After suffering a humiliating first-round loss to the Colorado Avalanche in the playoffs last spring, the Winnipeg Jets have dominated the start of this season.
After defeating the Avalanche 7–6 in Game 1, the Jets lost four games in a row to Colorado, and they lost 6-3 at home in Game 5 to finish their season. A week later, the team’s head coach, Rick Bowness, retired, and the defeat was his last game as head coach.
Under the promoted Scott Arniel, Winnipeg has trounced opponents this season, leading the NHL rankings with a 12-1-0 record. In the first of four games between the two clubs this season, the Jets will take on the Avalanche (6-7-1) on Thursday this season.
Avalanche struggling with goals allowed
Despite having a fantastic start to the season in Winnipeg, the Avalanche are still attempting to recover from a four-game losing streak that summed up their difficulties thus far.
Over those first four games, the Avalanche were outscored 25–13, and although they have scored goals, they have struggled to keep the ball out of their own net.
With a league-worst 4.15 goals allowed per game, Colorado has conceded 54 goals overall this season. Alexander Georgiev, who started on the first day, has had a terrible start, going 1-4-0 with a 4.62 goals-against average and a.822 save %.
With a 5-2-0 record, a 2.64 GAA, and a.893 save percentage, Justus Annunen seems to be taking over the starting role Claim waiver In a 5-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning, Kaapo Kahkonen let up four goals on 20 shots, losing his only start of the season.
Even though the Avalanche give up the second-fewest shots per game on average (25.2 per game), the goals against have still occurred. The penalty kill, which has a success rate of 68.6%, the fourth-worst in the league, has been the target of numerous goals.
Colorado keeps up their offensive output in an attempt to get past their goaltender problems, even if their forward corps has suffered a slew of injuries. With 3.59 goals per game, the Avalanche are ranked ninth in the league. Their power play has a 37 percent success rate, which is second only to the Jets’ 44.4%.
Reigning Hart Trophy winner Nathan MacKinnon, who leads the NHL with 25 goals, has contributed significantly to the team’s offensive output points this season, as well as Cale Makar, who has begun the season at an unprecedented rate.
Makar, who leads the league with 23 points and five goals, gave the squad a scare when he “tweaked something” during Tuesday’s victory over the Seattle Kraken. Makar, on the other hand, might get an opportunity to increase his season-opening points streak to 14 games when he travels to Winnipeg on Thursday.
“He’s all right. On Wednesday, head coach Jared Bednar stated of the top blueliner, “He’s making the trip.” “Wants to see if he’s feeling good enough to go tomorrow.”
Despite having a small sample size this season, the Avalanche have been a streaky squad. They won five straight games after going through a four-game losing streak, and then they had a three-game losing streak that ended on Tuesday.
Jets ready to pounce on Avs’ weakness?
Colorado’s inability to control opposition offences may cause problems while facing the Jets, who lead the league in goals scored per game with an average of 4.77.
It might be difficult to outscore the scorching Jets because Winnipeg is only giving up 2.31 goals per game, which is the second-lowest in the NHL, only surpassed by the New York Rangers (2.18).
The Jets, who have a league-best 9-1-0 record, have relied on starter Connor Hellebuyck more successfully than the Avalanche. The 31-year-old goalie may be seeking retribution following a difficult playoff series in the spring, as evidenced by his 2.10 goals-against average and.923 save percentage this season.
“The Colorado Avalanche deserve some praise for their efforts, but in retrospect, I In May, Hellebuyck claimed, “I don’t know if I even saw half of the pucks go in the net,” following five games with a 5.23 GAA and a.870 save %. “They did a fantastic job, but it’s really heartbreaking for me to be unable to influence any of the games because that’s not how I usually do things.”
Spotlight atop the Central Division
Winnipeg will have a chance to extend their lead in the Central Division and send a clear message to contenders over their next two games.
A home contest against the Dallas Stars (7-4-0) is on tap for Saturday following Thursday’s game, with the two games against potential playoff opponents providing another measuring stick for the Jets in the early season.
Arniel set the stage for the matchups after earning a 3-0 win over the competitive Utah Hockey Club on Tuesday.
“Obviously, you go into every game hoping to win every game and planning to win every game,” Arniel said, per the team website. “It doesn’t always work itself out. Our depth and our different ways of scoring and different ways of winning games, these are hopefully all things we’re building confidence to do this, we still have 70 to go or whatever.
“We’re all real excited about what’s happened but this is our big divisional week, starting with Utah here tonight. Two points. We know who is coming in here next. Colorado and Dallas. One thing about this group that we’ve done, that’s focus on our opponent, and then once that’s done, reset and got ready for the next opponent.”
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