The crowd at the Canada Life Centre was a sea of white on Sunday night when the Winnipeg Jets faced off against the Colorado Avalanche to open up the post-season. So, what do you get when an Avalanche collides with a White Out? The answer is a crap load of goals, apparently. So let’s dig in….
The visiting Colorado franchise had the better of things once the puck was dropped, pinning Winnipeg in their own end for large chunks of time and that resulted in the Avalanche outshooting the Jets 11-1 in the opening 6 minutes. Eventually the pressure paid off for the Avs when Vilardi couldn’t corral a pass in the neutral zone, allowing Colorado to break out the other way. Nichkushkin carried the puck into the zone before sniping a shot off the corner post and by Hellebuyck to open the scoring at the 6:10 mark. Winnipeg finally had some offensive zone time during a short shift by the 2nd line, but that allowed the Jets’ top line to follow it up. Connor and Morrissey criss-crossed at the blueline while exchanging the puck and that gave Winnipeg’s defenseman enough space to send a wrister through a maze of bodies in front to tie the game. Bucky was called on to make another quality glove save off Manson before the Jets started challenging the Avalanche defense. The 4th line dumped the puck into the zone and Iafallo managed to deflect a pass attempt on the forecheck, sending the puck trickling into the slot. Namestnikov was there to jump on the opportunity and he sent the puck flying into the top corner with a diving shot to give Winnipeg the lead with 8 minutes to play. That advantage only lasted less than 3 minutes, as Samberg coughed up the puck behind his own net and one quick pass led to Wood tapping in the tying goal from the backdoor. With the Jets reeling from the mistake, Colorado took advantage when Winnipeg failed to clear their zone, allowing MacKinnon the chance to fire a shot by Bucky to give the Avalanche the lead with 2 goals in 18 seconds. The Jets didn’t cave though and they immediately responded with a 1st line cycle, resulting in a Connor forecheck creating a turnover. Vilardi gathered the puck and quickly sent it across the crease for Scheifele at the backdoor to once again tie things up. That wraps up a crazy 1st period and here is how MoneyPuck saw the stats/shots:
First Period MoneyPuck Stats: Score: 3 to 3 tie, shots 14 to 8 for the Avs, 59% Deserve To Win for the Avs, Expected Goals – all situations (0.96-0.56 COL), & 5 on 5 (0.96-0.56 COL)
After 6 actual goals on a combined 1.52 expected goals in the 1st, what does the 2nd frame have in store for us? The Winnipeg Jets played better in the middle period and the flow of play was fairly equal throughout the 20 minutes. Hellebuyck continued to make timely saves on the Avalanche dangerous attempts and the Jets spent more time cycling the offensive zone as the teams tried to find the go-ahead goal. A nice dangle by DeMelo failed to fool a defender, nice work by Gustafsson helped end some Avs’ pressure, Scheifele wins a battle behind his own net to allow Winnipeg to clear the zone, and Pionk whiffs on a great opportunity during some 4 on 4 play. But a turnover by Colorado in the neutral zone saw Lowry and Appleton break out on a 2 on 1. With the defenseman covering the pass option, Winnipeg’s captain opted to shoot for the 5 hole and was successful in beating Georgiev to give the Jets a lead with just over 10 minutes remaining. The rest of the period saw Winnipeg fail to capitalize on a powerplay (despite good puck possession), Monahan being denied from the low slot after a nice set up by Connor, another Jets 2 on 1 with Vilardi failing to beat the tender, and Bucky denying a good look from Makar. When the horn blew to start the 2nd intermission, here is how MoneyPuck saw the game at that point:
After Two Periods MoneyPuck Stats: Score: 4 to 3 for the Jets, shots 26 to 18 for the Avs, 59% Deserve to Win for the Avs, Expected Goals – all situations (1.94-1.50 COL) & 5 on 5 (1.78-1.09 COL)
Colorado almost tied things up early in the 3rd when an Avalanche 3 on 2 saw MacKinnon ring a shot off the bar. The visitors continued to push for the equalizer but eventually the True North squad had some offensive zone time (good cycle shift by 1st line). Lowry’s line followed that up with more time in the Avs’ end and the forecheck & puck luck resulted in the big guy finding himself all alone in front of the goaltender. The captain showed some rare patience with the puck, calmly stepping around a sprawled Georgiev to net his 2nd goal of the game. With a 2 goal lead just 3 minutes into the final period, Winnipeg didn’t stop there as they had the opportunity to add to their lead on a powerplay. Once again the Jets controlled the puck and had a great look when Vilardi set up Monahan in the bumper spot (off post). They kept up the pressure and Scheifele sent the puck to Morrissey at the point before the defender set up Connor for a 1 time blast from the left face-off circle. At this point, the clock had 14 minutes on it and Winnipeg had a 3 goal lead….so it was safe to relax, right? Maybe not….because Colorado got their 1st PP of the game right after and it quickly ended when Lehkonen tipped a Makar point shot by Hellebuyck to make things interesting. The Jets’ top line replied a couple minutes later to restore the 3 goal lead when Vilardi set up Connor for his 2nd marker of the contest. The Avalanche didn’t give up and DeMelo got flagged for a penalty during a mad rush in front of the Winnipeg net. Once again, the Avs’ powerplay struck to tighten the game when a Makar shot from the point sailed by a screened Bucky. The Jets did a fairly good job of reducing chances against for the next 4 minutes, but when the Avalanche pulled their goalie with 3 minutes on the clock…things got interesting. Almost non-stop pressure by Colorado with the extra skater was withstood by Winnipeg’s defenders for a long time…denying any passes into the slot and relying on Hellebuyck to make the longer saves. However, eventually the Avalanche broke through when Mittelstadt scored with 28 seconds left. Fortunately that is all the excitement the opening game of the playoffs had in store for us and Winnipeg walked away with a 1-0 series lead.
After Three Periods MoneyPuck Stats: 80% Deserve to Win for the Avs, Expected Goals – all situations (4.83-2.16 COL) & 5 on 5 (2.84-1.55 COL)
FINAL SCORE: WINNIPEG JETS 7 COLORADO AVALANCHE 6
SHOTS: COLORADO AVALANCHE 45 WINNIPEG JETS 23
Game Observations:
- That was one of the more exciting games of hockey I’ve watched….end to end action, hard hits, and plenty of goal scoring. That being said, I really don’t want to see the Winnipeg Jets involved in another such contest in the post-season. Our squad can’t rely on winning shooting galleries against an offensive powerhouse like Colorado, so they need to return to their defensive structure in Game 2.
- 7 goals scored in a playoff game…that’s a new franchise record for Winnipeg.
- I don’t have time to dig into the advanced stats, but Kyle Connor & Adam Lowry had very good games, while the pairing of Dylan Samberg & Logan Stanley seemed to have a rough outing. (found some more time…so added to the observations)
- Adam Lowry led the Jets in hits with 6, while Neal Pionk & Logan Stanley were nipping at his heels with 5 apiece.
- Mark Scheifele also played fairly well, with a team leading 3 pts (tied with Connor) and 52.6% at the face-off dot.
- The Jets’ defensemen missed the net a combined 9 times in the opening match, while the forwards only shot wide 6 times. You can’t get rebound goals when you don’t hit the net!!
- Four of Winnipeg’s top five in expected goals actually put at least one by Colorado’s goalie…Kyle Connor (2 goals & 0.47 xG), Adam Lowry (2 goals & 0.29 xG), Vladislav Namestnikov (goal & 0.249 xG), and Mark Scheifele (goal & 0.236 xG). The only player who failed to score was Tyler Toffoli (0.225 xG).
- Here are the forward and defensive 5 on 5 advanced stats:
The Colorado Avalanche fans seemed to take some comfort that they scored 6 goals on the Winnipeg Jets, saying if they get even average goaltending they should be able to beat our squad. But that is kind of glossing over the fact that the Jets played one of their worst defensive outings too (turnovers, lost coverages, etc). I don’t think we’ll see a repeat of that game anytime soon, so lets hope that Rick Bowness can get his entire team playing his system in the next match.
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