photo credit to @Humsy3 for the tweet
This was the quote Dustin Byfuglien provided at the media availability session yesterday, the one he obviously did not want to be at. Credit to big Buff for taking a stand in front of the cameras and microphones after what may be his worst game of the series as he was clearly irritated and not wanting to participate. That being said it's over and perhaps that quote is more meaningful in ways that fans and media don't realize.
The task at hand is simple, win. But to do so it will have to be as a team? Is that what Buff means?
No one in the MTS Centre is going to care about style points if the Jets get a win and no one is going to care about about who scores or not if the Jets win, but they will care if the same problems appear again.
If you want a reminder of those problems you can go back to the previous blogs listed at the bottom of this page- well documented before and no need to be repetitive.
The Ducks were not intimidated by the Winnipeg crowd, they did not become nervous or distracted either- they simply went about their business and did what they had done the previous two games, hang around and come back in the third to eventually win.
It's exactly what the Jets are doing, hanging around in the third but opposite in style to the Ducks version of hanging around. The difference is the Jets stop skating with the Ducks and start chasing them. Its like being at the airport and watching the birds being chased away, that will not work, has not worked and needs to change.
Perhaps it's just luck?
In 3 games the Jets PDO in all situations is 96.9 and the Ducks is 103.1 Each game (aside from the 4-2 win) has been a 1 goal game and even in that game it was close until the late third period insurance goal. The Jets shooting percentage is not too far below average at 7.7% but look at that save percentage- .892!!
Therein might be the biggest difference, the goalies. While the games have been close by score have the goalies played equally? The Ducks are shooting at 10.8% and have a save percentage of .923 in all situations. So not only are they getting better goaltending they are also getting some luck on shots.
Break that down into even strength and it looks like this:
Winnipeg PDO- 100.3 Shooting 8.7% Save % .916 Anaheim PDO - 99.7 Shooting 8.45% Save % .913
Hmm something's up right? So it really comes down to the PK/PP and what led me to this was some tweets from Robert Cleave talking about Myers. He explained that his underlying numbers for the PK were awful and it was something to watch.
When shorthanded the Jets are getting a .786 save percentage while the Ducks are getting .933! Only Washington and Ottawa are having better goalie success when shorthanded. But more concerning is when the tables are flipped and the Jets are on the PP- they are only shooting 6.7% Anaheim is shooting 21.4% on the PP.
The other concerning area here is that the Jets have a higher shooting rate per 60 minutes on the PP than the Ducks, so it's not all about possession and shots. It just might be because Andersen is playing better and stopping more pucks.
I don't think anyone will fault Pavelec for this series should the Jets go down tonight but unlike the way the team finished the season, Pavelec might be the reason the Jets aren't winning or have won a game. But that statement can be said another way- The Ducks are winning because Andersen has allowed them too staying the games.
At even strength the Ducks are shooting 33.8 shots/60 mins while the Jets are at 28.1/60 mins- that's a pretty good difference between the two and that may say that the struggles really do lean more towards the special teams. In the regular season Winnipeg had a 17.8% PP while the Ducks were at 15.7%, third worst in the league.
In head-to-head competition this season the Ducks had a PP% of 15.6 and Winnipeg had 15.7% so it truly is astounding how different the 3 playoff games have been for the Ducks when it comes to special teams and the Ducks did not have a PP goal last game. Yet the Ducks are tied for second in the post season for PP goals with 3 in three games.
Maybe that is the intangible issue at hand here with this series. The Jets experience, or lack thereof, across the roster for the post season compared to the Ducks is what is separating success from failure. It seems silly but what else could rationally explain the difference between two mediocre special teams in this series?
It might be too late to start worrying about it now but staying out of the box and playing better on the PK might be all the Jets have to do, and maybe the return of that late season version of Pavelec too. Win tonight and live another day, that's all the fans are asking for, and as Dustin Byfuglien stated repeatedly yesterday, "As long as we stick together as a team we'll be alright."