Shootout at the Canada Life corral

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 21/04/2024 (535 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The sigh by Brenden Dillon and the head shake that followed after the first question of his post-game media scrum said it all.

No, this was not the way the Winnipeg Jets planned to play against the Colorado Avalanche in this best-of-seven series between the highest-scoring team during the regular season and the stingiest defensive crew.

So when the opener diverged into an all-out track meet, it was a matter of simply riding out the storm.

By the time the final buzzer sounded, the Jets had survived a late flurry after building a three-goal cushion in the third period — which included an extra-attacker goal with just 27.1 seconds to go in regulation — to secure a 7-6 victory before a frenzied Whiteout sellout crowd of 15,225 at Canada Life Centre on Sunday night.

“I guess we proved that we can score goals too. But man oh man, that’s just not us,” said Dillon. “We have got to be way better here in Game 2. But I mean, tip our cap to us, a Stanley Cup Playoff win is a Stanley Cup Playoff win, we’ll take it for sure.”

Jets captain Adam Lowry took a similar approach in his explanation.

“Yeah, well, I don’t think Bones is going to be preaching 7-6,” said Lowry, who scored a pair of goals. “We gave them some easy offence early, and we’ll have to make some adjustments. On the penalty kill, six on five, things like that. But I think we’ve got to do a better job just staying on top of their speed. They come through the neutral zone so well. They have an active back end and they generate a lot there.

“It gave them some of those chances that are a little uncharacteristic for our group. It’s a great team over there. They scored a lot of goals. We know they’ve got great offensive talent. We’re happy with the result. I think both teams will have areas they’ll want to clean up, though.”

Over to you, Coach Rick Bowness.

“Listen, we’ll never complain about a win, especially this time of year. We’re very happy to get that win and understanding that there’s areas we’re going to be better and we will,” said Bowness. “It wasn’t exactly how we drew it up, but if that’s the way it goes, that’s the way it goes. Their top guys took over, our top guys took over. It was just the type of game that it evolved into and you play it out and we found a way to get the win. So, we’ll take it.”

Game goes Tuesday night, with puck drop scheduled for just after 8:30 p.m. CT before the series shifts to Denver for Games 3 and 4.

Let’s take a closer look at what transpired on Sunday night as the Jets won their first home game in front of a full crowd since Game 1 of the Western Conference final in 2018:

1. Lowry shines at both ends

Lowry was outstanding in the contest, scoring a pair of goals while also helping to limit Avalanche star Nathan MacKinnon to one goal at even strength and another assist on the power play. Lowry finished with six hits as well.

Lowry’s first goal came when he shot on a two-on-one rush and his second was an example of him bulldozing over Mikko Rantanen, then getting the puck and driving the net and caroming his shot off both posts before a review was required to determine that it was actually fully over the line.

“Honestly, from my angle I felt like I could see a piece of white,” said Lowry. “But looking at the replay now, I’m like, ‘Why was I so confident?’ Coming back to the bench, they seemed to think it was pretty conclusive, pretty solid right away. You never know, though. It’s a little tense waiting for the confirmation. But it was nice that it just got enough.”

2. The goalie battle

One of the areas of concern for the Avalanche going into the series was goaltending and Alexandar Georgiev did nothing to alleviate the question marks, allowing three goals on seven shots and four on 10 shots on goal. Justus Annunen was a late scratch on Sunday due to an illness, opening the door for former Manitoba Moose netminder Arvid Holm to dress as the backup. When the game got to 4-3, Georgiev came through with an excellent save, robbing Kyle Connor on the doorstep after a slick cross-ice feed by Sean Monahan. On the other side, Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck was under siege in the first period, as the Avalanche built an 11-1 edge in shots on goal before things got stabilized.

“His stats aren’t going to jump out at you,” said Lowry. “But (Bowness) always says timely saves and the goalies are like, ‘Well, a save’s a save.’ (chuckles). He made some saves, but he swallows up some pucks where he allows us to catch our breath. He gives up six, two are on the power play, one’s with the net empty, so it kind of skews his stat line a little bit. But he’s been our MVP. He should get consideration for the Hart (Trophy). He’s had such an amazing year. He’s so important for our team. So another solid game for (Hellebuyck). No concerns there.”

Hellebuyck will likley win his second Vezina Trophy and Georgiev had a sub-.900 save percentage during the regular season and even though he led the NHL in wins, this is one category the Jets need to have an advantage if they want to be the first team to reach four wins in this series.

“You’re not tagging any of those goals on him. Some of them had seeing eyes,” said Bowness. “Some of them were bouncing all over the place. Some of them were just dead giveaways on our part. It could have been worse. Seriously. We don’t give up that many chances. We don’t give up that many shots. And Connor had to play better and he made a lot of big saves at the right time, which he always does.”

3. The wild first

Neither head coach would have been happy with what transpired during the first period as six goals were scored — three by each team, including goals 18 seconds apart by the Avalanche. But the Jets got a goal from Mark Scheifele to even the score 48 seconds later to leave things even at 3-3.

For those of you scoring at home, that was three goals in 66 seconds.

“Definitely, we know we can play better. We’ve got the best goalie in the world,” said Jets forward Gabriel Vilardi, who had two assists. “We played kind of nervous. But hey, we got the win. Good teams find a way to win.”

Turnovers were far too prevalent in that first period and resulted directly in several goals at both ends.

That’s part of what the teams will look to clean up.

“Sometimes you’ve just got to play that game that’s in front of you,” said Connor, who had two goals and three points. “It turned into a bit of a track meet there and we know we’ve got to be better. Maybe a little nervous energy to start for us. Once we started to get going, we showed that our depth is really key … all lines contributed.”

4. Fourth line contribution

The Jets’ fourth line helped give the team a 2-1 lead in the first period, thanks to Alex Iafallo laying down his stick to force Avalanche defenceman Josh Manson into a turnover that landed right on the tape of Vladislav Namestnikov, who unloaded a slapshot from the slot.

Iafallo was involved physically, had a big blocked shot in the third period and made a bunch of smart plays, which is why he was on the ice late in the game protecting the lead.

5. Extra, extra

There were 100 combined hits in Game 1, including 54 for the Avalanche and 46 for the Jets. Lowry and Avalanche forwards Zach Parise and Brandon Duhaime tied for the most in the game with six apiece.

There were three power play goals in the contest, as the Avalanche went two-for-two with the man-advantage and the Jets went one-for-two.

With David Gustafsson drawing into the lineup on the fourth line for Morgan Barron (lower body, day-to-day), the Jets healthy scratches were defencemen Nate Schmidt and Collin Miller and forwards Cole Perfetti and Rasmus Kupari, plus third goalie Colin Delia.

Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar said after the morning skate that defenceman Sam Girard might be an option to return to the lineup, but he was scratched for Game 1, which meant that Caleb Jones played on the third pairing with Jack Johnson.

ken.wiebe@freepress.mb.ca

X: @WiebesWorld