Jets focused on securing playoff lead
History will be on Winnipeg’s side if they can lock down 2-0 lead on home ice
For 19 years, the franchise never won so much as a playoff game.
That hurdle was finally cleared Wednesday night when the Winnipeg Jets beat the Minnesota Wild 3-2 to open the NHL post-season at white and wild Bell MTS Place.
One small step taken, many more to go before the Jets get what they really want.
The next bar to clear is winning a playoff series for the first time and the Jets can take a big step toward making that happen with a victory in Game 2 Friday night.
You likely won’t hear players from either side say this publicly, but this is a hugely pivotal game in the series.
Teams that win Game 2 to go up 2-0 in NHL best-of-sevens win the series 87.2 per cent of the time.
Meanwhile, teams that win Game 2 — whether to go up 2-0 or tie it at 1-1 — go on to win the series 71.8 per cent of the time.
If the Jets win, they’ll be in complete control, but if the Wild win, they’ll wrestle away home-ice advantage. Considering Minnesota lost only six games in regulation at home this season, that would be a big development.
“We play very well at the Xcel Energy Center,” Wild forward Zach Parise said. “It would be nice to go there with a split series.”
The Jets, who went 32-7-2 at home themselves this year, earned home-ice advantage in the series by finishing second overall in the league.
It’s important that they hold serve.
“I think you want to take advantage of playing at home,” Jets centre Bryan Little said.
“But if they do win tomorrow and it’s tied 1-1 going to Minnesota, that’s not going to shake us. From what we’ve gone through this year, that’s something we’d be prepared for.”
Bell MTS Place was a zoo on Wednesday night with 15,000-plus fans wearing white and emptying their lungs for Game 1 and another 5,000 or so celebrating the win on the street outside.
The atmosphere will be similar on Friday, but it will be interesting to see what adjustments there are to the game plans of both teams.
The Jets generated a ton of shot attempts (82) and shots on goal (40), but struggled to get into the middle of the ice to gain quality chances. The Wild seemed content to play a defensive style, putting up only 20 shots on goal with very few offensive chances created.
The Wild will surely look to generate more offence, while the Jets will simply have to be quicker in the heavy traffic zones.
“We’ve got to take advantage of the chances that we do get, for sure,” Jets winger Andrew Copp said.
“That’s what they’re best at, keeping us out of their slots. We know our chances are going to be limited, so we have to limit theirs as well.”
The Jets did some things very well.
They played a strong physical game, as did the Wild, as the two teams combined for 80 hits. Jets defenceman Ben Chiarot led all players with 10 hits, while Dustin Byfuglien and Adam Lowry were punishing forces.
Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck faced seven high-danger scoring chances — most of them off the rush — and only two quality shots from the Wild’s top line of Eric Staal, Jason Zucker and Nino Niederreiter.
But to a man, the Jets believe they can and will play better than they did in Game 1. Despite controlling the possession for most of the game, they still found themselves down 2-1 at one point before storming back to win.
“We played well enough to win,” defenceman Jacob Trouba said. “We had a little adversity, which was probably good in the first game. But we responded well.”
The Jets lost winger Mathieu Perreault to an upper-body injury late in the second period of Game 1 and he didn’t return. Maurice provided no update on his status other than to say “(Matt) Hendricks and (Dmitry) Kulikov are out. Everybody else is game-time or coach’s decision.”
It’s possible rookie Jack Roslovic will come into the lineup Friday to take Perreault’s spot on a line with Little and Joel Armia.
Perhaps the most important thing for the Jets to do now is have a short memory.
“Momentum doesn’t carry over from game to game in the playoffs,” defenceman Josh Morrissey said. “Whether you win or lose Game 1, as soon as Game 2 starts, it’s a whole new game, a whole new battle.”
I think you want to take advantage of playing at home. But if they do win tomorrow and it’s tied 1-1 going to Minnesota, that’s not going to shake us.