point fingers for, but Pavelec has to track that puck better. He reacts a split second late when it goes by him the first time, pauses, and then an unfortunate rebound off the post lands right on Williams’ stick.

Things To Watch For

The Jets next game comes Sunday night when Teemu Selanne and the Ducks make another visit to the MTS Centre. I’m lucky enough to actually have tickets to that game, so expect this post to be a little later on Monday. (Unless I’m feeling really ambitious Sunday night) In the meantime, here are some things to continue watching for:

Will Pardy get in? I thought Postma had a pretty rough game full of turnovers, defensive lapses and a general inability to produce much offensively. He had the lowest ice time among Jet defensemen (14:22), and it may be Pardy’s turn to get some time. The Jets are 2-0-0 though and you usually don’t mess with success.
When will LLW show up? Another game without any true, constant production from the Little Ladd Wheeler line, and the Jets will not maintain success without them. Time to get it together boys.
Can Pavelec continue this? I seriously doubt it. I’m 99.9% sure he will fall back to Earth soon, but hey, might as well enjoy his somewhat decent play while it’s around, right?

Final Thought

Jokinen. We ride Olli Jokinen pretty hard here at JetsNation, but he did manage to score his 300th career goal Friday night. He’s played pretty well on that third line thus far this season and you have to hope he keeps it up as well. In the meantime, congrats on 300 Olli.