Winnipeg Jets Defense Gets Exposed By Colorado

The Winnipeg Jets are going home in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs yet again. This time, it was at the hands of the Colorado Avalanche.

Winnipeg worked hard to get home ice over the Colorado Avalanche, but it did not matter. It is the Jets’ third straight playoff series, and they have lost four games in a row. For a team that had Stanley Cup aspirations with the work General Manager Kevin Cheveldayoff did in the off-season and at the NHL Trade Deadline, there was a lot of disappointment surrounding the team, players, and coaches after their Game 5 loss.

We all know the goaltending needed to be better. The presumed Vezina Trophy winner can’t have a 5.23 GAA and a .870 save percentage. Not to mention, he gave up 24 goals in five games. But there is more, as Connor Hellebuyck has given up three or more goals in nine straight playoff games. Not what the Jets expected at all.

Connor Hellebuyck admitted so during the final media availability of the season.

“You’re probably not going to believe it when I say I was playing the best hockey of my career,” Hellebuyck told the media on Thursday. “That’s truly how I was feeling. Not only was I playing some of my best hockey but I was in that zone where you’re not thinking, you’re just playing. For me to not be able to put my foot down on a single game, it’s really heartbreaking. That’s not how I typically do things.” 

However, it was not just on Hellebuyck. The Winnipeg Jets defense let them down. Hellebuyck and the Jets won the Jennings Trophy for giving up the fewest goals in the NHL. The players took pride under head coach Rick Bowness in playing sound defensive hockey.

Winnipeg was a far cry from the team that went 34 consecutive games in the regular season, allowing three goals or less, and had a 2.41 GA/GP, which was second in the NHL in the series against the Colorado Avalanche. The Jets allowed at least five goals against in all five playoff games. The question is, what the heck happened defensively?

Well, it all started in Game 1 of the series. Up 6-3, the Jets allowed Colorado to stay around. Instead of closing out the game like a good defensive team would, Winnipeg surrendered three goals in the final frame. Two of those goals came after the Jets went up 7-4. Again, at that point, the game should have been over. The final score of Game 1 should not have been 7-6.

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From there, it just snowballed. The best defensive team in the league was running around and trying to play Avalanche hockey—not a recipe for success. Winnipeg was a more structured team than that. However, in their playoff series with the Avalanche, Colorado used its speed and skill and forced the Jets to play on its heels instead of its toes.

The Jets’ poor defensive play added to Connor Hellebuyck’s struggles. Winnipeg’s penalty kill was also awful. In the five-game series, the Jets had a penalty kill percentage of 62.5 percent. They tied for 13th with the Washington Capitals. Both teams were eliminated from the playoffs. At the same time, Colorado’s power play was 37.5 percent, fourth in the NHL, in the playoffs.

It seemed like every time Colorado had a powerplay, they converted on it, especially in the two games in Colorado. In Game 3, the Avalanche scored twice on the powerplay in Period 2 to open up a three-goal lead they never looked back on—the same thing happened in Game 4.

The Avalanche created more traffic in front of Hellebuyck than the Jets did in front of Alexandar Georgiev. Remember, the storyline entering the series was the Jets had the better goalie. However, Colorado’s goalie outperformed the Vezina Trophy winner.

“I mean, you’ve got to give them some kudos for what they did, but looking back I don’t know if I even saw half of the pucks that went into the net. They did a great job,” Hellebuyck added. 

However, considering what the Jets did to the Avalanche in the regular season, it was shocking. However, Rick Bowness was not as upset with the group this time as last year when they lost to the Vegas Golden Knights in five games.

“In the two years, that’s by far the best playoff game we’ve played,” Rick Bowness said of Tuesday’s loss to the media. “… We’re way ahead of where we were at this point last year when we lost. Way ahead.”

After so much turmoil last season, the Jets had an excellent season. You have to think changes will be coming, but the sting of disappointment still echoes through the Winnipeg Jets locker room.