Five takeaways from Saturday’s playoff game

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 19/04/2015 (3849 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

One man’s opinion a day after watching the Winnipeg Jets give up another third-period lead to fall behind 2-0 in their Stanley Cup playoff series in Anaheim…

1. No matter what anybody says or writes this morning, many in Jets Nation are still going to be so lathered up there will be no bringing down their blood pressure.

They’ll want to string up effigies of referees Jean Hebert and Marc Joannette from every bridge in Winnipeg for their handiwork in Saturday night’s loss.

They’ll want a CSI Playoffs investigation to see if their whistles only worked when calling the Jets – not the Ducks – for penalties. (The official count: Jets had 10 penalty minutes and four power-play opportunities; the Ducks had eight penalty minutes and four power plays).

They’ll be cursing the missed too-many-men penalty on the Ducks in the third; Richard Rakell pile-driving Mathieu Perreault into the post, the suggestion by the Hockey Night in Canada panel that Ondrej Pavelec was interfered with on Anaheim’s tying goal.

Still, this is playoff hockey, right? The Jets did some egregious things Saturday night, too, many of them caught by the officiating crew – hello, Andrew Ladd’s awful high-sticking penalty with 10:15 left in the game – but some that were not.

Now comes the hard part for the Jets: knocking off a Ducks squad they are 0-5 against this season four times in the next five games, if it goes that far.

In any case, Games 3 and 4 at MTS Centre figure to be turbo-charged.

Meanwhile, this image might best describe the game-winning goal inside the final 30 seconds Saturday.

2. Tons of anger directed at Ladd from fans for his third-period penalty – he was also fingered for a slashing penalty in the second – but for all those who want to rip the ‘C’ from his jersey, consider this take from Adam Lowry after the game: “He’s the heart and soul of our team and there’s been games where he’s willed us to wins and put the team on his back,” Lowry said of Ladd. “Obviously we know he’s disappointed that he took that penalty. That’s tough for him to have to sit there and watch. It’s unfortunate that we weren’t able to pick him up in that instance.”

3. This take on the Jets, prior to Game 2, from an anonymous coach to Stephen Harris of The Boston Herald in a piece about how difficult it is to pick a Stanley-Cup favourite:

“Who would have thought that Winnipeg would emerge as a dominant team,” said the Eastern Conference coach, who preferred to remain anonymous. “I wouldn’t want to play Winnipeg. They’re big, fast, heavy, their goaltending is good. It’s a tough building to play in. They don’t give you anything. I’ve been really impressed with their speed and work ethic – and they’re heavy, with guys like (Blake) Wheeler. (Kevin) Cheveldayoff has done a terrific job, with all those pickups he’s made. With Tyler Myers playing so well; Lee Stempniak has played his best hockey; (Drew) Stafford has been really good. Those guys have turned their careers around going there, and they’ve all been great fits for what that team needed.”

The entire piece is here.

4. There’s been a lot to like about the Jets Games 1 and 2, but two causes for concern from this perch:

-The special teams, clearly, have got to crank it up. The Jets are now 0-for-7 on the power-play in the two games in Anaheim, including going 0-for-4 with six shots in Saturday’s loss. The Ducks, meanwhile, are 3-for-7. Think about that for a minute: in a tight-checking, violent series the Ducks have six goals, half of them with the man-advantage. The Jets? Zilch.

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-According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Ducks are apparently the first team in NHL playoff history to hold a 2-0 series lead when trailing to start the third period in each game. That’s a crushing stat for the Jets, but it also belies the fact that the Ducks seem to be closer to their blueprint in the third than Winnipeg. Is that playoff experience or is that just hooey? Give the Ducks credit, but the Jets aren’t getting enough second chances on Frederik Andersen, nor has there been a lot of traffic in front of him.

Some interesting shot totals to that effect: Game 1: Winnipeg had 27 shots; six attempts blocked and nine more misses (Anaheim: 33/14/20). And in Game 2 the Jets had 29 shots, 15 blocked and 12 misses (Anaheim: 39/8/15).

5. And, finally, this might get to some of you too late, but consider this our public-service announcement in case your bleary eyes get this far in this little yarn.

Ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPEdTait