Game 35 at Columbus: Montoya Performance Tracker & Neutral Zone Play

10 years ago

The Jets won another game against a weak Eastern Conference opponent Monday night, and will look to go for two in a row tonight against the Sabres. Despite what could have been a dominating performance, the dump and chase style deployed by Claude Noel limited the Jets opportunities and zone time.

Zone Entries

5 vs 5	Player	# of successful entries	Shots (From Entries)	Shots/Entry	Controlled Entries	Shots (Controlled Entries)	Shots/ Controlled	% With Control
2	Pardy	1	0	0.00	1	0	0.00	100%
5	Stuart	3	2	0.67	1	2	2.00	33%
8	Trouba	4	0	0.00	0	0	N/A	0%
9	Kane	4	2	0.50	3	2	0.67	75%
12	Jokinen	5	2	0.40	3	2	0.67	60%
16	Ladd	6	3	0.50	1	0	0.00	17%
17	Wright	0	0	N/A	0	0	N/A	N/A
18	Little	2	0	0.00	1	0	0.00	50%
22	Thorburn	1	0	0.00	0	0	N/A	0%
24	Clitsome	3	1	0.33	0	0	N/A	0%
26	Wheeler	5	6	1.20	3	6	2.00	60%
27	Tangradi	2	1	0.50	1	0	0.00	50%
33	Byfuglien	3	4	1.33	1	2	2.00	33%
39	Enstrom	2	0	0.00	1	0	0.00	50%
40	Setoguchi	6	2	0.33	2	2	1.00	33%
55	Scheifele	5	4	0.80	4	4	1.00	80%
67	Frolik	4	0	0.00	1	0	0.00	25%
70	Albert	1	0	0.00	0	0	N/A	0%
	JETS	57	27	0.47	23	20	0.87	40%
	OPP	66	21	0.32	36	17	0.47	55%
	OZF	13	3	0.23
	DZF	17	1	0.06

Observations

It’s actually painful to see how little the Jets control the puck when they enter the opponents zone. It’s only made worse when you see how effective they can be in those few situations that they actually do it. And it turns to be catastrophic when you see how poor they do when they dump it in. Why is Claude so persistent with having the team dump the puck in? It’s ridiculously irritating, and it could have cost them the game.

On the positive side, they were pretty strong when it came to limiting the Blue Jackets opportunities when they got it in the Jets’ zone. They entered a lot more than the Jets did, they controlled a much higher percentage than the Jets did, but at least the shots attempted at Montoya were limited.

Mark Scheifele continued his recent streak of strong puck control against Columbus. Obviously the addition of Evander Kane to his left was a big help, but he has picked up his game over the last stretch of games. Both were quite effective, and it must be nice for Frolik to not have to completely carry that line on his own.

Speaking of players who have picked up their game lately, Blake Wheeler had another strong game. He didn’t score, but he was the best player on the Jets top line throughout the night. He has been rushing the net a lot more often, has been solid defensively, and has really used his speed to his advantage. I’m still not a fan of how often he plays outside and along the boards, but he seems to have found his stride again.

The Thorburn experiment continues to be a less-than-excellent situation. I don’t necessarily think Olli Jokinen or Devin Setoguchi have been playing terrible, but the NHL is a tough enough league before having to play with a next to useless line mate. They didn’t dump and chase and much as they have been recently against Columbus, but they surely have dropped off in their efficiency.

Montoya Performance

I thought as a whole, Monty had a pretty strong game. He didn’t need to be spectacular, but he was there late when the Jackets started to make their final push.

Goal	Situation	Why It Went In	Where It Went
1	Average Play (Controlled ZE)	Beat Clean (Montoya Fault)	Right Pad
2	Turnover	Beat Clean	Pads

Quick Explanations

Montoya was caught napping a little bit on this goal. I believe he lost sight of where the puck was, and a quick, smart play by Umberger resulted with the puck in the back of the net.

Probably not the smartest play in the world by Byfuglien. At this point of the game, I would hope you would just want to get the puck out of the zone as easy as possible. The puck ends up bouncing from behind the net right into the slot, where Tyutin slides one past a flailing Montoya.

Things to Watch For

The Jets head into Buffalo tonight for what is likely their easiest back to back matchup of the season. Sadly, the Jets are notorious for blowing these kinds of opportunities. If they want any hope to get back into any sort of playoff conversation, they need to win this game. Here are a few things to watch for going into Buffalo:

ERIC O’DELL!?!?! O’Dell has finally been called up! Will he replace Chris Thorburn on that second line? (Hopefully) Will he get thrown on the fourth line? (He better not) Or will he sit in the press box? (Pointless)
How is Kane doing? Evander Kane had a rough night last night. In his first game back from injury, he took a shot off of the foot that left him needing help off the ice, then crashed full speed into the end boards, in a crash that saw his head whip back pretty aggressively. He seemed okay following the game, so hopefully his body isn’t too beaten up today. It would be quite unfortunate if the O’Dell call up was due to Evander being out again.
Will the power play continue its hot streak? The Jets power play has been on fire lately. Scheifele and Trouba have seen more time on it, and the puck has been moving much more efficiently. Is this a breakthrough? Or is it a brief demonstration of luck?

Final Thought

The Jets have problems. There is no denying that. But the Sabers have monumental issues. They are currently on pace to score the fewest goals by a team in about 50 years. Back-to-back situation of not, this game tonight needs to be a win if the Jets want to take themselves seriously.