Once again ladies and gentlemen of the hockey jury, the Winnipeg Jets have lost to the Anaheim Ducks, who now have a commanding 3-0 lead in this first round series. The Jets are now on the brink of elimination and have to find a way to win game four to stay alive. However as many of you know the Jets could be and let us be quite frank, they should be leading this hockey series over the Ducks.
Jets Living and Dying by the Sword with Ondrej Pavelec
The Jets in three straight games have lead those games into the third period only to have lost those games late n the third period, or in overtime which was the case on Monday nights 5-4 heartbreaking loss in Winnipeg.Who is the culprit of these constant break downs you may ask? Is it the offense, the coach, the defense, or is it the man whose job it is to steal games make the important saves and make sure your team wins? Yes it is that man, and the culprit is the goalie Ondrej Pavelec.
It is understandable when people will make the case that there was enough offense in game 2, that the defense should have been stronger in all three games, but the reality is that Pavelec has not been good in these playoffs games. In three games so far he has had the puck pass him into the net a total of six times in the third period, three times in game 1, twice in game 2 and that game tying goal in game 3. His stats so far have been unimpressive with a 3.61 goals against average and a .893 save percentage, which would have placed him worst in the playoffs so far had it not been for Corey Crawford’s meltdown in two of Chicago’s games.
Again before everyone starts to say that the players in front of him need to play better in front of their goalie take a look at this interesting stat that TSNs Rick Ralph posted on twitter. The Jets have lead a total 65:53 minutes in the whole series while the ducks have only led these games for 11:21. It is almost mine blowing how long the Jets have been winning these games over the Ducks and still haven’t won a game this series yet. The results are there, but the outcome has not been in Winnipeg’s favor by the end of the games.
Yes, Pavelec was the leading force at the end of the season to reach the post season, but if not for Michael Hutchinson playing like a mad man during the middle of the season as well the Jets would be looking to next year.
Let’s face it the biggest mistake Paul Maurice has made was letting Pavelec play game three after losing game two. They should have given the young Hutchinson a chance to see if he was up to the challenge, because Pavelec has not been able to handle the pressure of the third period.
The most mind blowing part is so many people are in shock with his performance, but the thing is this is expected of him. His career numbers in the regular season is a 135-141 win loss record with a career .908 save percentage and 2.86 goals against average. Except for the few months where he played like a man on a mission, he has been one of the worst goalies in the league and had the Jets had a slightly better goalie they may have made the playoffs earlier than this season.
Yes it is fantastic that the Jets are in the playoffs, but what can make that more fantastic is winning playoff games, the fans deserve it, the team deserves it, but with shaky goalie they are now looking at what could be elimination night in game 4.
Ladies and gentlemen, the Jets have been living by the sword this season relying on Ondrej Pavelec during the second half, unfortunately they have been dying by sword with Pavelec’s shaky play in the playoffs and it could ultimately end in early elimination. Pavelec is our culprit; he has not been able to steal any of these games. Would it hurt the team to make a goalie change for game 4? No, because at this point they need a miracle and it seems like Pavelec’s miracle has expired.
This series has been one of the most exciting series so far, the white out in game three was as amazing as expected, and chanting Katy Perry at Corey Perry was hilarious. The noise in the MTS Centre never stopped. Add in a really good game and that is what playoff hockey is all about.
All we can say now is good luck to the Jets and hope if they reach the third period with another lead that they can hold it this time, because let’s face it losing this series early would be disappointing for a lot of hockey fans and that doesn’t just include Jets fans.
