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After one night we can see that things don't always go as planned or expected in the postseason. It's never going to be easy or simple and that's kind of the way it's been for the Winnipeg Jets, this season and prior. Take a look at this season just past and you will see that the Jets never had the freedom of 'cruise control' in their roster, their schedule or play.
That's probably going to be the way this series plays out of the Jets are to win it.
Do nerves play a factor? Are the Jets already feeling the 'happy to be here' thoughts? Will inexperience play a factor?
Those are all valid questions but as the Flames showed last night, you just have to hang around and not give a damn. That might be the hardest thing for the Jets players to overcome, the fact that they really do care now.
A loss right out of the gate can be tough, especially if it's in either dramatic or unexpected fashion. How a team responds in the aftermath, away from the ice can be telling about how they will be when they get on the ice next. At least that's how some stories go...
The point here for the Jets is to make each shift, period and game matter. They cannot allow themselves to fall too far behind or become too relaxed when ahead. This has to be an even keel approach and it will require Maurice, Ladd, Buff and Frolik to guide the rest of the team to that goal.
The match ups will be interesting, the injuries and status of players like Perreault and Enstrom will be intriguing but this series will come down to more than those details. Each of these teams finds success when they can impose their 'will' or 'style of game' on the other. Expect a see-saw battle within the games where each team appears to take control only to give it back or have it taken. That is how the series will play out too...back and forth, likely violent.
The Jets want the Ducks to feel what everyone is saying about this new playoff team, win or lose you will have wounds from the series. To achieve that goal requires sacrifice and what level of sacrifice is made by Winnipeg will determine the series. If they go all-in it goes six or seven games but if there are only a few guys laying down when it matter then it could be shorter.
Give the fans the Jets of the last two weeks of the season and you can plan your second-round parties- anything less though it's tee-time booking.
Prediction: Jets in six.