It was a simple game really, there was no slight of hand tactics by one team or the other but the result, a 6-2 Jets win in Nashville, speaks volumes about what happened. Before this game was even played the biggest story for Jets fans was the possibility of Matthieu Perreault playing. Yes he did and yes he made an impact for his team. Not only did he score a goal he made the Jets that much more difficult to manage which is exactly what so many have been wanting for so long.
In his first game back Perreault was an even 50% CF but that's all he needed to do, hold his on ice opposition neutral and do his thing. What happened was that Laviolette started to have challenges with his matchups basically flipping between the Subban Ekholm and Ellis Josi pairs while interspersing Irwin and Weber.
What happened is that these pairs while logging tough minutes had an accumulative effect apply and they were now logging time against fresher legs. The Jets drove the play even though they allowed more shot attempts, the were winning in expected goals. That was the case in the last game too but the results this time were different.
In game four the Jets were also leading in expected goals and shot attempts but were not getting the results. It could be suggested that the difference was saves by Rinne and last night he was off but that conclusion might be discounting other factors. If you look at the shift chart Laviolette was swapping those guys in and out all game long and trying to keep them paired with certain forward groups.
The Subban Ekholm pairing was often out with Fisher Salomaki Hartman and Fiala Turris Smith so that
line had to face either Connor Scheifele Wheeler or Ehlers Stastny Laine then when done with that they were up against Perreault Little Armia. The Jets simply ground them down and then the mistakes started happening. When Connor scored his second goal of the night the Subban Ekholm pairing had been out for awhile as had Arvidsson Johanson after a quick shift for Ellis Josi who had spelled off Subban and Ekholm before that. The Jets ground them down and while they gave up shots all it takes is look at the heat map to show where they were coming from:
Not very dangerous areas and one side of the crease.
The Jets lineup was optimized and the results speak for themselves. They let Hellebuyck see shots and yes he let in two goals that were stoppable but that didn't take away from his overall play. He made saves where Rinne didn't and the latter was chased from the game for the second time in the series. To be fair to Rinne he was dealing with chaos in front of him but that was by design as it was a direct result of the grinding the Jets did on the top two pairs for Nashville.
One topic after game four was the ice time of the Jets defense and last night Maurice got it right- he had Morrissey and Trouba at the top but under 20 minutes. Buff had 19 and Myers 16:46 with Enstrom and Chiarot at 15:30 and 16:07 respectively. They were fresh and pushing the play well and surrounding low risk shots against them. The biggest compliment might be that the defense and Hellebuyck weathered the first period storm and then manage to get the first goal. They planned their attack and worked their plan and that's the most effective they have been for an entire game this series.
What happens next is the biggest game in Winnipeg Jets history, with all due respect to past WHA teams and champions. PK Subban offered a win guarantee in his post game comments, saying the Preds will bring the series back to Nashville. That's a tall order but one that's entire possible given the way the two games in Winnipeg went last week.
Breathe easy for a day Jets fans because game six is going to be a rodeo and then some.
Winnipeg Jets Blogger •Winnipeg Jets Writer • 
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