Game 47 vs Columbus: Pavelec Performance and Neutral Zone Play

10 years ago

In what will go on record as the final game that saw Claude Noel act as the head coach of the Winnipeg Jets, we saw a perfect display of his dump and chase mantra, and how it prevented the Jets from creating an efficient offense.

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	4	2	0.50	3	2	0.67	75%
5	Stuart	0	0	N/A	0	0	N/A	N/A
7	Ellerby	1	0	0.00	0	0	N/A	0%
8	Trouba	2	1	0.50	0	0	N/A	0%
12	Jokinen	8	3	0.38	4	1	0.25	50%
16	Ladd	8	6	0.75	2	2	1.00	25%
17	Wright	4	1	0.25	1	0	0.00	25%
18	Little	3	1	0.33	3	1	0.33	100%
22	Thorburn	1	0	0.00	1	0	0.00	100%
26	Wheeler	6	1	0.17	3	1	0.33	50%
27	Tangradi	0	0	N/A	0	0	N/A	N/A
33	Byfuglien	5	3	0.60	2	2	1.00	40%
39	Enstrom	1	0	0.00	0	0	N/A	0%
40	Setoguchi	2	0	0.00	0	0	N/A	0%
44	Bogosian	3	0	0.00	0	0	N/A	0%
55	Scheifele	3	3	1.00	1	1	1.00	33%
58	O’Dell	4	0	0.00	1	0	0.00	25%
67	Frolik	8	1	0.13	3	1	0.33	38%
	JETS	63	22	0.35	24	11	0.46	38%
	OPP	49	25	0.51	25	13	0.52	51%
	OZF	12	7	0.58
	DZF	15	7	0.47

Observations

It almost seems fitting that the last few games that Claude coached for the Jets produced some of the smallest numbers when it comes to controlled entry percentage. This one in particular was pretty darn awful, as the Jets finished producing an incredibly small number of shots per entry. I really hope this horrid trend ceases to exist under new coaching.
No Jet really seemed to put a focus on entering the offensive zone with control, and as a result we saw the Jets almost completely unable to sustain offense as the game went on. They were regularly halted in the tracks once they got the puck deep, whereas Columbus was able to cycle and control the puck quite well in the Winnipeg zone all night.
If I were to pick one Jet that seemed to have a good game, I would have to go with Andrew Ladd. The captain has had his struggles of late, but his matching up with Little and Byfuglien did seem to boost his production on Saturday night. Again, he didn’t exactly put a huge emphasis on controlling the puck, but his line mates did a pretty good job to chase down the pucks he got deep and maintain possession.
It was nice to see Adam Pardy take advantage of the easier opponents he was facing on the night. For a big guy I think he pretty decent hands, and he put them to good use against the Blue Jackets.

Pavelec Performance

I don’t ever say this, but I will on this night. The team really left Pavelec out to dry against the Blue Jackets. Is it a coincidence that this happened on the same night that Byfuglien was moved forward? I seriously doubt it. Pavelec did let in one that I didn’t like, but otherwise had little hope of stopping many of the goals that were scored on him Saturday night.

Goal	Situation	Why It Went In	Where It Went
1	Jets Power Play	Beat Clean	Right Pad
2	Skilled Play	Beat Clean	Open Net
3	Average Play	No Chance	Five Hole
4	Breakaway (Penalty Shot)	Beat Clean	Blocker Side
5	Sustained Pressure	Rebound	Glove Hand
6	Sustained Pressure	Bad Break	Open Net

Quick Explanations

A 2 on 1 break out right off the faceoff results in Letestu having a quick breakaway, making a slick move in front of the net, and scoring the Jackets first goal.

Watch Mark Stuart on this goal. He ends up standing in no-man’s land, not taking the man in front of the net or the man on his wing, resulting in Trouba feeling the need to help out up front. This leaves Atkinson wide open, and the recipient of a very nice tick-tack-toe goal. Does nobody else find it funny that Stuart is so often on the ice for these types of situations?

I’m not sure what Bogosian was doing here. For whatever reason he decided to leave the front of the net, allowing Foligno to go uncontested right in front, and Pavelec with little to no hope.

This is just bad luck for poor Keaton Ellerby. Boone Jenner makes an unreal block with the blade of his stick, and is instantly sprung on a breakaway. Can’t blame Pavelec for much here.

This one I didn’t like from Pavelec. A wrist shot from the top of the circles that Pavelec should have held on to ends up squirting right into the slot, and is put away by Jenner.

Crummy luck on this one. The puck bounces right off of Enstrom into Letestu’s stick, who puts it into the open net.

Things to Watch For

New coach Paul Maurice will make his debut behind the Winnipeg bench Monday night against the Phoenix Coyotes. There are a lot of questions heading into the game, but here are a few of the big ones for you to watch for:

What will the lineup look like? If I had to guess, I would think that nothing would be drastically changed from the status quo just yet. Maurice is yet to have a practice with the team, meaning he won’t have a chance to see exactly what he has until the game starts. He may tinker with things a little bit once the game gets going, but things are a big question mark right now. Buff could still be a forward, and O’Dell could be sent right back to the fourth line. Who knows?
How is Evander Kane? Suffering from a hand injury since the game against Tampa Bay, there hasn’t been a true word on if Evander Kane will suit up or not on Monday night. If he is healthy enough to go, he should play. If not, don’t risk long-term problems for this season.
Who will start in net? I’m curious as to what the goaltending situation will be like with a new coach. Maurice isn’t the one who has been telling everyone the Pavelec is the guy. Maybe things are going to change for the better.

Final Thought

For a long time now I have been under the firm belief that a huge contributing factor towards the Jets reluctance to carry the puck in the zone has been due to the direct orders from Claude Noel. It’ll be very interesting moving forward to see if the trend starts to change from a constant dump and chase, to a more blended mix including carries. I’m not sure what stream of thought Paul Maurice has on this area of the ice, but it is most definitely going to be something to keep an eye on going forward.