Jets' style of play not holding up against Avalanche

WINNIPEG — We’re two games into the NHL’s most exciting playoff series and if the Winnipeg Jets had it their way it would be its most boring one. 

But this is now 1-1 going to Colorado because the Jets haven’t found a way to do that. 

This team, which stifled and suffocated opponents to record 52 wins in the regular season, has started the playoffs by putting the welcome mat down in front of Connor Hellebuyck and allowing the high-octane Avalanche stomp all over it. They struggled mightily to contain Colorado’s stars in Game 1 — failing to deny them zone entries, premium scoring chances and goals — and couldn’t clamp down on their depth players in a 5-2 loss in Game 2.

It’s cost the Jets one of the biggest advantages they had coming into this series, with home ice surrendered to a team that went 31-9-1 at Ball Arena in the regular season.

That’s a major concern.

But nothing should be more concerning to the Jets than the wide-open nature of play that’s mostly prevailed so far. It’s the opposite of how they’ve wanted it to go.

Prior to the series, when we asked Jets shutdown forward Mason Appleton to identify the hallmark of his team’s DNA, he pointed immediately to what they do without the puck.

“It’s just our defensive mindset, I think,” he said. “I think we pride ourselves, obviously winning (the Jennings) Trophy for the least goals against, we felt that’s the bread and butter of our team. And there’s the cliché of defence wins championships, and we all believe that in here. 

“You look at how many depth scoring pieces you have, like I don’t know if there’s a team in the playoffs that is as deep as us in my opinion. So we’re kind of a collective group offensively, and we can all defend hard and defend the right way. That’s when our team wins.”

The Jets managed to sneak a win out in Game 1 without doing it, finding the back of the net seven times in large part because Avalanche goaltender Alexandar Georgiev couldn’t stop them.

He found a way in Game 2, rebounding to make 28 saves.

But the Jets once again couldn’t keep the Avalanche at bay at the other end.

Hellebuyck helped them mitigate that in the first period, making 14 saves to help them carry the 1-0 lead David Gustafsson gave them early into intermission.

But Miles Wood got a free shot at him off a faceoff play 1:59 into the second period and scored. 

Later on in the frame, the Jets couldn’t suppress the chance Artturi Lehkonen capitalized on to tie the game after Mark Scheifele scored, and they couldn’t tie up Zach Parise from notching the winner after Hellebuyck misplayed the puck beside his net.

Josh Manson’s breakaway out of the penalty box made it 4-2 Avalanche with seconds to go in the second period. The shot he notched was Colorado’s 29^th of the game, which only served to reinforce how leaky the Jets ultimately were over these two games in front of sellout, whiteout crowds at Canada Life Centre.

During the regular season, they held their opposition to an average of 29.6 shots against per game. After giving up 46 in Game 1, giving up 29 through two periods couldn’t have been the plan.

During the regular season, the Jets gave their opposition under five minutes of offensive-zone possession time per game. But through five periods of this series, they gave up control in their zone for 11:11.

Not exactly a lucky number in this case.

Credit the Avalanche, who push teams back on their heels with frightening speed and unparalleled skill in players like Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar. 

“They’re a fantastic team. They have been that all year,” said Scheifele. “They have some world-class players that move really well and make you pay when you give them time and space.”

But as Scheifele also noted, the Jets, who have been so good at not affording anyone that this season, haven’t been good enough at that in this series.

“We just have to make our adjustments, and they’re going to do the same as well,” he said. “That’s just what makes the playoffs fun.”

They won’t be fun at all for the Jets at Ball Arena if they don’t make major adjustments immediately.

Granted, they won 7-0 last time they were there. But the Jets didn’t come close to seeing Colorado’s best that night.

Their best has been on display at home all season.

“I do know this, our fans in our building over the course of my time in Denver have been phenomenal,” said Avalanche coach Jared Bednar. “They can appreciate the work that we put in and the desire that we have to win in front of them, and they’ve helped us get there. We’ve been a really good home team this year, and our fans and the city of Denver have supported us. I think our guys understand that. They want to come out on the ice every time and put their best foot forward and put on a show and be entertaining and play the right way…”

It's what the Avalanche did in hostile territory, and what the Jets didn’t do enough of in front of their incredibly supportive crowd.

“This was a great environment, one of the best I’ve been in,” Bednar said. “I know our building’s going to be rocking when we get back home.”

For the Jets to silence it, they must find a way to play the game that put them ahead of the Avalanche in the first place.