Jets firing blanks against Golden Knights

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/05/2018 (2720 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Scoring goals hasn’t been much of a problem for the Winnipeg Jets — until Marc-Andre Fleury and the Vegas Golden Knights came along.

In the last three games, the Jets have managed to get just five pucks past Fleury, who is asserting himself as the difference maker in the best-of-seven Western Conference final.

His acrobatic style is giving Winnipeg’s shooters fits.

While he wasn’t anywhere near his best in Game 1 in a 4-2 Jets triumph, his numbers have been staggering in back-to-back-to-back wins as the Golden Knights have taken a 3-1 lead and total control of the series.

Fleury looks remarkably confident and loose, riding a 1.67 goals-against average and .954 save percentage in his last three starts.

“Maybe it wasn’t always like this, you know. I just learned that, for me, that’s what works best to stay loose and having fun and enjoying the game,” he said Saturday. “I feel good. Obviously, my teammates are playing great in front of me, too, and helping me out around the net and stuff.

“(We’re) getting some big goals, getting some wins out of it. It’s been all right.”

The Jets aren’t exactly sending in floaters from the point on the 33-year-old three-time Stanley Cup champion. On Friday night in the Golden Knights’ 3-2 victory, Winnipeg generated 17 high-danger chances with the teams playing five on five. The Jets also had seven quality chances during four man-advantage opportunities, cashing in once on Patrik Laine’s second-period goal, his fifth of the postseason.

In all, they fired 37 shots at Fleury in Game 4, but scored only twice.

Is the intensity of the moment finally getting to a squad that eclipsed all expectations, finishing second overall in the NHL (52-20-10) before dispatching of both the Minnesota Wild and Nashville Predators to reach the conference final?

“I don’t know if it’s us gripping our sticks too tight. We’ve been in pressure-packed situations all year,” Andrew Copp said Saturday. “I think it’s a combination of they have really good defence and, obviously, their goaltender’s playing really well.

“I don’t think it’s us getting overly nervous or overly anxious to put the puck in the net. I think it’s just a factor of their great defence and Fleury’s playing great.”

Overall this post-season, Fleury’s chalked up 11 victories — including four shutouts — in 14 starts, recording a 1.70 goals-against average and .945 save percentage.

Copp has one goal in 16 playoff games, and he’s not alone. His centre, Adam Lowry, has none. While their contributions are often defined by their defensive capabilities, discovering some offensive punch in a hurry wouldn’t hurt.

Jets centre Mark Scheifele has been brilliant, scoring 14 times to lead all NHL shooters in the playoffs, while Paul Stastny has six. Production has also come from the back end, with Dustin Byfuglien supplying five and Tyler Myers adding four.

But Nikolaj Ehlers is still searching for his first-ever playoff goal, while Mathieu Perreault and Bryan Little need to beef up each of their paltry one-goal outputs. Blake Wheeler has three.

In an odd twist, checker Brandon Tanev has four post-season goals.

Lowry said the opportunities to strike have been there for each of the Jets’ four lines.

“I think there’s enough chances to win. It would certainly be nice to feel like we get a bounce where it ends up in the back of the net,” he said. “Look at the puck (Blake Wheeler) throws to the net in the first period. It goes through Fleury’s feet and somehow ends up sitting just a bit in front of the goal line.

“(Fleury) has been playing really well, and we’ve been doing a good job getting in front of him. It’s finding those second and third opportunities. He’s doing a good job of stopping that first shot. They do a good job of not really allowing any free ice in front of him. It seems like pucks have been bouncing past our first layer and our second layer. I just think we need to continue doing what we’re doing and I think it will start to come for us.”

Head coach Paul Maurice also maintains playoff pressure isn’t causing the hands to go cold.

“It’s not a matter for me of squeezing sticks. A lot of times we’re getting the shot to the net. But playoffs usually — I don’t know if it’s working for us this year — usually are low-scoring affairs. We get out on the road, we’re looking at 1-1 halfway through the game both times. That’s kind of what you expect, right?” said Maurice.

“You know what? Both teams are going to ask a lot of their goaltenders, all four teams left. That’s because every shot now that gets to net is a potential. That’s the pressure that those guys operate under. But we have confidence that we’re going to still generate the offence.

“We have to get it by them for sure. We think we can get enough to win the game.”

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPJasonBell