Disbelief seemed to be the overriding emotion among the Winnipeg Jets after their early exit from the NHL playoffs. "I am truly kind of puzzled why it didn't work because I really thought we had a really good group," defenceman Dylan DeMelo told reporters Thursday as players met with the media before beginning their early summer vacations. The Jets finished fourth overall in the league and second in the Central Division with a franchise-tying 52 wins (52-24-6). After winning the first game of their opening-round series against the Colorado Avalanche, the Jets dropped the next four and were outscored 28-15 during the best-of-seven contest, including four empty-netters.
In a playoff series filled with surprising developments, Connor Hellebuyck had one final jaw-dropper as he met with the media on Thursday morning. “You're probably not going to believe when I say, I was playing the best hockey of my career,” the Winnipeg Jets goaltender began his year-end availability. Yes, that would be the same Hellebuyck that got torched for 24 goals over 14 periods of hockey against the Colorado Avalanche (backup Laurent Brossoit mopped up in the third period of Game 4).
Strike 2: Would you ask a sports car to pull around a trailer? Against Winnipeg and stellar (regular season) netminder Connor Hellebuyck, the Avs went in knowing they needed to tighten things up in their own end. Then, after an ugly defensive performance in a 7-6 loss in Game 1, all fingers were pointed at their own beleaguered goaltender Alexandar Georgiev, with good reason. “Georgie” hadn't played well during the final weeks of the regular season, including an ugly outing in a 7-0 beatdown by Winnipeg at Ball Arena.
No | Player | P |
---|---|---|
22 | C | |
36 | C | |
39 | G | |
81 | LW | |
2 | D | |
60 | G | |
5 | D | |
27 | LW | |
19 | C | |
37 | G | |
9 | LW | |
71 | LW | |
15 | C | |
17 | C | |
6 | D | |
23 | C | |
44 | D | |
7 | C | |
62 | RW | |
91 | C | |
4 | D | |
54 | D | |
55 | C | |
88 | D | |
64 | D | |
73 | RW | |
13 | C |