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Goaltending: It's a helluva drug! |
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It was almost a no-brainer to start Connor Hellebuyck in net against the Oilers on Thanksgiving night. By the results Hellebuyck was clearly giving thanks with his performance for have a chance to play. The Oilers game plan was to come at the Jets hard and they did that to perfection firing 22 shots on net compared to 11 for the Jets in the first period. Simply put the race was on.
Hellebuyck weathered the storm in the first and the Jets managed to escape with a 2-goal lead despite being grossly out-possessed and out-chanced or is that really the case. When Hellebuyck was asked about the game he said his team mates in front made it easy for him to play well.
Judging by the play in the first period that seems counterintuitive to what fans saw with their own eyes. The numbers may support what Hellebuyck experienced and attests to with his comments. In the first period the Jets and Oiler both had 4 High Danger Scoring Chances (HDCF) for each. in terms of overall scoring chances the Jets had 10 and the Oilers 14. By the end of the game the Jets would out chance the Oilers 29-28 and the HDCF were even at 8. (all stats at 5v5)
While Hellebuyck faced a lot of rubber so did his counterpart Talbot as the Corsi war at the end of the game in all situations was almost even at 66-67 for the Oilers. More importantly there were some other nuances that may have affected the way Hellebuyck faced shots based on volume and quantity.
Many observers like to fashion the McDavid-Draisaitl duo as the best in the league and they are good, and perhaps the best duo. If that is true then take a look at what Scheifele did to them last night. Scheifele played 8:09 vs McDavid and 8:34 vs Draisaitl and averaged a 64% CF. This might be the best duo in the league remember.
Another stand out Jets player was Tucker Poolman who made his NHL regular season debut after it was revealed that Dustin Byfuglien could not skate. Interestingly the rookie blue liner had no idea he would be playing so his parents in Grand Forks ND scrambled to get Centre Ice so they could watch the game.
While Poolman played a solid game he was definitely not sheltered and worked well with Toby Enstrom who he spent the most minutes with last night. Needless to say it's one game but there's some reason to feel optimistic about Poolman's game.
One thought that was making the rounds last night on social media was the idea that without Byfuglien the defence was much more solid and cohesive as a unit. I'm not sure one game would make that happen, and certainly the Oilers found ways to get shots towards and on net but Hellebuyck also played well. As the title says Goaltending: It's a helluva a drug. When you've got it you feel invincible and coaches and systems look great. When you need it everything looks like a mess and you'll do anything to get it. That's what the Jets were like in their first two games and then they appear dominant last night.
Goaltending is the kind of thing that gets coaches Jack Adams awards. It's the position that can change the game so fast and last night it did. The Jets were cruising along with a 2-0 lead and within 90 second the Oilers had tied it up. Neither goal the fault of Hellebuyck but the game changed thus Paul Maurice opted to change something and use his timeout to settle his team down. The result was Nik Ehlers getting two goals on his way to a natural hat trick in the game and 5-2 win.
Interestingly, Ehlers faced a lot of Klefbom and Larsson and was held to a 45% CF when on the ice against them. All three of Ehlers goals came with them off the ice and the last two right when their shifts had ended. There's some interesting line matching by Maurice and perhaps good timing as well.
Big plays matter and last night the Jets got a few from a few players on the ice. What they also go as simply a better all-around performance. There's still some fair criticism to go to players but that can wait until later, you know after the effects of great goaltending wear off.
Winnipeg Jets Blogger •Winnipeg Jets Writer • 
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