Winnipeg Jets vs Colorado Avalanche The +/-
By Goose
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It was a barn burner in downtown Winnipeg after the Winnipeg Jets narrowly defeated the Colorado Avalanche 7-6 on Sunday night. From start to finish your heart was beating especially in the first and the third periods. The energy from the crowd got us some notoriety from outside of the normal Winnipeg crowd.
Ultimately, a win is a win in the playoffs, and you can mentally just move onto the next game no matter the score. No one really wants to hear about the lessons that can be learned, but there are a few things to learn from last night.
The positives:
- As I said in my article on Saturday, the Jets have a leader who will take them deep. Captain Adam Lowry showed up for his team last night, scoring two goals and laying out six hits, playing his game right to help secure the first of hopefully sixteen wins for the club in the postseason. Both goals were on the rush; Lowry doesn’t score a lot when he is going down the ice with the puck, but he did it when it mattered most.
- After game one, I think we might start calling Lowry “Captain Clutch.”
- Two goals from Kyle Connor and two from Lowry. That’s amazing! We also saw Mark Scheifele go 100% on his shooting, scoring one goal on one shot, and the fourth line stepped up big to give the Jets the first lead of the night when Alex Iafallo dug the puck away from the boards and put it right on Namestnikov’s stick.
- The Jets only held Nate MacKinnon and Cale Makar to a goal each last night. In a game where you score six goals, your top players should have more than one each. MacKinnon and Makar were held to just eight shots combined. The Jets knew how to keep the damage to a minimum from two of the most dangerous players in the NHL.
- During even-strength play, Connor Hellebuyck had a save percentage of .904. The penalty kill sucked a lot, but the Jets’ goalie can keep the puck out of the net when the two teams are on full attack.
- I generally don’t take a lot of stock in players’ plus/minus at the end of the game, but Brenden Dillon was a plus 3 and had two assists. It blows my mind that a second-pair defenseman who isn’t known for his offense was able to get two helpers and was a plus three even though his team gave up six goals in total.
Negatives:
- No goals from the second line. This is a line you always expect a goal from. They scored at least one goal a game in six of the eight games in the winning streak to end the season. The Jets had seven goals, but I still wanted one from that unlikely trio.
- The Jets gave up 42 shots against during even-strength play, a horrid stat for the best defensive team in the NHL this season.
- The special teams were a problem all season for the Jets, and the penalty kill was bad, going 0/2 on the night. The Avalanche only needed 91 seconds with the extra man to score two goals.
- The Jets were either nervous about the game they were playing or had too much adrenaline going before the game. It showed in the first when the Jets were outshot 14-8 in the first period. Then the Jets got to be far too comfortable, going up 7-4 in the third period. Colorado could have tied the game if there were three more minutes to play.
- Not scoring with the empty net; this has been a problem that has plagued them all season long. Sean Monahan had a chance to give the Jets eight goals but couldn’t hit the net. The Avs had an empty net for 3:20 last night. That’s more than enough time to get into their zone to put that game to bed.
- No Arvid Holm! The former Manitoba Moose goalie was the backup to Alexandar Georgiev, who had a .696 save percentage, and still, the former Moose had to ride the pine.
Game one was bad for both squads for different reasons. Both teams can be and will be better for game two. The real question is who can shut down who, the best defence in the league or the best offence?
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