Game 60 @ St. Louis: Montoya Performance & Neutral Zone Play

10 years ago

The Jets put together a terrific effort against the Blues on Saturday afternoon, but just weren’t able to pull out a win heading into the Olympic break. We saw the Maurice effect once again in regards to the Jets play in the neutral zone, which definitely had a contributing factor in the Jets game.

Zone Entries

5 vs 5	Player	Entries	Shots (From Entries)	Shots/Entry	Controlled Entries	Shots (From Control)	Shots/ Controlled	% With Control
2	Pardy	0	0	N/A	0	0	N/A	N/A
4	Postma	0	0	N/A	0	0	N/A	N/A
5	Stuart	1	0	0.00	0	0	N/A	0%
8	Trouba	2	2	1.00	2	2	1.00	100%
12	Jokinen	3	2	0.67	1	0	0.00	33%
14	Peluso	0	0	N/A	0	0	N/A	N/A
16	Ladd	4	2	0.50	2	1	0.50	50%
17	Wright	1	0	0.00	1	0	0.00	100%
18	Little	2	1	0.50	2	1	0.50	100%
22	Thorburn	5	0	0.00	2	0	0.00	40%
26	Wheeler	7	3	0.43	5	3	0.60	71%
33	Byfuglien	2	3	1.50	2	1	0.50	100%
39	Enstrom	1	0	0.00	0	0	N/A	0%
40	Setoguchi	3	2	0.67	3	2	0.67	100%
44	Bogosian	3	0	0.00	0	0	N/A	0%
55	Scheifele	3	4	1.33	1	1	1.00	33%
58	O’Dell	1	1	1.00	0	0	N/A	0%
67	Frolik	5	2	0.40	3	2	0.67	60%
	JETS	43	22	0.51	24	13	0.54	56%
	OPP	54	13	0.24	23	6	0.26	43%
	OZF	15	3	0.20
	DZF	6	1	0.17

Observations

I’m pretty glad to say I that I think the days of sub-45% controlled entry games on a regular basis are behind us. The Blues may have controlled the higher quantity of entries against the Jets, but the boys from ‘Peg City were able to produce the quality. And it paid off. Say what you will about the Jets shooting percentages as of late. They are without a doubt high than this team will be able to sustain over a long period. In fact, they have been pretty lucky on a few occasions throughout this run since Maurice took over. One thing that has impressed me most since Maurice has come in though, has been his ability to change the way the Jets carry the puck into the offensive zone. That’s been a huge positive for this team, and a large piece leading to their recent successes.
One of the players that has loosened up and displayed this ability the most has been Jacob Trouba. The future Olympian for Team USA has been confident enough lately to become a productive offensive player, carrying the puck from end to end and generating offense. And he’s been good at it.
Earlier this year Blake Wheeler told a reporter that the Jets “weren’t a very good team off the rush” following a loss. I wonder if he would say the same thing today? He, more than almost anyone else, plays better when he uses his feet and rushes the puck up the ice. He was one of the best players against the Blues in this area of the game, and I feel like it was a huge reason that his line mate in Mark Scheifele was so effective throughout the night.
Michael Frolik needs to be signed again this offseason. That’s not even up for debate anymore.

Montoya Performance

I thought this was one of Montoya’s weaker performances on the season. Despite a couple bad breaks on Blue goals, Monty just seemed off from having trouble handling the puck, to letting a goal in that he really should have stopped. Not the kind of performance you want to have going into a long break, but it will give him a chance to refocus and get ready to push Pavelec more in a few weeks.

Goal	Situation	Why It Went In	Where It Went
1	Average Play (Controlled ZE)	Beat Clean (Montoya)	Blocker
2	Average Play (Dump-In)	Bad Break (Deflection, Ref)	Blocker
3	Average Play (DZ Faceoff Loss)	Bad Break (Deflection)	Left Pad

Quick Explanations

Al would want this one back. I’m not sure if it was deflected in front, but it’s a shot he has to stop every time. He gets beat clean far side, and just like that the Blues had a lead they really shouldn’t have.

This was just a weird goal that caught a lot of the Jets off guard. You can’t see it very well in this replay, but the dump-in took a weird bounce off of the boards, hit the ref, and went right onto the Blues player’s stick. This gave him a clear two-on-one and left Monty with little chance of making the save. Bad break for everyone in white.

Another weird bounce here leads to the Blues goal. The Jets lose the faceoff, and a quick shot bounces right onto Schwatz’s stick for the goal. Boo.

Things to Watch For

Olympic break time! The Jets don’t play again until February 27th, but here are a few things to watch for during the break:

Will Maurice have a new contract? There have been talks floating around lately that the Jets will try to get Maurice locked up to a new contract over the break. Based on the instant results he has been getting, I’m not surprised. I’m just a little nervous about what’s going to happen when the luck runs out. I wouldn’t hate waiting until the season ends before a final decision is made, no matter how much I’ve liked the guy.

Will Pavelec finish the tournament as the Czech’s starting goalie? The Czech Republic have a strong KHL goaltender in Alexander Salak, and some have even thought he might get the starting role ahead of the Jets guy. Wouldn’t that send a message to TNSE? That being said, Pavelec is known for getting hot at random times, so you never know.

Who will win gold? Canada. Please?

Final Thought

The Jets have made this break a lot more stressful for Kevin Cheveldayoff than I think anybody predicted a month ago. He has some huge decisions in regards to UFA’s to make before the trade deadline once the freeze lifts, and the Jets will be a team to watch down the final stretch. It’s a huge time for this team that could set them back for years, or push them forwards towards success. No pressure, Chevy.