The Winnipeg Jets have struggled to find top-level play in the postseason, but they had another chance to find it Sunday afternoon. The Colorado Avalanche have been the best home team in the NHL this season, and they were hoping to use that advantage to secure the series with a third win. Let's find out what happened…
When the puck was dropped at the start of the fourth game, it was the Avalanche who seemed more interested in winning the game as the Jets struggled defensively for long stretches of the first period. Colorado outscored Winnipeg 9-1 in the first six minutes, and only Hellebuyck's play kept the game scoreless. Eventually the pressure was too much for the Jets' defense, and when Stanley turned the puck over in the zone, Mittelstadt was able to send the puck in front of Lehkonen, and Schmidt completely covered Lehkonen in front of the crease. I left it without. Trailing by one point, Winnipeg eventually found a way to spend time inside Colorado's half thanks to a nice breakaway pass from Stanley. This dish allowed Appleton to gain the zone with speed and force defenders to retreat before dropping a pass into the trailer. Schmidt received the pass, stepped high, and fired a powerful wrister that beat Georgiev and tied the game with six minutes remaining. The Abs contested an offside play and it was a close call, but NHL operations didn't know enough about the situation to overturn the on-ice goal decision. This gave Winnipeg a big chance to capitalize on the first power play, but the team never got to test the Avs' goaltender with an extra skater. The Jets scored well, hitting five consecutive shots, but the Money Pack gave Colorado the advantage with one shot.
1st Period MoneyPuck Statistics: Score: 1 to 1 Tie, Avs on 12-for-9 shooting, 69% deserved win for Avs, Expected Goals – All Situations (1.37-0.52 COL) and 5-on-5 (1.37-0.51 COL)
The Jets made a good shift to start the second period, with the second line drawing Monahan's attention (It has been saved) and Toffoli (wide). Eventually Abs began to control play again, helped by two penalties to Stanley. Winnipeg's penalty killer and Hellebuyck somehow combined to keep the game tied. The Jets bid had to make a lot of quality saves to keep it together, but Colorado eventually broke through with a third-man advantage where Nichushkin deflected Bucky's Makar point shot. Winnipeg's starters had to make a few more saves as the Avalanche poured on offense, but the Jets eventually slipped Makar end-to-end and added their third goal with five minutes left. . Stupid penalties by Niederreiter led to authorities continuing to call new violations against visitors before the period ended (while frequently ignoring penalties from the state of Colorado.) Then with 24 seconds left, Nichushkin added his second goal of the game, putting the final nail in the Jets' coffin. As you can see below, MoneyPuck's data isn't too kind to Winnipeg.
MoneyPuck stats after 2 periods: Score: 4 to 1 Shots 30-16 (for Avenue), 89% deserved victory for Avenue, Expected Goals – All Situations (3.93-1.00 COL) and 5-on-5 (3.33-0.91 COL)
Full disclosure, I actually only skimmed the final period of play, but Winnipeg ended up outscoring Colorado 11-5 with some power play help (Umpires seek to even out calls after uneven officiating already helped decide Colorado's game). However, as you can see by comparing the shot charts for the second and third hits, the Jets were unable to get any high-danger chances and the Avalanche were basically just waiting for time to run out. To add insult to injury, things got even worse for Winnipeg when Schmidt's shot deflected and hit Namestnikov in the head. The Russian player was bleeding on the ice, an injury that required treatment at a Denver-area hospital, according to Illegal Curve. Winnipeg's coaching staff decided to give Hellebuyck a break from the shot gallery in the final frame, so Brossoit made his playoff debut this season and turned away all four shots he saw, but the Jets' goalie Added an empty netter when drawn. Additional attackers. According to MoneyPuck data, Winnipeg was completely dominated in every aspect of the game in Game 4, unable to defend any dangerous scoring areas.
MoneyPuck stats after 3rd period: 82% Deserving Win, Average Goals – All Situations (4.55-1.71 COL) and 5-on-5 (3.39-1.43 COL)
Final score: colorado avalanche Five winnipeg jets 1
shot: colorado avalanche 35 winnipeg jets 27
Game observations:
- There's really not much to say. While some Winnipeg Jets players have given their all this postseason, others have been inactive and the team as a whole lacks the structure that made it so successful in the regular season. There is.
- Assuming the Jets don't make a surprising comeback in the series (probably a safe bet), the only way Winnipeg fans can be satisfied in these playoffs is if the Colorado Avalanche completely dominate their path to winning the Stanley Cup. That way we can at least feel like our team played like any other team against the powerhouse Avs…but that would be a small settlement.
The Winnipeg Jets will try to avoid elimination in front of their fans at the Canada Life Center on Tuesday…will they go out fighting or will they lose like a house in the sand??
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