That Deju Vu Feeling

Last season, it was easier to accept the slide that the Jets went on after winning the first game against Vegas. It still hurt to watch them drop a game in overtime where they rallied with three goals in the third period that could have had them up 2-1 rather than down 2-1 in the series, but that's how those games went against a far superior opponent. The Jets showed they could hang, but the Golden Knights knew how to close out games without giving a lot up, and the Jets were nothing more than a footnote in Vegas' Stanley Cup-winning season.

Fast forward to this season, it seemed like Jets had all the accolades and statistics to pose a serious threat to Colorado, yet tonight's game felt a lot like Game Two against Vegas where a 2-2 game after 40 minutes was broken wide open by the Golden Knights for a 5-2 finish. I don't know what it will take for the Jets to put the Avalanche away in a game, let alone the series, but they need to figure it out before Sunday.

The biggest issues I see right now are Hellebuyck being able to see pucks and defending inside the "home plate" danger area. The first is simple because Valeri Nichushkin and Artturi Lehkonen are making life in front of Hellebyuck very difficult, and the Jets are doing little to help their goaltender see pucks coming in from above the face-off circles. Until someone makes life very uncomfortable for those two Avalanche players - who have three goals apiece - the Jets might as well open a campground in front of their crease with how often those two camp there without handing out s'mores.

The second issue is that whole "home plate" danger area where Colorado sends players through from east to west looking for deflections on shots from the top while positioning themselves in open spots once they finish their cuts. It's almost like basketball where the cutting player is looking for that open space at the end of the cut if they don't get the pass in the slot, and the Jets seem to lose checks, forget about players, or collapse in too far to be able to react quick enough to stop the second opportunities. This chaos caused by the Avalanche and their movement has caught a number of Jets too far away from a check to do anything to stop them, and the result is a flashing red light.

With Brendan Dillon's hand putting him in question for Game Four, the Jets aren't exactly built with earth-moving defenders on their blue line. You won't get that kind of play from Josh Morrissey or Neal Pionk. DeMelo and Samberg will give it the ol' college try, but both are going to struggle hard against the 6'4", 210-pound Nichushkin. That kind of size isn't moved very well unless a guy like Logan Stanley is willing to pay the price, and I'm sure we've seen that mean streak from Stanley in front of the net ever.

Lehkonen will be the easier of the two to move at 5'11" and 179 pounds, but he's also tough as nails when he gets into the dirty areas of the ice. Nearly all of his goals in the regular season came within three feet of the crease, and the vast majority were scored standing at the very top of the crease. In other words, not many defenders moved him when he got in position, and he was highly successful when he got to his spots. That should concern the Jets in a big way.

Both of these would help solve the second problem as well as the Jets are often trying to defend the middle of the ice when a shot gets through to Hellebuyck because of players cutting and the guys who are visiting Camp Goal Crease, and shots hitting Hellbuyck aren't being controlled like they were in the regular season. We've seen pucks bounce out without Hellebuyck knowing where they've gone and he's often frantically searching for pucks that hit bodies in front of him. If he can see the puck, he can freeze the puck.

Right now, though, it's fundamentals on the first save and scrambling on the second and third shots. None of that is how a Vezina-calibre goalie would play throughout the season, but it's been to what Hellebuyck has been reduced thanks to the Avalanche going to the net, putting lots of shots on, and pouncing on rebounds as the Jets flounder. As a result, 17 goals-against in three games should have the Jets in a foul mood if they hope to return home tied 2-2 in the series.

The Jets need to get back to nasics when it comes to defence: stand players up at the blue line, protect the middle of the ice, close gaps quickly, and clear the front of the net. As Chris Martin of Coldplay sang in The Scientist, "Nobody said it was easy/No one ever said it would be so hard/I'm going back to the start". That would be a good place for the Jets to start if they're going to climb out of this hole in which they've allowed the Avalanche to put them.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Hockey Show - Episode 605

The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, is back tonight with a massive show as our hosts get you into the Pledge-O-Rama version of The Hockey Show! Not only will there be some prizes we're offering for people who pledge to our show during the hour we're on the air, but we're also welcoming a guest whose making history and smashing barriers before she's old enough to legally enjoy an adult beverage! We'll chat with her tonight as the 2024 Pledge-O-Rama version of The Hockey Show gets rolling at 5:30pm CT!

Tonight, Teebz and Jason are proud to welcome the woman to the right that is making waves in the ECHL as we're joined by Fort Wayne Komets Media Assistant Fiona Quinn! Fiona's been keeping stats, helping with broadcasts, and rewriting record books - literally - for the past four years with the Komets, but she made a little history this past season when she stepped into the play-by-play chair to become the first woman to call a Komets game in their 72-year history! We have lots to go over with Fiona as she's seen goalie fights, goalie goals, Kelly Cup celebrations, and Indiana Tech hockey while she works towards her sports management degree at Indiana Tech, and we'll get her thoughts on who may win this year's Kelly Cup, ECHL additions and subtractions, Brett Brochu, the PWHL, future plans, and more! It should be an incredible chat with a woman who is making a name for herself at 19 years-old, and you can hear our interview with Fiona Quinn tonight on The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT on one of 101.5 FM, Channel 718 on MTS TV, or via UMFM.com!

If you live outside Winnipeg and want to listen, we have options! The new UMFM website's online streaming player works well if you want to listen online. We also recommend Radio Garden if you need an easy-to-use online stream. If you're more of an app person, we recommend you use the TuneIn app found on the App Store or Google Play Store. It's a solid app.

If you have questions, you can email all show queries and comments to hockeyshow@umfm.com! Tweet me anytime with questions you may have by hitting me up at @TeebzHBIC on Twitter! I'm here to listen to you, so make your voice heard!

Tonight, Teebz and Jason chat with Fiona Quinn, Fort Wayne Komets Media Assistant, about how she got started with the team, some major moments in Komets history, setting her own historic moment, everything else she's involved with in Fort Wayne, a pile of ECHL notes, and much more exclusively on 101.5 UMFM and on the UMFM.com web stream!

PODCAST: April 25, 2024: Episode 605

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Early To Bed, Early To Pledge

My planned evening of watching hockey was interrupted by my need for sleep as I'm going to have some fun tomorrow morning. As you may know, 101.5 CJUM-FM - where The Hockey Show is aired - is currently running its fundraising telethon until 8pm CT on Friday. The effort is going well as we near the $20,000 mark of the $28,000 goal set by management this year, so thank you to everyone who has donated already and everyone who will be donating to a show that occurs later in the week. The listeners that support UMFM always come through in big ways, and we're so grateful to have your support to make the station better!

All of the details are here for why Pledge-O-Rama is happening, and there's an opportunity to get some great UMFM shwag with your donation. As with any donation, tax receipts are also available if you're looking to one-up the tax man in 2024, so choose wisely when it comes to what you want. In both cases, you're getting something great for helping us out, and we're happy to do that as a show of our appreciation for your support. If you haven't donated or weren't aware you could support the station in this manner, the details are directly above for getting your pledge into the station and where you ask any questions about the nature of Pledge-O-Rama and for what we'll be using the money.

As for me, I'll be up before the sun breaks over the horizon as I'll be working the Wednesday edition of the UMFM Pledge Morning Show from 6-10am, so that means a 4:30am alarm has been set. I'll be playing lots of newer Canadian music along with a few key older Canadian musicians, I'll have some music news to report, and we'll have a blast setting up your Wednesday as you get set in the morning.

Speaking of which, that's coming quickly, so I'm off to bed. See you on the UMFM Pledge Morning Show tomorrow, and thanks for supporting great local radio that's a part of your community!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Nine Seconds

The Metropolitan Division might be the weakest division in hockey this season. Yes, I'm aware the New York Rangers and the Carolina Hurricanes are legitimate Stanley Cup contenders, but the gap between the second-place Hurricanes and third-place New York Islanders was a 17-point chasm between the two teams. Only the Washington Capitals made the playoffs with less points than the Islanders, yet a few pundits went on record stating that the Islanders had a shot at upsetting the Hurricanes despite that 17-point difference. Clearly, I disagree with these pundits, but tonight may have been the perfect example of why the Metropolitan Division's third-place team had zero chance in winning this series.

Trailing 1-0 in the series, the New York Islanders jumped out to a 3-0 lead in Game Two this evening before the Hurricanes broke out of their slumber in the second period. In what looked like an all-out commitment to defence, the Islanders seemed to wilt under intense pressure from the Hurricanes as Carolina outshot New York 29-5 through the final two periods. That shot advantage pulled the Hurricanes within one goal at 10:43 of the third period as Teuvo Teravainen and Seth Jarvis cut into the deficit, but the final three minutes were bonkers.

I'm not setting this one up. I'll let the video do all the talking.
Holy chaos, Batman. Sebastian Aho whacked home the puck at 17:45 to make it a 3-3 game off the Andrei Svechnikov partial fan on his one-timer, and Jordan Martinook would capitalize on a mistake by the Islanders' Noah Dobson nine seconds later to put the Hurricanes up 4-3 when he banked the puck in off Semyon Varlamov. Add in an empty-net goal by Jake Guentzel, and the Hurricanes hold a 2-0 series lead after their 5-3 win tonight over the stunned New York Islanders.

According to the NHL statisticians, Carolina sent 110 shot attempts towards Varlamov while the Islanders sent just 28 pucks towards Freddie Andersen. The final tally was a 39-12 shot count in favour of the Hurricanes, but this is the kind of disparity between these two teams that should have been obvious. How anyone believed that the Islanders were going to win four of seven games against the Hurricanes is a mystery, but it was clear tonight that the Islanders are going to have to do a lot more to simply win one game.

Despite it only being Game Two, tonight's game may be the one that broke the Islanders for the remainder of this series. All it took was nine seconds of play and two Hurricanes goals in that span, but the Islanders held a lead for 57:45 of tonight's game before losing by two goals. I'm not sure there's a lot that Patrick Roy can say to his team that will change its fortunes, but the Hurricanes showed everyone tonight that they'll make a team pay if it makes mistakes and takes its foot off the gas pedal.

Usain Bolt ran the 100-metre race in a world record time of 9.63 seconds at the 2012 London Olympic Games. The Carolina Hurricanes may have crushed the New York Islanders' hopes of an upset in about the same span of time this evening.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

An Airstrike Of Goals

Is everyone alright after the explosion we saw in downtown Winnipeg? The video to the left was taken by John Sitarek who was at the game tonight, and the explosion I referenced above was in response to the 13 combined goals that the Jets and Avalanche scored tonight. Only two other Game Ones in the history of the NHL have seen that many goals scored, and you can find which games those were down below. Tonight, though, everyone needs to breathe, smile, and enjoy the moment as the Jets hold a 1-0 lead over the Avalanche after tonight's 7-6 victory. Game Two is just 48 hours away!

Only eight times this season has Winnipeg's opponent scored five-or-more goals on the Jets including tonight, and the Jets had lost each of the previous seven games. Despite finding themselves down 1-0 early, the Jets rode the power of the Whiteout to seven tallies tonight in their victory despite the last couple of minutes being a little tense. Nevertheless, the Jets prevailed, and are 15 wins after from the promised land and three wins from the second round.

Shockingly, defensive hockey was tossed out the window early by both teams as the track meet began in the first period thanks to a few giveaways, some questionable passes, and solid team play. Valeri Nichuskin put the Avalanche up 1-0 just past the six-minute mark, but the roof nearly came off the Canada Life Centre at 8:02 when the Whiteout exploded on Josh Morrissey's marker. Watch and listen to this crowd reaction in Winnipeg as the Jets tie the game!
I'm not saying that the Avalanche need a goalie, but Alexandar Georgiev needed to make a couple of key saves in this game to give his team a chance. Instead, Georgiev's struggles in the last two-and-a-half weeks continued, and his .696 save percentage in this game certainly isn't good enough at any point in the season, but specifically in the postseason. Take nothing away from the Jets, but Georgiev has to be much, much better if the Avalanche are going to have a chance.

A 3-3 game after 20 minutes became a 4-3 game through 40 minutes of play, but the Jets seemingly turned on the afterburners in the third period when Adam Lowry scored his second goal of the game at 3:31 and Kyle Conner ripped a power-play goal home 2:20 later to make it a 6-3 game. Artturi Lehkonen's power-play goal made it 6-4 just 38 seconds after Connor had scored, but Connor would strike again at 8:54 to make it a 7-4 game. The Avs wouldn't go quietly, though, as Cale Makar scored just past the midway point of the period and Casey Mittelstadt made it a one-goal game with 30 seconds to play, but the Jets would lock down the final half-minute to secure the win in front of 15,225 fans.

As I mentioned, NHL.com's game notes stated that "[o]nly two other Game 1s in an opening-round series have combined for at least 13 goals" which is pretty crazy when one thinks of all the Game Ones that have taken place in the NHL's history. According to the history posted, "[t]he Edmonton Oilers and Los Angeles Kings combined for 18 in 1982, and the Chicago Blackhawks and Detroit Red Wings scored 14 in 1985," so the Jets and Avalanche still needed a few more goals to reach those lofty scores, but having the third-highest scoring Game One in NHL history is pretty incredible.

I'm sure both coaches will want to tighten things up heading into Game Two, so we'll have to see how the teams respond. Will Jared Bednar go back to Alexandar Georgiev after a rought night, or will Justus Annunen be ready after missing tonight's contest with an illness? Does Rick Bowness look to upgrade his blue line defensively with veterans Colin Miller and/or Nate Schmidt ready to go? Decisions will be made, practices will be skated, and we'll see how things look on Tuesday. I'm almost certain, though, that neither coach wants a second track meet like tonight's contest!

The Whiteout will fill the Canada Life Centre and cover the streets surrounding the arena on Tuesday night, and the Jets will look put the Avalanche in a 2-0 hole in their series. 15,225 people inside the building will be loud as they push the Jets to repeat their seven-goal performance tonight while 20 players in white will try to quiet the crowd. Playoff hockey is alive in Winnipeg once more, and Jets fans are putting the league on notice when it comes to the decibel level inside the barn!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!