Game 73 @ Dallas: Montoya Performance & Neutral Zone Play

10 years ago

The Jets probably deserved a lot better than they got Monday
night against the Stars. Once again they
outplayed Dallas, but the lineup was just too short handed to put anything of
relevance together until it was too late.
Such is the life in Winnipeg, and it will continue to be this way until
some true depth is created throughout the organization.

Zone Entries

5 vs 5	Player	Successful Entries	Shots (From Entries)	Shots/Entry	Controlled Entries	Shots (From Control)	Shots/ Controlled	% With Control
2	Pardy	2	1	0.50	0	0	N/A	0%
4	Postma	1	0	0.00	0	0	N/A	0%
5	Stuart	2	1	0.50	0	0	N/A	0%
7	Ellerby	0	0	N/A	0	0	N/A	N/A
8	Trouba	3	2	0.67	2	2	1.00	67%
9	Kane	3	1	0.33	2	1	0.50	67%
12	Jokinen	2	2	1.00	1	2	2.00	50%
14	Peluso	0	0	N/A	0	0	N/A	N/A
18	Little	4	1	0.25	2	1	0.50	50%
19	Slater	6	4	0.67	5	1	0.20	83%
26	Wheeler	5	1	0.20	3	1	0.33	60%
27	Tangradi	2	2	1.00	2	2	1.00	100%
28	Cormier	2	3	1.50	2	3	1.50	100%
33	Byfuglien	7	5	0.71	3	4	1.33	43%
39	Enstrom	2	0	0.00	0	0	N/A	0%
40	Setoguchi	1	1	1.00	1	1	1.00	100%
58	O’Dell	4	2	0.50	3	2	0.67	75%
67	Frolik	6	7	1.17	2	1	0.50	33%
	JETS	52	33	0.63	28	21	0.75	54%
	OPP	55	19	0.35	30	13	0.43	55%
	OZF	21	6	0.29
	DZF	17	2	0.12

Observations

The Jets were much more efficient with their neutral zone
play than the Stars were throughout the night.
I didn’t like how easily the Jets gave up the blue line (noted by the
55% carry rate the Stars had), but the shot attempts against were extremely
limited regardless. If the Jets were
capable of replicating these sorts of numbers on a regular basis (and with
their regular lineup) throughout the season they would be a lot better off than
they are now.
I really liked Eric O’Dell on the right wing against the
Stars. His entry numbers don’t jump off
the sheet by any means, but I thought he was a pretty productive guy. Keeping in mind this came while playing with
Jim Slater and Devin Setoguchi. O’Dell
has really impressed me on this call up, and has earned a pretty serious look
in camp next year.
Surprisingly enough, Patrice Cormier has surprised me a
couple times recently as well. He was
once again a positive possession guy in this game (albeit in limited minutes)
and he had a relatively strong neutral zone game as well. His presence has seemed to mesh well with
Tangradi too, which is only an added bonus.
He’s never going to amount to a huge role in the NHL, but he could be
seen as an upgrade over Thorburn, Wright, etc.
It’s always nice to see Jacob Trouba jumping into the play
to generate offense. I don’t necessarily
think Mark Stuart is a good partner for him in the long run, but if he’s
providing him the comfort to keep jumping in on the rush, so be it. Trouba is going to make his mistakes, many of
which are going to be pretty bad, as he grows.
I’m fine with that as long as he doesn’t abandon his offensive upside.
I’m seriously starting to wonder if it’s even possible for
Michael Frolik to do something wrong with the puck in the neutral zone. However he ends up moving the puck across the
blue line, it seems to always work. In
the game against the Stars he really took advantage of Kane’s speed along the
opposite wall, and started timing dump-ins with him. I question how sustainable it would be long
term, but I’m impressed with how adaptable Frolik is. There is no way the Jets can trade him away
this offseason.

Montoya Performance

I thought Monty had a pretty strong game. He was perfect at even strength, stopped
multiple odd-man chances, and was there to bail the Jets out on a few iffy
turnovers. I wasn’t a huge fan of the
first goal against him, but in no way was the loss on him.

Goal	Situation	Why It Went In	Where It Went
1	Jets Penalty Kill	Beat Clean (Montoya)	Blocker
2	Jets Penalty Kill	Rebound	Open Net

Quick Explanations

Top of the circle, pretty clear lane to see the puck, yet
beat clean by the shot. It was a nice
shot, but Monty really looked like he was guessing. Probably could have had that one.

Another power play for the Stars, a scramble in front in
which no Jet really touches a Star, and Seguin gently corrals the puck and
scores a goal. Hard to really put much heat on Montoya for this one.

Things to Watch For

Oh joyous days! The Jets start the death trap that is the
California swing on Thursday with a late game against the Sharks. I think it’s pretty fair to say I’m not
expecting much from this swing, but any team can win on any night. Here are some things to watch for heading
into the game:

Will Pavelec get called out by the media? Remember earlier this year when Evander Kane
deemed himself healthy, but was shut down by Claude Noel and ripped to shreds
by the local media for it? Well, guess
what Pavelec did on Wednesday. And take
a wild guess as to what Paul Maurice’s response was. Here’s a hint: he’s not playing regardless of
what he thinks. Will anything be made of
this? I seriously doubt it.
How is Blake Wheeler really doing? I still can’t believe Wheeler came back after
his run in with the Dallas bench. The
instant it happened I thought bruised ribs or dislocated shoulder, but
apparently he is okay. We’ll see how
long that lasts when he gets hit.
Will Andrew Ladd come back with super human dad powers? If you haven’t listened to the JetStream
Podcast yet (you probably should be), you may not know what I’m talking about
here. We’ve brought up before the “human
factor” in players, in that when major life events occur (such as having a
baby) they seem to go beast mode and light it up for a few games upon their
return. If the Jets want any hope of
pulling of a miracle run to the playoffs, a beast mode version of Andrew Ladd
will be more than welcomed.

Final Thought

The Jets need to run the table from here on out to raise
their playoff chances to 43.2%. Things
do not look good. They need wins. No better time to start a miracle than
Thursday night in San Jose…right?