Rest of Jets-Wild series unlikely to deviate much from Game 1

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/04/2018 (2713 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

“It’s only one game” is something we’ll hear a lot during the NHL playoffs — although it’s a lot more satisfying to say it after a win, as the Winnipeg Jets did after Wednesday night’s 3-2 victory over the Minnesota Wild in Game 1 of their opening-round series.

However, the first contest can help set a tone for a series, so let’s take a look at how some of my biggest concerns and expectations stacked up against the realities of Game 1.

The Jets have been excellent in a lot of areas this year, so my biggest worry going into the series was how well the Wild would attack the left side of the Jets’ defence, particularly Ben Chiarot and Joe Morrow.

Chiarot can get on a bit of a roll, as we’ve seen over the years. Morrow has had some decent moments in his brief stint, but in the past they’ve both been players who, at some point, revert back to what they are, seventh defencemen.

Wednesday night obviously belonged to Morrow and, while he had some less-than-stellar moments as well as good ones, he provided the winning goal.

Chiarot was the same, without the goal, but did some hitting, which can become important in the playoffs if done without penalty or being drawn out of position.

Actually, by the end of the first period it was his partner Tyler Myers who had jumped out as a major concern. He seemed focused on passing the puck into teammates’ skates or setting them up to get their heads taken off.

While Jacob Trouba also made a couple of weird decisions early, those were out of character for him and he settled back into his game.

They all survived and, hopefully, will be better for it going forward.

Normally, my first concern would be the opposition goaltender and his ability to steal games; that still has Devan Dubnyk in my sightline.

While his save percentage has been propped up by a stifling Wild defensive system that takes away the most dangerous shots, he can get on as good a roll as anyone in the league.

He performed well in allowing three goals on 40 shots, and it took a deflection off his teammate’s stick to get the winner past him. While he looked confident, the Wild did spend a good chunk of the game keeping shots confined to the less-dangerous areas.

I always look at coaching in the playoffs. Winnipeg’s Paul Maurice and his staff have been pushing most of the right buttons over the season, dealing with numerous injuries.

Bruce Boudreau had to guide his club through the same. He’s coached in the NHL since 2007-08, and has gone to the playoffs 10 times in his 11 years, getting to the third round once.

Maurice has 20 years in the league, making the playoffs six times, losing in the Stanley Cup finals once.

Two coaches with something to prove; how these two are able to manage the tactical changes needed, line matchups, etc., will give us another interesting thing to watch.

It’s too early to break this down, as I believe Game 1 is a test game for the bench bosses while they try to figure out how to maximize their rosters with line matches, system tweaks, etc.

Maurice obviously has the advantage at home and, with a deeper forward group, can mix things up more easily than his counterpart.

He will want to keep the Chiarot-Myers pair away from the Wild’s top two lines as much as possible, which will get tougher when they land in Minnesota.

My biggest expectation was that the Jets’ four lines would be able to wear down Minnesota, especially taking advantage of their weakened defensive corps. They have the ability to keep rolling over the lines and dominate, and we saw this in the third period once they mounted their comeback.

The Jets dominated possession, but I’ll wait to see if the Wild can continue to keep the Jets at bay by forcing most of their shots to be taken from outside the critical scoring areas.

I expected a return to the terrific power-play numbers posted by the Jets earlier, after a late-season lull. They obviously showed they were still in sync with Mark Scheifele’s snipe.

There are just too many options for Blake Wheeler to choose from, unless the Wild decide to pressure the puck away from him and push the Jets into a lesser comfort zone.

The most important reason for the Jets success so far is Connor Hellebuyck’s stellar goaltending, and I expected it to continue.

Even though he faced only 20 shots, he looked comfortable and confident.

In the pre-season, I wrote that the Jets would “definitely” make the playoffs, a word I hardly ever use, and thankfully they didn’t let me down.

Without that silly bravado, coming into this series I felt the Jets would win, but also thought most of the games would play out like Game 1.

By this time next week, it could be over, and I wouldn’t be shocked.

However, if I’ve got this right, I’ll be writing up a preview for Game 5 at this time next week.

Chosen ninth overall by the NHL’s St. Louis Blues and first overall by the WHA’s Houston Aeros in 1977, Scott Campbell has now been drafted by the Winnipeg Free Press to play a new style of game.

Twitter: @NHL_Campbell