As usual, fans wondering if Pavs and Hutch have the stuff to lead Jets into playoffs

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This article was published 16/09/2015 (4036 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The questions are much the same but the context has changed when it comes to the Winnipeg Jets and their goaltending.

The team’s followers, as always, want to know if Ondrej Pavelec and Michael Hutchinson can deliver the goods.

As training camp gets set to open Thursday with medicals, the main question is asked with more a hint of optimism and less of the witch hunt — in particular for Pavelec — than was present a year ago.

The adjusted lens comes from the team’s appearance in the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time since relocation, largely on the strength of the team being able to reduce its goals against to the point where it ranked in the league’s top 10 in that area.

The goalies were a major factor in getting there. Hutchinson was a strong surprise with 21 victories, even stealing Pavelec’s No. 1 role for a time at mid-season.

Pavelec, 28, endured his ups and downs but was lights out for the Jets in the late going, earning 22 wins and posting his best overall numbers as an NHL starting goalie (.920 save percentage, 2.28 goals-against average).

That history is already written; more to the point is what will the duo do in the season ahead?

“It has to (help), everybody, not just me,” Pavelec said about the winding road of last season. He and most of his teammates were at the MTS Iceplex Wednesday for a final workout and to get set up for the camp that begins on the ice Friday.

“That wasn’t easy and it ended up one of my best NHL years. I like the numbers and I really like how I felt. There were a few bumps over that time but that’s life, not just hockey.

“It’s up to you how you’re going to handle it and it ended up pretty good. It’s been fun, the last few weeks of the season was really fun.”

Pavelec said he recalls vividly the middle of March, particularly around the time when he allowed the disastrous game-winning goal from the neutral zone in St. Louis.

“I think with 15 games left in the season, some people were thinking, ‘here we go again’, that it’s going to be tough to make it,’ ” he said. “But we did it. And it helped me to know we can do it, that I can help the team get to the playoffs. So that was a real positive for me.”

That stretch was mostly Pavelec, who went 9-2-1 to finish the season.

Hutchinson played just twice after March 12, but his earlier contributions have also made him enthusiastic for the season that’s about to begin.

“I’m coming in with the exact same mindset, not putting any statistical goals on myself for number of games I want to play,” Hutchinson said Wednesday. “I just want to help the team win games when I do get a chance to play.

“That worked for me the last couple of seasons, coming in with that mindset. It it’s not broke, don’t fix it.”

The 25-year-old considered his first full-time NHL season a major success.

“A really good first season,” he said. “I got to play a bunch of games, more games than I kind of expected coming into the season, and I was able to help the team win games. That was the biggest goal coming into the season.”

Hutchinson’s numbers were exceptional in the first half, but not as good in the second half, leaving him with a .914 save percentage and a 2.39 GAA.

“I just think it was situational,” Hutchinson said of the weaker second-half stats. “Some games you don’t get the bounces that you were getting at the start of the year. You can micromanage any statistic, break it down to one game, two games, three games, but at the end of the day it only matters what you did on the whole season.

“Hopefully, I’ll help the team win more games this year and the stats will speak for themselves.”

Pavelec said he’s put a lot of thought into what ingredients wrote last season’s results, but one overriding factor — winning — remains the top priority.

“It was a great experience as a team, and for me as well, to know how the best teams play in the playoffs,” he said. “I still remember pretty much every game. I think about it, not in a bad way, but a good way. We’ve been waiting for a long time for that experience and it was just great.

“But you play to win, win the championships. We made the playoffs, made it to Anaheim and lost four in a row and then you realize how hard it is to make it through. It was all good but you have to think you want to win.”

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca