Exploring Hot, Cold Performers From Game 1 Against Canadiens

Let’s get into the hot and cold performers of Game One. Before we get into this article, I want to say it was a great move by True North Sports + Entertainment for getting 500 front-line health care workers in the building for Games One and Two. The pregame tribute for the 215 indigenous kids who were found in Kamloops was very respectful. These are some of the reasons why I respect and cheer for the Winnipeg Jets.

The hot performer is the penalty kill. They only had one power play to kill, but they made sure the Montreal Canadiens had zero shots on goal and @Adam Lowry scored a beauty goal because he gave everything he could and snuck one past @Carey Price. Montreal’s power-play units aren’t a major worry, but that penalty kill kept Winnipeg in the game.

The cold performer of the first period goes to the big man @Logan Stanley. He tried to dump the puck out of the defensive zone and passed it right to @Corey Perry. Then he tried to make up for his mistake by taking Perry’s body rather than going for the puck. Then right before the Canadiens’ power play, he collided with @Connor Hellebuyck and almost caused the Jets to go down by three goals. I understand he’s a rookie, but he needs to be more aware of who’s around him and where to place the puck.

Hot performer goes to Hellebuyck for stopping all nine shots, four of which were high danger shots. Let’s talk about that stare-down between Hellebuyck and Perry, I wasn’t even there and that got me excited about Helle being extremely locked into the rest of the series.

Cold performer is the very poor passing. The Jets kept looking for more and more awkward long passes as the period went progressed, it became very frustrating. I understand why they were going for those high-risk passes, but sometimes keeping it simple is the best plan.

Hot performer of period three goes to the cold performer of period one, Stanley. I’m not a big fan of his performance, but he stood up for @Mark Scheifele in a scrum where he took on three different Canadiens that happened around the 14-minute mark of the third. That’s what I’ve wanted to see that from the big man and I’ve seen him do it earlier this season, but normally it’s just one guy he takes on.

Cold performer is Scheifele. It’s the heat of the moment, but you can’t be that stupid to blow @Jake Evans when you’re down and will probably lose the game. The Jets were on a six-game winning streak, it was going to end sometime but you can’t play that recklessly. I won’t be shocked if he’s suspended for three games.

Let me know what you think of my hot and cold performers in the comments below or you can always let me know on Instagram or Twitter – @angushout.