FROM THE PRESS BOX
Mike says: It’s not that Connor Hellebuyck was bad in Game 3. His play was fine by my eyes. It’s just that we’ve come to expect so much more than “fine” from the guy that was clearly the best at his position during the regular season. And the numbers don’t lie. He’s now given up at least four goals in eight straight road playoff games, which is astonishing. That has to change, starting tonight, for the Jets to have a chance.
The Jets are doing a heck of a job shielding their prized puck stopper from the media, with multiple requests from various reporters in recent days turned down. So when it comes to telling you where his head is at, I’m not entirely sure.
“It doesn’t change,” Arniel said this morning when asked about his goaltender’s mindset following another frustrating loss — one in which the NHL essentially ruled he scored the game-winning goal on himself.
“He’s such a student of the game. Yesterday, looking at all this shot opportunities against and just looking at all those things he does to prepare himself. He does his post-game and then he moves on to the next one. That’s part of those elite players, they have a different way of kind of getting their minds (ready).”
Given the way this series is playing out, I’d say the Jets may need Hellebuyck to steal them a game or two along the way if they are going to keep playing for much longer.
While much of the focus around here will be on Dallas getting its No. 1 blue-liner back, I thought a big development for the Jets was the play of Josh Morrissey in Game 3. His head-fake and pass to set up Nino Niederreiter’s goal in the second period was a thing of beauty, and a real good sign that Winnipeg’s best defencemen is starting to feel like himself after getting hurt in Game 7 against St. Louis and missing Game 1 against Dallas.
“He’s looking more and more comfortable. He’s that guy that drives from our back end, that offence,” said Arniel. “But that’s also one of the things where we need more from all six of our guys. They need to be a part of that rush, they need to be a part of that offensive zone as they’ve done all year long. When Josh is doing that he’s hard to contain.”
Ken says: In a series of responses, it’s time to see what the Jets once again have in store for what should be a pivotal game.
The prominent storylines have been dissected and discussed and the rule book has received far too much attention during the past several days. Rightfully so, given what transpired, but the facts are that the call surrounding the controversial game-winning goal from Alex Petrovic isn’t going to change. As frustrating as it may have been for the Jets to try and sort through in real time, following the extensive video review, they didn’t react with the composure of a champion.
Along with allowing three goals in the third period after battling back to even the score, the Jets didn’t manage a single high-danger chance in the third period on Sunday (while giving up six to the Stars) — and that’s simply not good enough at this time of the year.
Seeing Kyle Connor produce his first goal (and point) of this series was something for the Jets to build on, but the second line, centered by Vladislav Namestnikov, needs to elevate its respective game.
Speedy Jets winger Nikolaj Ehlers recorded two goals and an assist in Game 2, but Namestnikov and Cole Perfetti have yet to hit the scoresheet through three games. Nobody has forgotten Perfetti’s two-goal Game 7 heroics against the Blues, and the Jets wouldn’t still be playing without the contribution Namestnikov made in the opening round, especially after Mark Scheifele departed in Game 5. They’re playing hard and contributing to other areas of the game, but the Jets likely won’t survive the second round if the guys on the second line don’t chip in some more offence against the Stars.
Dallas Stars’ Mikko Rantanen celebrates his goal in the third period of Game 3. (Julio Cortez / The Associated Press)
Yes, Rantanen continues to be a beast in this series and he’s been involved in all but two of the goals scored by his team this round, adding three more points (a goal and two primary assists) in Game 3. However, an even bigger development for the Stars was Roope Hintz and Wyatt Johnston both coming up with their first goals of this series. The Stars got multipoint games from Hintz (one goal, one assist), Thomas Harley (one goal, one assist), Mikael Granlund (two assists) and Hintz (one goal, one assist), plus the first point of the series from captain Jamie Benn.
Most of the players on the aforementioned list not named Harley (who has been the best defenceman in this series so far) had yet to make much of an impact in the first two games. So aside from trying to minimize the damage inflicted by Rantanen, the Jets need to get a few more players of their own involved in the offensive attack in Game 4 while also providing a determined defensive effort.
PROJECTED LINES
WINNIPEG JETS
FORWARDS:
- Connor-Scheifele-Vilardi
- Ehlers-Namestnikov-Perfetti
- Niederreiter-Lowry-Appleton
- Tanev-Barron-Iafallo
DEFENCE:
- Morrissey-DeMelo
- Samberg-Pionk
- Fleury-Miller
GOAL:
HEALTHY SCRATCHES: D Schenn, D Stanley, D Heinola, C Kupari, C Gustafsson, C Toninato, F Anderson-Dolan, G Driedger
INJURED: None
DALLAS STARS
FORWARDS:
- Granlund-Hintz-Rantanen
- Benn-Johnston-Robertson
- Marchment-Duchene-Seguin
- Steel-Dadonov
DEFENCE:
- Lindell-Heiskanen
- Harley-Lyubushkin
- Bichsel-Ceci
- Petrovic
GOAL:
HEALTHY SCRATCHES: D Dumba, D Smith, C Bourque, F Blackwell
INJURED: D Lundqvist (shoulder)
NOTABLE QUOTABLE
Jets coach Scott Arniel on what adjustments he’s looking to make from Game 3:
“You want the whole playbook? You know what? I had mentioned just a little bit on the rush coverage coming back. And it has a lot to do with, for me, when our forecheck is really good, when we’re holding onto pucks, first getting in the forecheck, creating the turnovers, zone time. It forces the opposition to play defence, and they’re not having that transition offence game.
And I felt the other night that we didn’t do a real good job of pounding in on top of Dallas’s D like we did in Game 2. It led to more of back and forth, back and forth, kind of trading chances, rush chances and that’s not something that I really want to do against this group.
Like I mentioned earlier in the series, I think they’re No. 2 in the league on rush opportunities. So let’s make them defend down there. Let’s wear their top people out playing defence first before we kind of get ourselves in trading opportunities that way.”
WHAT WE’RE WORKING ON
Mike is in Dallas and will Game 4 coverage of Jets versus Stars along with an early notebook.
Ken will have a secondary column breaking down the action. You can find their work online at winnipegfreepress.com and in Wednesday’s print edition.
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