‘Man, it’s war’ Jets, Avs hunker down for what could be epic first-round series By: Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe Posted: 6:45 PM CDT Friday, Apr. 19, 2024

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This article was published 19/04/2024 (507 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Rick Bowness wasn’t about to make a prediction. He’ll leave that to the so-called hockey experts to weigh in on whether his Winnipeg Jets or the Colorado Avalanche have the edge.

However, the veteran bench boss was confident in making one declaration Friday as the Central Division rivals prepared for their first-ever playoff meeting Sunday evening at Canada Life Centre.

“Man, it’s war,” said Bowness.

In an NHL season filled with compelling first-round matchups that many see as too close to call, the Jets-Avalanche battle might be the biggest coin-flip of all. Only three points separated them in the standings, the smallest gap of the eight series.

“That first round is always the toughest. We know it’s going to be a tough first round with the Avs. Even though we have home-ice advantage, you’ve got to take advantage of it,” said Bowness.

“There’s going to be four very excellent hockey teams (in the West) that have great years and are going home early. We have to make sure that we do everything in our power to make sure that’s not us.”

Winnipeg went 3-0-0 against Colorado during the regular season, outscoring them 17-4. That and $5 will get you a nice cup of coffee.

When we last saw the Jets on a big playoff stage last spring, they were staggering home from Sin City with their collective tails between their legs, having lost four consecutive games to Vegas including a complete no-show in the final one that had their furious head coach issuing a public scolding.

All of which led to an important message and timely reminder Bowness shared with his troops on Friday morning.

“As I told the players, no one knows the outcome of the series. But whatever it is, make sure we can live with ourselves, that we left everything we could on the ice,” he said.

“That’s the most important thing. If you play your best and you give your best and end up losing the series, it’s a lot easier to live with yourself than when you walk away and you know, ‘You know what, we didn’t.’ That’s the most important thing for us.”

So, how do these teams measure up? Here are seven storylines for the best-of-seven series:

1. Star power

Nathan MacKinnon. Cale Makar. Mikko Rantanen. Connor Hellebuyck. Mark Scheifele. Josh Morrissey.

There’s no shortage of elite talent on both sides of the ice, but the scales would seem to tip in Colorado’s favour when looking at the 18 skaters a side.

MacKinnon (140 points) might just win the Hart Trophy this season as league MVP, Makar (90 points) is once again in the conversation as the NHL’s top defenceman. Throw in a pure power winger such as Rantanen (104 points) and that is quite the three-headed offensive monster.

“They’ve got probably one of — if not the — best player in the world right now. It starts with MacKinnon,” said shutdown centre Adam Lowry.

“They’ve got probably one of — if not the — best player in the world right now. It starts with MacKinnon.”–Adam Lowry

Expect Morrissey and blue-line partner Dylan DeMelo to see a healthy dose of Colorado’s big guns.

“We, as a group, need to be aware how elite some of their top guys are, how dangerous they can be offensively, certainly just commit to playing team (defence),” he said. “As much we have to worry about those guys, and rightfully so, we need to do our jobs individually and ones we’ve set forth as a group.”

2. Offence vs. defence

It’s a classic battle between the NHL’s highest-scoring team (Colorado led the way with 3.68 goals-per-game) and the stingiest squad in the land (Winnipeg captured the Jennings Trophy giving up just 2.43 goals-per-game).

If the old saying “defence wins championships” holds true, that should favour the Jets, right?

“If you look at their offence, they put up pretty gaudy numbers offensively. It’s certainly a tough test just trying to slow them down and try to limit their chances,” said Lowry. “We know there’s going to be stretches where they take the play to us, they have a lot of zone time. I think it’s just trying to weather those storms and kind of countering, getting to them with the forecheck and things like that.”

Special teams often play a huge role in the post-season, so Winnipeg’s 21st ranked penalty kill (77.1 per cent efficiency) will have its hands full with Colorado’s fifth-ranked power play (24.5 per cent). On the flip-side, Winnipeg’s power play finished 22nd (18.8 per cent), while Colorado’s PK was 12th (79.9 per cent).

In that sense, keeping a level head is crucial.

“The intensity ramps up in the playoffs. You want your players playing hard, you want them playing with passion. You can push discipline all you want and that’s going to be a big factor in it,” said Bowness. “But you get into that first round, man, your passion is up, your intensity is up and, sometimes, you take a few penalties you wish you didn’t take.”

3. Masked men

This would appear to be an epic mismatch. Winnipeg has Hellebuyck, who should be a slam-dunk to win his second Vezina Trophy, along with Laurent Brossoit as a valuable insurance policy should something go wrong.

“Our details are right, our team game is right and everyone’s mind is right so this is what you want to do when you’re entering playoffs — you want to get hot and stay hot,” said Hellebuyck, who went 37-19-4 in 60 starts with a 2.39 goals-against-average and .921 save percentage.

Colorado has Alexander Georgiev, who may have led the league in wins (38) but put up personal numbers that are mediocre at best (3.02 goals-against average, .897 save percentage). Rookie Justus Annunen had much more impressive stats but only has a dozen starts under his belt.

Of course, playoffs is a whole new season, so everyone is now starting with a clean slate.

4. Intangibles

The injury list is short for each team (not counting Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog, who has missed two full seasons with a serious knee issue).

The Jets will be without forward Morgan Barron for at least Game 1 and, possibly, longer. That opens the door for one of David Gustafsson or Cole Perfetti. Bowness wasn’t about to tip his hand when pressed for answers, saying only that the decision (which was already made) comes down to the role.

That bodes well for Gustafsson, who entered the lineup late in the season and did an excellent job on the forecheck and on the defensive side of the puck. He plays a more physical game as well, which could be a bonus when looking at the fourth line of the Avalanche.

As for Perfetti, he finished the season on a high note, scoring in four of his past five games to finish with 19 goals on the season, good for seventh on the team. It’s hard to call the young forward an unsung hero, considering he spent the first half of the season in a top-6 role, but he’s the type of player that could come up with a big goal once the playoffs begin.

The Avalanche are also without right-winger Logan O’Connor, a valued checking-line forward who contributes to the penalty kill.

Home-ice advantage could play a big role, since the Jets will have last change in four of the seven games if it goes the distance. The Avalanche were the best team on home ice in the NHL this season, though the Jets combat that by setting a franchise record for road wins (25).

5. Shopping spree

Both Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff and Avs GM Chris MacFarland made significant moves prior to the arrival of the NHL trade deadline, and several of those players figure to play prominent roles in this series.

For the Jets, the impact of Sean Monahan has been undeniable, with the veteran pivot checking off so many important boxes after the deal with the Montreal Canadiens in early February. It’s tough to find an area he hasn’t contributed to, yet.

Not only has Monahan given the second line a serious offensive lift, his defensive acumen will also come in handy during this series. Along with the 13 goals and 24 points he’s delivered during 33 games with the Jets, he’s been a key cog on both the power play and the penalty kill, and he quickly became the most dependable option in the faceoff circle.

Tyler Toffoli has been somewhat hot and cold but is currently playing on a line with Monahan and Nikolaj Ehlers that has been fantastic since being reunited.

Colin Miller is expected to open the postseason as an extra defenceman and he was limited to only five games, but the Jets won’t hesitate to use him if a situation arises.

For the Avalanche, they dealt second-pairing blue-liner Bowen Byram to the Buffalo Sabres to stabilize their own spot at second-line centre, bringing in Casey Mittelstadt. Colorado also brought in defenceman Sean Walker.

Mittelstadt and Walker have both fit in well and will be players to watch for the Avalanche. The interesting thing is that Monahan and Mittelstadt might spend quite a bit of time going head to head in the matchup game.

6. Go deep

The Jets finally became a four-line hockey team this season — an important development. By routinely getting that fourth line around 10 minutes per game, that group has felt more part of things and also allowed the Jets coaching staff to not run the top line into the ground.

By season’s end, Winnipeg had 14 players in double digits for goals, which is impressive enough. The Jets also had five players eclipse 25 goals this season.

“We’ve been saying it all year long — the strength of our team is our depth at forward, to the back end and between the pipes as well,” said Morrissey. “The organization, too, with some guys coming up and having big games. The strength of our team has been our team game, commitment to defence and our depth.”

As for the Avalanche, they’re top heavy but players such as Ross Colton and Andrew Cogliano are playoff hardened and can supply some secondary scoring. MacFarland changed the complexion of the bottom-six by adding Yakov Trenin from the Nashville Predators and Brandon Duhaime from the Minnesota Wild.

7. Championship pedigree

The Avalanche captured the Stanley Cup in an exciting six-game series with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2022 and a good chunk of that core group remains. But several key pieces of the supporting cast are gone, so that championship experience only goes so far.

As for the Jets, they’ve got two players — Toffoli and Brossoit — with their names etched on the Stanley Cup.

There’s no denying the value of Cup-winning experience, but there’s also something to be said for teams that have suffered the pain of defeat and are, perhaps, ready to grow from those lessons.

Bowness described it as ensuring the Jets have enough respect for the Avalanche — to a point.

“Our record against them in the regular season doesn’t mean anything today. The regular season is done. It’s a whole new entity. It’s the first to four wins,” summed up Morrissey. “At the same time, it’s understanding and respecting their strengths and knowing what our strengths are and trying to put forth what we do well… it’s going back to our team game and our structure that’s gotten us to this point and given us a chance to be in the playoffs.”

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

X: @mikemcintyrewpg

ken.wiebe@freepress.mb.ca

X: @WiebesWorld