Game 24 vs. Chicago: Pavelec and Entries

10 years ago

Another match-up against the Blackhawks, another night spent watching the Jets getting dominated. Things in the neutral zone were relatively close though, meaning a lot of the game would come down to effort and execution in the offensive/defensive zone.

Zone Entries

5 vs 5	Player	# of successful entries	Shots (From Entries)	Shots/Entry	Controlled Entries	Shots (Controlled Entries)	% With Control	Failed entries
2	Pardy	0	0	N/A	0	0	N/A	0
7	Ellerby	1	0	0.00	1	0	100%	0
9	Kane	8	3	0.38	5	2	63%	2
12	Jokinen	4	0	0.00	3	0	75%	0
15	Halischuk	5	0	0.00	1	0	20%	0
16	Ladd	6	6	1.00	5	6	83%	0
17	Wright	4	0	0.00	2	0	50%	0
18	Little	3	2	0.67	3	2	100%	0
22	Thorburn	0	0	N/A	0	0	N/A	0
24	Clitsome	0	0	N/A	0	0	N/A	0
25	Redmond	2	0	0.00	1	0	50%	0
26	Wheeler	6	1	0.17	2	0	33%	0
27	Tangradi	5	2	0.40	1	0	20%	0
33	Byfuglien	3	0	0.00	1	0	33%	0
39	Enstrom	2	1	0.50	2	1	100%	0
40	Setoguchi	2	1	0.50	0	0	0%	0
55	Schiefele	3	1	0.33	0	0	0%	1
67	Frolik	5	0	0.00	1	0	20%	0
	TEAM	59	17	0.29	28	11	47%	3
	OPP	60	24	0.40	31	13	52%	8
	OZF	19	5	0.26
	DZF	12	5	0.42

Observations

If you look simply at the quantity of entries by both teams, things look relatively close. But you look at the percentage with control, and the number of shots per entry, it’s clear that the Blackhawks’ entries were those of much higher quality. They were able to generate much better opportunities, and once again controlled the Jets.
Outside of Andrew Ladd, no Jet player was really able to get anything going on a regular basis. When you only have one guy working with real effectiveness on a night, you aren’t going to win many games.
Hold on a second here. I thought all Evander Kane did was carry the puck in and fire a useless shot from a distance? Funny how he only had two shots directed towards the net on five carries. Maybe he just realizes when his line mates aren’t there, and reacts by trying to do something positive? Nah, that can’t be it. After all, Claude refuses to comment, so Kane must be doing everything wrong.
Five shots on 19 offensive zone faceoffs. When the play is starting in the other teams zone, you would hope a team would be able to at least get a shot towards the net close to half of the time. That’s a combination of faceoff wins and effort. Two things I don’t see coming on a regular basis from this team.
Oh Eric Tangradi. I hope one day we give you people to play with. Just keep doing your best.
Mark Scheifele has a total of one shot created off of his entries in the last two games. He’s not producing anything, and has looked completely out-matched lately. It’s time for this franchise to swallow its “classy” pride, and send the kid down to the AHL.

Pavelec Performance

Ondrej Pavelec has honestly been the least of the Jets problems for a lot of this season, but you never like it when your goaltender gives up five goals. I wouldn’t directly blame any of this loss on him, but there were a couple situations that he could have read better.

Goal	Situation	Why It Went In	Where It Went
1	Penalty Kill	Traffic	Blocker Side
2	Turnover	Beat Clean	Glove Hand
3	Sustained Pressure	Out of Position	Glove Hand
4	Average Play (Controlled ZE)	Beat Clean	Blocker Side
5	Sustained Pressure	Rebound	Left Pad

Quick Explanations

The Jets suddenly terrible penalty kill strikes again. Patrick Kane of all people is allowed to walk right to the top of the slot, lets traffic build in front, and fires one home. I don’t like Pavelec’s shoulder shrug following the goal, but he didn’t really have a chance with the bodies in front.

A pretty bad turnover by the Jets leads to Brandon Saad having a lot of room in front of the net. I though Pavelec was pretty slow to react to the pass, and he gets beat clean glove hand. There’s really nothing about this play that I like.

I don’t like how Pavelec approached this save at all. I understand that Toews was coming pretty much uncontested toward the net, likely to cut in front. But Pavelec (an “athletic” goaltender), needs to rely on his ability to push across the crease if he feels that threat. Instead, he cheats off of his post, Toews reads it perfectly, and pots it above his shoulder.

How this pass gets through, I do not understand. Toews makes one hell of a pass across the ice, but I still think Ellerby could have done a better job of preventing this. It was a tough attempt for Pavelec that exposed a weak spot in his blocker side, and the Blackhawks scored what would be their game winning goal.

I didn’t like the play Pavelec made on that first save attempt that lead to the juicy rebound, but I’m not even going to worry about that right now. Watch Mark Scheifele on this play. First, he makes a weak attempt at Smith, which ends up in him getting the puck down low. Smith then blows by him with complete ease, beats him to the puck, and pots the easy rebound. C’mon Mark.

Things to Watch For

The Jets face off against the Wild in a couple hours, with another chance for them to try and improve on their horrid divisional record. Here are a few things to watch for moving forward:

Might Claude get fired soon? Claude Noel spoke with the media on Friday, and the entire thing seemed to take on a bit of a different tone from usual. I think he is really starting to feel the pressure about losing his job, and the change might actually be coming soon. A win against the Wild might buy him time, but things have to turn around very fast, very soon for him to save himself.
Can Evander break his slump? Evander Kane is in another scorers slump, and with trade rumors slowly starting to build, the pressure for him to perform is forever mounting. Will he finally end the slump against a stingy Wild team?
Why is Mark Stuart getting a free pass into this lineup? Seriously. Why? Watching how he performs in this afternoon’s game will be entertaining. But if things go well and the Jets win, expect him to get way too much credit for it.

Final Thought

The Jets chances of any real playoff run are almost gone at this point. It’s time for management to truly evaluate what they have under contract, and tough decisions need to be made. Following this team may become interesting and exciting for the first time ever pretty soon.