Game 40 vs Minnesota: Goalie Performances and Neutral Zone Play

10 years ago

Safe to say this game turned out in a way that nobody expected. The Jets were able to overcome some rather questionable goaltending against the Wild and put up a 6-spot against one of the best defensive teams in the league.

Zone Entries

5 vs 5	Player	# of successful entries	Shots (From Entries)	Shots/Entry	Controlled Entries	Shots (From Control)	Shots / Controlled	% With Control
2	Pardy	2	0	0.00	0	0	N/A	0%
7	Ellerby	3	0	0.00	0	0	N/A	0%
8	Trouba	3	1	0.33	1	0	0.00	33%
9	Kane	7	3	0.43	4	3	0.75	57%
12	Jokinen	5	3	0.60	3	2	0.67	60%
14	Peluso	0	0	N/A	0	0	N/A	N/A
16	Ladd	7	5	0.71	7	5	0.71	100%
17	Wright	1	1	1.00	0	0	N/A	0%
18	Little	3	1	0.33	2	1	0.50	67%
22	Thorburn	0	0	N/A	0	0	N/A	N/A
26	Wheeler	9	5	0.56	2	3	1.50	22%
27	Tangradi	3	4	1.33	2	4	2.00	67%
33	Byfuglien	2	1	0.50	1	1	1.00	50%
39	Enstrom	2	1	0.50	1	0	0.00	50%
40	Setoguchi	5	1	0.20	1	1	1.00	20%
55	Scheifele	6	3	0.50	3	3	1.00	50%
67	Frolik	9	6	0.67	6	5	0.83	67%
71	Melchiori	0	0	N/A	0	0	N/A	N/A
	JETS	67	35	0.52	33	28	0.85	49%
	OPP	58	26	0.45	30	19	0.63	52%
	OZF	14	2	0.14
	DZF	19	5	0.26

Observations

In what is a very clear trend, the Jets once again had solid zone play when they carried the puck in. They were close to a 50-50 split throughout this game, and the results ultimately showed on the shot clock.
The Ladd-Little-Wheeler line had an excellent game, and it started in the neutral zone. Led by an extremely strong effort by Andrew Ladd, the grouping had a lot of control in the Wild zone and was credited with a couple goals. Following his comments of how the Jets need to dump the puck deep more following the Oiler game, Wheeler put his money where his mouth was and stuck strongly to a chipping and dumping game. Not surprisingly though, he was more productive on the attempts that he carried it in.
Kane, Scheifele and Frolik also had a strong game in the neutral zone. Although it didn’t result in a surplus of offense, they prevented the Wild from being able to create anything either while their line was on the ice.
Eric Tangradi’s play once again leaves me dumbfounded as to why he is a constant scratch for the likes of Anthony Peluso and Chris Thorburn.
Olli Jokinen did a bit better job in trying to create some offense off of the rush. I thought he personally had a pretty decent game. Unfortunately though, Setoguchi stuck to the directed “dump and chase” mantra, and Chris Thorburn is useless. I’m really confused as to how the Jets plan on getting any value for Jokinen or Setoguchi at the deadline if they continue to be stuck with a near-useless linemate.

Goaltender Performances

I am so tired of the garbage excuses that TSN continually makes for Ondrej Pavelec. He was just terrible in his brief appearance in this game. He threw a hissy fit on the ice and into the dressing room after being pulled. He makes the same mistakes over and over again. Yes, the team makes mistakes in front of him, but they make the same mistakes in front of Al Montoya and he still stops the puck. Ondrej Pavelec is not a good goaltender. He’s paid to stop the puck, and too often he doesn’t do that.

Goal	Situation	Why It Went In	Where It Went
1	Average Play (Dump In)	Out of Position	Open Net
2	Sustained Pressure	Bad Break (Deflection)	Open Net
3	Average Play (Controlled ZE)	Beat Clean (Pavelec Fault)	Glove Hand
4	Jets Penalty Kill	No Chance	Blocker

Quick Explanations

Once again we see Ondrej make a stupid over-commitment to a player that is in no way a threat to score. He’s challenging a guy who is at the bottom of the circle, for some ridiculous reason he bites on a PASS, and then leaves a wide open cage for Dany Heatley to shoot at. At least try to make things difficult.

Pavelec loses the puck in the scramble in front of him, and it ends up in the back of an open net. Not sure why Pavelec was so far over. If he does the smart thing and centers himself and get big, this puck might not go in.

You pay a goalie to stop pucks. Pavelec has a clean look at Veilleux for a long period of time, has the opportunity to come out and challenge him, and is simply beat clean on a nicely placed shot.

The only goal the Wild are able to get on Al Montoya comes following a gorgeous passing play that leaves Monty with little hope of making a save.

Final Thought

The Jets take on Colorado tonight where they will have another opportunity to try to improve their record against the Central Division. Al Montoya is getting the start and there seems to be more and more talk of Pavelec losing that starters role. It’s about time.