The opener was fun. It wasn’t what one might call traditional hard-nosed playoff hockey (although it was indeed hard-nosed), but it was a load of fun
And it was also the type of game that should get Winnipeggers excited about NHL hockey again.
On a beautiful Sunday night at a filled-to-the-rafters, recently white-washed Canada Life Centre, the Winnipeg Jets built a three-goal third-period lead and then hung on by the hairs on their chinny-chin-chins to hold off the offensively gifted Colorado Avalanche 7-6.
That’s right 7-6. It’s playoff time in Winnipeg.
Sports enthusiasts, there was no defensive boredom in this one. No dump-and-chase and grind. This was a nose-to-the-net shootout that showcased players with tremendous skills and made the sell-out crowd of delirious white-clad Jets fans go absolutely wacko.
The crowd was loud and proud and the party outside on Donald Street was rockin’ and rollin’ all night as the Jets won a thriller to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven opening round of the 2024 Stanley Cup tournament.
At the end of the nail-biter on Portage, when Sara Orlesky asked Jets assistant captain Mark Scheifele what he thought of the crowd, he simply could not believe the atmosphere in the building.
“It’s bone-chilling,” Scheifele said. “These fans are awesome. The best fans in the league.”
And for much of the third period, they were probably the most nervous fans in the league. After all, when two teams with the speed and skill of the Jets and Avalanche get rolling, crazy things happen.
But let’s go back to the beginning. Back to when the craziness got started.
And make no mistake, the first period was a little silly. And it was silly because both goaltenders and most of the two defensive units were either nervous or semi-conscious. There were six goals, plenty more chances (especially by Colorado) and more cheap giveaways than a county fair. It did not look like a playoff hockey game by any stretch of the imagination.
Colorado’s Valeri Nichushkin opened the scoring at 6:10 and at the time, the Avs had outshot Winnipeg 8-1.
The Jets Josh Morrissey tied it on a wrister from the point at 8:02 and then Vladislav Namestnikov one-timed a loose puck in front at 11:57. Namestnikov drilled the shot under the bar as if he was really pissed off at it. It had an exclamation point on it when it went over Alexandar Georgiev’s shoulder. The Jets led 2-1 and surely things would settle down.
They didn’t.
Dylan Samberg gave the puck away in his own end and Miles Wood converted at 14:47 and then Nathan McKinnon drilled a shot past Connor Hellebuyck just 18 seconds later to make it 3-2 Avs.
But 46 seconds after that Gabriel Vilardi found Mark Scheifele alone in front and Scheifele converted to make it 3-3. It’s was Scheifele’s 20th career post-season goal in 38 games and only three players have reached that mark in fewer games – Alex Ovechkin (26), Jake Guentzel (32) and Connor McDavid (36). Perhaps more importantly, both teams had just combined to score six goals in a span of less than 10 minutes.
To paraphrase our old pal Paul Maurice, “It just didn’t look like a playoff game.”
At the end of the first 20-minute frame, Colorado had outshot Winnipeg 14-8 and there was nothing about the period that would make either coach happy. Especially not Rick Bowness. The Jets had beaten Colorado in all three meetings this season and were 7-0 winners last week in Denver, but neither one of these teams even remotely appeared to be the same as the two teams that finished the season on April 13, at Ball Arena.
In the second, the Jets scored the only goal as Adam Lowry went down the left wing in a two-on-one with Mason Appleton and chose to shoot. Good decision. The shot went through Georgiev’s five-hole and the Jets had a 4-3 lead. The Jets also had four goals on 10 shots.
As Brian Burke once said, “We have to call it the Stanley Cup playoffs because we can’t call it ‘goalie.’
After two periods, Colorado had outshot Winnipeg 25-17, 11-9 in the second period. It might seem as if the Avalanche had control of the proceedings, but that was misleading. The Jets were all over the Avs, but they had a penchant for fanning on passes or shooting wide. On this night, the shots were not indicative of the play.
In the third period, the teams abandoned all intention of playing traditional “playoff hockey.” It became 1970s Montreal Canadiens “firewagon hockey” and the full house at Canada Life Centre loved every minute of the craziness.
The Avalanche came out like a house on fire and peppered Hellebuyck with three quick shots, but then, three minutes into the period, big Lowry faceplanted a Colorado forward, picked up a loose puck, beat a defenceman and then fired a shot from close-in that hit both posts and crossed the line by a fraction of an inch. It was a statement goal by the Jets captain and it gave Winnipeg a 5-3 lead.
The Jets appeared to be in complete control when less than two and a half minutes later, Kyle Connor scored his second of the night, whipping a shot from his office just to the left of Georgiev, to give Winnipeg a 6-3 lead. That should have been enough, but it wasn’t.
Artturi Lehkonen scored for Colorado on the power play just two minutes later and then Connor scored his second of the night from in close to restore Winnipeg’s three-goal lead at 7-4.
But there was more. Cale Makar scored unassisted on the Colorado power play to make it 7-5 at 12:24 and then, with time running out, Colorado coach Jared Bednar pulled his goalie (a guy who gave up seven goals on 23 shots) and got a goal from Casey Mittelstadt with 30 seconds left to make it 7-6.
The final 30 seconds were a bit of a blur, but suffice it to say that Hellebuyck, who allowed six goals on the night, had to make two brilliant saves late in the game to guarantee his team a victory.
Hellebuyck was like Hall of Famer Grant Fuhr back in the 80s. Fuhr might give up five or six on any given night, but when the game was on the line, he made the saves he had to make to seal those classic Oilers’ victories. Hellebuyck ultimately sealed the deal on Sunday night.
In the end, Lowry and Connor had two goals each, Hellebuyck made 39 saves (Colorado outshot Winnipeg 44-23) and Scheifele (second) and Lowry (first) were the first two stars.
But the real stars, the ones who mattered, were the 15,225 members of that white-clad army who willed the Jets to victory.
And made Game 1 a whole lot of fun in the process.
Comments