With the chance to break the tie for second place in the Central Division, the Winnipeg Jets and Colorado Avalanche prepared to hit the ice on Saturday afternoon. Lets find out how the clash between two Western Conference juggernauts went…
The opening shift saw both franchises try to set a physical note, with the Jets’ Lowry and the Avs’ Manson throwing bodychecks on opponents. Rick Bowness’ suffocating defensive style was apparent early on, as neither squad could get a shot on net in the first 4 minutes of play. After Colorado got it’s first offensive zone shift and shot on Hellebuyck, Winnipeg went to work with the Monahan line leading the way. They gained the o-zone and started to work the puck around, eventually handing it off to Ehlers. The speedy Dane circled behind the Avs’ net before stepping out and sending a cross-crease pass to Monahan at the backdoor. The center was able to hold off Colorado’s Girard while knocking the puck by Georgiev to give Winnipeg a lead 6 minutes in and pocket his 25th goal of the campaign. Some pressure by the Jets’ top line didn’t result in another goal, but it did give our squad their first powerplay of the contest. The PP unit got set up early, but the Avalanche were able to ease the pressure by clearing a rebound down the ice. The top unit quickly re-established themselves in the offensive zone and when Connor received the puck in the left face-off circle, he faked a shot before sending a beautiful backdoor pass to Vilardi (21st of the year). With the goal on the man-advantage, Winnipeg now had a 2-0 lead just 8 minutes into the game, so the Jets had to deal with a pushback from Colorado (Nichushkin hits post & Manson rush/shot). However our squad quickly returned to the offensive (Connor springs Scheifele on a clear-cut breakaway, Monahan being stoned on a rebound by Georgiev, etc) and that eventually led to Winnipeg’s 2nd PP of the afternoon. Wasting absolutely no time, Monahan cleanly won the face-off back to the point and Morrissey blasted a slapper by the goaltender’s glove to make it 3-0 with 5 minutes to play. Not satisfied there, the following shift saw the 3rd line dump the puck in and start the chase. The puck wrapped around the defensive boards and ended up on Gustafsson’s stick high along the left side. Quickly sending the puck to the point, DeMelo launched a shot that created a juicy rebound for Lowry to scoop up & tuck by the sprawling goalie. With two markers in just 10 seconds, the Jets scored their fastest two goals since relocating to Manitoba. The 4th goal was enough for the Avs’ to pull Georgiev, but Colorado didn’t give up and spent a good chunk of the remaining 5 minutes trying to break through Winnipeg’s defensive scheme. Despite the push, the score remained the same when the horn finally blew. Check out the jaw-dropping stats/shot chart from MoneyPuck to visualize how well the Jets played in the opening frame.
First Period MoneyPuck Stats: Score: 4 to 0 for the Jets, shots 16 to 6 for the Jets, 84% Deserve To Win for the Jets, Expected Goals – all situations (2.22-0.66 WPG), & 5 on 5 (1.09-0.66 WPG)
The 2nd period began much like the 1st did, with neither squad testing the goaltenders in the opening minutes. In a shift that highlighted the differences between Scheifele’s play during last year and the current season, the pivot was active down-low in the defensive end to help create a turnover. He then immediately started skating up the ice to receive the zone exit pass from Connor before dumping the puck into the Avs’ end. Undaunted by two Colorado defenders, Scheifele out-raced them to the loose puck and sets up an angle shot attempt. Loving the effort by #55 this year. Winnipeg continued to play well and were not allowing the Avalanche to spend any significant time in the offensive zone. Frustrating them even more, the Jets continued to take the body when the opportunity arose (i.e. Pionk blasts MacKinnon with a thunderous hit – pictured at the top of article). Colorado took another penalty when Colton went after the defender once play stopped, but as good as the Jets were playing, they weren’t able to improve to 3 for 3 on the powerplay. The Avalanche started to press even more to find a way through Bowness’ system and Winnipeg struck again, this time on a counter-attack that saw Connor & Toffoli (32nd goal of the year) complete a 2 on 1 rush. Now up 5-0 with still half the match to play, the Avalanche had their first chance to deploy their deadly powerplay units. But Winnipeg was having none of it, keeping the Avs to the perimeter except for one bumper shot (Stanley & Bucky team up to keep the puck out) and a point shot through a screen that found iron instead of twine. The Jets went back on the attack after killing off the Namestnikov penalty and when Morrissey skated the puck up the ice and into Colorado’s zone, he drew the attention of all the defenders before connecting with Monahan, allowing the center to snipe his 2nd of the night. Just over a minute later, Gustafsson sprung Lowry on a breakaway and the Jets’ captain netted his 12th goal of the season through Annunen’s 5 hole. Before the period ended, Hellebuyck did have to make a couple more saves, including a denial of MacKinnon from the mid-slot.
After Two Periods MoneyPuck Stats: Score: 7 to 0 for the Jets, shots 23 to 17 for the Jets, 80% Deserve to Win for the Jets, Expected Goals – all situations (3.17-1.46 WPG) & 5 on 5 (1.96-1.21 WPG)
The 3rd period went much like the opening two, except that the Winnipeg Jets weren’t hugely interested in pushing for more goals. So instead, they focused on continuing their smothering defensive play. Kudos the Avalanche for not giving up in the game, as it was clear on their faces how frustrating they found dealing with the Jets’ great forecheck and defensive gaps. Colorado was able to outshoot Winnipeg 10-8 in the final frame, but the two or three dangerous chances they got were denied by Hellebuyck. Toffoli did have a breakaway look to add to the Jets’ lead and while he did seem to beat the goalie, he couldn’t raise the puck over the outstretched pad to make it 8-0. Overall, this was a fantastic dominating performance by our squad, despite the fact that MoneyPuck’s data doesn’t seem that lop-sided.
After Three Periods MoneyPuck Stats: 60% Deserve to Win for the Jets, Expected Goals – all situations (3.60-3.09 WPG) & 5 on 5 (2.84-2.39 COL)
FINAL SCORE: WINNIPEG JETS 7 COLORADO AVALANCHE 0
SHOTS: COLORADO AVALANCHE 31 WINNIPEG JETS 27
Game Observations:
- Obviously, another great game by Connor Hellebuyck on route to another shut-out (5th of year/37th of career). 31 saves, 11 medium danger, 2 high danger, & a 3.09 Goals Saved Above Average rating. Might as well start etching Bucky’s name on the Vezina, because anyone who doesn’t vote for him needs their eyes checked.
- Sean Monahan led Winnipeg in points last night, with his 2 goals and an assist, while four Jets had 2 pt games (Kyle Connor – 2A, Nikolaj Ehlers – 2A, David Gustafsson – 2A, & Adam Lowry – 2G). Yes, you read that right….Lowry netted his 11th and 12th of the season. Miracles do happen!!
- Liked that the forward ice-time was fairly spread out, despite Vladislav Namestnikov & Sean Monahan sitting on the bench to end the game. Not sure if that was about resting players or what, but Winnipeg’s forwards ended between 10:43 to 19:32.
- If you were wondering about the expected goals, Corsi (shot attempts), & Fenwick (unblocked shot attempts) numbers for Winnipeg’s forward & defensive pairings, here they are:
- It is fairly difficult to think of something negative to say about last night’s contest. Possibly…Nikolaj Ehlers did make another boneheaded pass, Mark Scheifele still needs to shoot more often, etc. But that’s just nit-picking and the effort shown by the Winnipeg Jets deserves more respect than that. So, I’ll just end by showing the individual expected goals for the Jets, via MoneyPuck:
The Winnipeg Jets now control their own fate when it comes to determining whether their post-season starts in Manitoba or Colorado. The team will get a couple days to rest and should get Nino Niederreiter back in the lineup for their next contest.
NEXT GAME: Seattle Kraken @ Winnipeg Jets – Tuesday, April 16th @ 7:00 pm Central
Still no news on the Rutger McGroarty watch….but Michigan teammate Frank Nazar opted to sign with the Chicago Blackhawks, so perhaps he will follow that lead and make the decision to turn pro? We will have to wait and see.
The Manitoba Moose locked up a playoff spot yesterday with a 7-4 win over the Iowa Wild and a Chicago Wolves loss. They are still 5 pts back of the Texas Stars for 4th place and the chance to gain home-ice advantage for the best of 3 game series, but with 4 matches remaining including 2 versus the Stars that remains very much in the air at this point. The Moose play their last home game of the regular season this afternoon at 2 pm and I will be checking it out to see if any of the new players (defenseman Dylan Anhorn and forwards Colby Barlow & Connor Levis) get into the action.
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